By Rod Gipson
MaxPreps.com
Fighting off the wind and rain that affected opening round scores, Tampa Wharton junior Shena Yang composed herself enough to shoot a two-day score of 5-over 149 to tie for sixth place at the Class 2A state golf tournament.
Yang's scores at The Club at Eaglebrooke golf course in Lakeland was the lowest of any Tampa Bay area female golfer.
Plant City Durant's Amy West struggled a bit more. West shot an opening round 77 and followed with a 78 to finish with an 11-over 155. West tied for 16th place.
Yang helped Wharton place ninth as a team. Tampa Plant, also competing as a squad, placed 12th.
In the girls Class 1A competition, Michelle Butler led a contingent of St. Petersburg Northside Christian golfers to place in the top 20.
Butler shot two sub 80 rounds (79, 77) to finish with a 12-over 156 at Ridgewood Lakes Golf and Country Club in Davenport. Butler tied for 11th place while teammates A.J. Newell and Morgan Jackson both tied for 16th place with 16-over 160 scores.
Also in a tie for 16th place was Leslie Choucard of Wesley Chapel Saddlebrook Prep.
Northside Christian's trio of solid finishers helped the team place third overall. Saddlebrook was seventh and Tampa Berkeley Prep's girls placed 10th.
Two Bay Area Boys in Top Five
Nick Buccina of Tarpon Springs East Lake and Charles Silverfield of Tampa Plant both finished with two-day scores of 1-under 143 to tie for fourth place at the Class 2A boys state golf tournament.
Silverfield fired a first 71, placing him among just five golfers to break par on the opening day of the event. Silverfield followed up with a 72 on Day 2 while Buccina went even lower, shaking off windy conditions to shoot 69, just one of two rounds in the 60s recorded during the meet.
Silverfield, along with teammate George Letson (T12) helped lift Plant to a fifth-place team finish. East Lake placed 12th as a team but saw a 26-stroke improvement from the first day to the second.
Riverview's Ian McConnell also placed 12th with a +5 score. In Class 1A competition, Berkeley Prep's Blake Morris shot rounds of 75 and 77 to finish at 8-over and tie for 14th place.
Tampa Jesuit Outstanding at State Cross Country
Led by Connor Revord's fourth place individual finish, Tampa Jesuit placed third as a team at the Class 2A state cross country meet. Revord was the first of four Tigers runners to place in the top 30. He finished the 5k course in 16 minutes 11 seconds.
The other Jesuit finishers in the top 30: Jordan Schilit (12th at 16:44), Ben Martin (29th at 17:19) and Matt Tucker (30th at 17:20).
In Class 4A, Tampa Sickles placed 11th as a team being the strong running of Derek Wehunt and Ciprian Mejia. Wehunt placed fifth among individuals at 16:05 while Mejia was 13th at 16:33.
In Class 3A, Tampa Plant, Seminole, Lithia Newsome and Tampa Wharton all ran to top 10 team finishes. Plant was led by Duncan Hock, who was seventh (16:10) and John Wilkens (14th at 16:30). Seminole's Christian Homme ran an outstanding race, finishing the course in 16:09 to place fifth.
Newsome's Keegan Bixler was right behind Homme, placing sixth with a 16:10 time. And Wharton's John Grellner was 15th with a 16:31 time.
And in the Class 1A race, Tampa Berkeley Prep saw three runners place among the top 33 to take fifth in the team standings. Richard Blake led the Buccaneers with a third-place (16:17) finish among individuals. Tyler Greathouse was 16th (17:09) for the Bucs while teammate Michael Rosenbach was 33rd (17:45).
Meanwhile, Stephen Spanos placed 18th to help St. Petersburg Shorecrest Prep place ninth among teams.
In the Class 3A girls race, Tampa Plant's Elizabeth Goodwin, Michaela Kennedy and Alissa Morris finished 28th, 29th and 35th, respectively to help the Panthers place fifth in the team competition. Lithia Newsome, led by Sydney Coats' 21st place finish, was sixth while Seminole, led by Katelyn Homme's fourth-place 19:07, was seventh. Tampa Wharton was tenth after Erin Bailey ran a 19:37 race, good enough for tenth among individuals.
College signings
Three players from Tampa Chamberlain's 28-3 state semifinal softball team have signed college scholarships.
On the first day of the state's early signing period, outfielder Mary Kate Smith signed with Stanford, outfielder Gina Kafalas signed with the University of South Florida and infielder Danielle Moreda inked a deal with Saint Leo University.
Meanwhile, Chamberlain tennis player Jamie Mera signed with the University of Missouri.
Other early signings included St. Petersburg Catholic girls basketball players, Sasha Chaplin (Indiana) and Kellie Van Patten (Flagler University).
Also, Valrico Bloomingdale softball player Katelyn Molkenthin has verbally committed to the University of South Carolina Upstate and teammate Kristen Kelly has committed to Saint Leo University.
And Northeast running back Jeff Brinson, who ran for 1,754 yards during the regular season, is mulling over a reported 36 scholarship offers, including a coveted offer from the University of Florida.