New Doral Academy basketball coach. Plus lacrosse and beach volleyball
A 2019 graduate, she played basketball at Doral for seven years and made history as the school's first 1,000-point scorer. She continued her playing career at Keiser University, an NAIA affiliate in West Palm Beach. She gained valuable experience at the collegiate level.
In the past four years, she has served as an assistant coach at Doral Academy to former coach Allison Bustamante, who was recently named new women's basketball coach at Barry University, an NCAA Division II program in Miami Shores.
State lacrosse honors
Senior attack McKenzey Craig of Tampa Plant High School has been named the state's 2025 Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Lacrosse.
Craig scored 81 goals and added 67 assists for her undefeated Class 2A state championship team. She completed her high school career with 242 goals and posted 192 assists and was named a USA Lacrosse All-America. She will play lacrosse for NCAA Division I Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland..
Jayne Chapman of Plant was named state Girls' Coach-of-the-Year after leading her team to a 24-0 record and the Class 2A championship, the school's first state lacrosse title. Chapman posted a 47-1 record the past two years and a state runner-up finish in 2024 before winning the 2025 title.
Senior midfield/attack Jayden Vega of The Benjamin School in North Palm Beach was selected the state's 2025 Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Lacrosse, and Benjamin coach Peter Cordrey is the 2025 Boys' Lacrosse Coach of the Year.
Vega helped his squad to its second straight Class 1A state championship by scoring 81 goals and adding 65 assists. Vega completed his three-year varsity career with 168 goals and 103 assists. The dual-sport standout has signed to play both lacrosse and football at NCAA Division I Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Cordrey, who repeated as the state's top coach, finished his seventh year at Benjamin by leading his squad to a 24-1 record and its second straight Class 1A state championship. In seven years at Benjamin, Cordrey has posted a 104-24 record, including a 45-2 record the past two years and the school's only state titles.
The Florida Dairy Farmers Sports Awards program exemplifies Florida Dairy Farmers' commitment to the state's youth. This is the 33rd year of these unique awards as we honor the state's top athletes and coaches in sanctioned FHSAA sports. The program also emphasizes to young people the importance of keeping dairy products a primary part of their diet in their overall nutrition plan.
Beach volleyball recap
The final impact of South Florida teams in the FHSAA state's beach volleyball season occurred in the state tournament, which featured Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas in 3A and Miami Westminster Christian in 1A.
To reach state, Westminster Christian won the 4-1A region title by beating LaSalle 4-1, Boca Raton Christian 4-1 and West Palm Beach King's Academy 5-0.
Prior, they beat LaSalle 5-0 and True North Academy 5-0 for the District 16-1A championship.
In the state semifinals, Westminster Christian defeated Jacksonville Episcopal (17-7) 5-0 to advance to the state finals, where the Warriors lost to Tampa Berkley Prep.
Entering those state finals, Westminster Christian (19-1) was the top ranked team in the state. Tampa Berkley Prep (22-0) was ranked second.
In the region championship win against King's Academy, the No.1 pair from Westminster Christian (Zoey Matias and Gigi Artiles) won 21-18, 21-11. The No.2 pair (Alex Washington and Lia Gonzalez) won 21-19, 23-21. The No.3 pair (Alyana Cadavid and Cassie Thomas) won 21-19, 22-20. The No.4 pair (Coco Garcia and Dani Arroyo) won 21-11, 21-7. The No.5 pair (Frenchie Pazmino and Lauren Palczynski) won 21-7, 17-21, 15-8.
Westminster Christian also includes Lili Nunez, Ella Wohl, Bella Fernandez, Luci Del Campo, Ava Cantos, Sylvie Curbelo, and Olivia Hernandez.
To qualify for state, St. Thomas Aquinas won the 4-3A region title by beating West Boca 5-0, Wellington 3-2 and Weston Cypress Bay 3-2. Prior, the Raiders beat Cooper City 5-0 and Boca Raton 3-2 to capture the District 15-3A championship.
Cypress Bay (16-1) won the District 16-3A Tournament by beating Coral Reef and Western. At regionals, the Lightning beat Fort Myers Gateway and Boca Raton to matchup against St. Thomas Aquinas in the region finals. Cypress Bay entered the region finals unbeaten, winners of 16 consecutive matches.
En route to winning the state title, Jupiter (16-1) defeated St. Thomas Aquinas 3-0 in a state semifinal. The state's third place Raiders finished the season 19-5.
They are: No.1 pair (Emma Bear and Alexa Raymond); No.2 (Leah Novatne and Madeline Meltz); No.3 (Dior Ferguson and Emily Rosinsky); No.4 (Addison Steinberg and Emi Bernal); No.5 (Gianna Gorsin and Karina Andresky). The Raiders also include Abigail Scalzitti, Isabella Vergara, Camila Ortiz, Caitlyn Ward, Kamila Alvarado, Ava Alberani, Daniela Alvarez, Laura Grubor.
Send high school sports results
For high school and middle school athletes in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, if you have summer sports results and top performers (with stats), email hssports@miamiherald.com.
They will run in the newspaper and online. Photos accepted, too. No deadline. Send after the game, the next day or weekly. You will be alerted when it will appear in the newspaper and online.
New athletic directors, coaches
For high schools in Broward and Miami-Dade, if you have new sports administration and/or coaching hires to announce, email hssports@miamiherald.com.
---
Roundup compiled by Jim Varsallone
jvarsallone@miamiherald.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
These 3 Florida Gators among ESPN's top 100 college football players in 2025
The 2025 college football season is nearly upon us and among the many questions being asked ahead of the opening kickoff is one that has been around since the game began: "Who are the best players in the sport?" Every year brings a clean slate to work with and the sports media is not shy about making use of the fanbase's unbridled anticipation. ESPN's college football crew recently took a stab at ranking the top 100 college football players heading into fall and included a trio of Florida Gators. Those three members of the Orange and Blue are redshirt senior defensive lineman Caleb Banks, redshirt senior center Jake Slaughter and sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway, respectively. Here is what they had to offer on each player. Caleb Banks (No. 47) "The towering, 6-6, 330-pound interior defensive lineman has been a constant for the Gators since arriving from Louisville in 2023, tallying 21 starts at Florida over the past two seasons," Eli Lederman begins. "Banks set career highs in tackles (21) and sacks (4.5) a year ago. In 2025, he returns to anchor a veteran defensive line within a promising Gators defense, carrying legit first-round NFL draft size and potential." Jake Slaughter (No. 37) "One of the most experienced members along a seasoned Florida offensive line (21 career starts), Slaughter sits at the heart of a pivotal unit for the Gators in 2025," Lederman offers. "The 6-5, 303-pound blocker earned first-team AP All-America honors a year ago in his first season as a full-time starter. In 2025, Slaughter is back as one of four returning starters on a Florida offensive line tasked with protecting second-year quarterback DJ Lagway and paving the way for reigning Freshman All-SEC running back Jadan Baugh." DJ Lagway (No. 25) "The only question with Lagway is how healthy he will be," Chris Low cautions. "He was limited by an injury to his throwing shoulder in the spring then by a calf strain this preseason. When he is 100 percent, Lagway's ceiling is as high as any quarterback in the country. He posted a 6-1 record in seven starts last season as a true freshman, and he has terrific awareness as both a passer and a runner. Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
JJ Pegues climbing up depth chart with preseason performance
The Las Vegas Raiders are looking for a defensive tackle to step up after the Christian Wilkins saga. So far, rookie JJ Pegues has answered the call during the Raiders' first two preseason games. Pegues had a handful of quality reps as a run defender against the Seattle Seahawks and managed to record four pressures as a pass-rusher versus the San Francisco 49ers, tied for the second-most among interior defenders according to Pro Football Focus. Additionally, the Ole Miss product continued to stand out against the run last weekend. That likely secured his spot on Las Vegas' 53-man roster, and also should help him gain some traction on the team's depth chart. So, let's flip on the tape and break down his performance on Saturday. Let's start with a good example of the former Rebel's knockback power as a run defender. The 49ers run lead zone to the weakside of the formation, putting the center one-on-one with Pegues, who appears to be two-gapping, meaning he's responsible for both A-gaps. Pegues uses good pad level and his impressive upper body strength at the point of attack to push the center into the backfield and reset the line of scrimmage. From there, the defender makes sure the strong side A-gap is protected by shading to that side of the center while peeking into the backfield. Because he won at the point of attack, once Pegues sees the running back cut into the weakside A-gap, he's able to cross the center's face and get involved in the tackle while the offensive lineman is still hanging onto him. Considering Las Vegas could use help at nose tackle, this is a pretty encouraging rep from the rookie. This next rep is almost identical to the last one, where Pegues is physically dominant at the point of attack to reset the line of scrimmage. Again, he knocks the center into the backfield, which helps cut the field in half by forcing the running back to cut up the field. Also, Pegues manages to get involved in another tackle while the center is still hanging onto him. Another strong rep against the run while lined up as a shade nose tackle. Unfortunately, Las Vegas has issues on the back end covering San Francisco's play-action pass here. So the ball is out of the quarterback's hands too quickly for the defensive tackle to get a sack, but he does manage to record a win as a pass-rusher. Post-snap, Pegues quickly recognizes it's a play-action fake and not a run play, transitioning from run to pass defense and abandoning his run responsibilities (the A-gap). Then, Pegues does a great job of using the left guard's momentum against him, winning with a hump move to get pressure. Again, the ball is out too quickly for the defensive lineman to hit home, but reps like these can pay off later with better coverage. The 49ers had a lot of quick passes to attack the Raiders' soft zones on Saturday. So the play above is another rep where Pegues gets a win without anything to show for it, since the quarterback gets rid of the ball almost immediately after his back foot hits the ground. Regardless, the defensive tackle does a good job of recognizing the quick set from the guard, adjusting his path to win around the outside by defeating the guard's hands. Again, plays like this one will pay off later when the offense runs a longer developing pass play or the quarterback is forced to work through his reads. Later in the game, the Raiders found success by having Pegues slant inside or running line games with him. Here, they run Cover 0, where both linebackers and the nickelback blitz while the defensive tackle lines up as a 3-technique in the B-gap pre-snap before slanting into the A-gap post-snap. He manages to capture the guard's attention by squaring up the guard before going inside, which allows the nickel to be a free rusher on the blitz. Granted, the running back does a good job of coming off the linebacker and picking up the defensive back in the protection scheme. However, Pegues keeps his feet moving and goes from attacking the center to bull rushing the guard, freeing up the linebacker (No. 43, Michael Barrett) to get the clean-up sack. So, the rookie managed to help two teammates get pressure on the quarterback while collapsing the pocket himself. This time, the Raiders run a T/E stunt where Pegues is the penetrator. Initially, he disguises the line game well by working up the field with his first two steps before pivoting to the outside and attacking the right tackle. As a result, he catches the right tackle off guard and is physical at the point of attack to win the rep and get pressure. Unfortunately, the ball is out quickly again, but this is still another quality rush from the rookie.
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Florida football center Jake Slaughter is a USA TODAY Sports 2025 preseason All-American
USA TODAY Sports released its preseason All-America teams ahead of the 2025 campaign and included one Florida Gator among the three-team deep roster. Redshirt senior center Jake Slaughter was the lone member of the Orange and Blue to get the call, but the good news is that he made the prestigious first-team list, placing him among the best of the best offensively in college football this fall. "Slaughter is odds-on favorite to capture the Rimington Trophy as the nation's top center," Paul Myerberg notes in reference to the highly heralded Gator. The 6-foot-5-inch, 303-pound offensive lineman has already put together an impressive preseason resume, being named to the Lombardi Trophy watch list, as well as the Rimington Trophy and Outland Trophy watch lists, while also being named to the Sporting News' and ESPN's preseason All-America First Teams — not to mention a first-teamer on the coaches' All-SEC team. Jake Slaughter's 2024 stats Slaughter started all 13 games in 2024, amassing a mountain of awards, including the AP All-SEC First-Team, ESPN All-American, PFF All-American First-Team, 247Sports/CBS All-American Second-Team, CFN All-American Second-Team, Phil Steel All-American Fourth-Team and USA TODAY Sports All-SEC First-Team. He was ranked fifth nationally among centers last year with an offense grade of 81.1, while ranking seventh in the country with a run block grade of 79.0. He also led the team in PFF offense, pass-block and run-block grades, as well as the offensive line as a whole in 800 snaps played. Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
