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Miami Herald
19-05-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Mater Lakes' De La Puente and Gulliver's Beltran are Dade Water Polo Players of the Year
Both Gulliver's Sofia Beltran and Mater Lakes' Noslen De La Puente know what it's like to be part of a tight-knit water polo team that grew up playing together in youth ball and middle school. Winning together is even sweeter on such teams. Beltran experienced that this season as she and her Raiders' teammates finally won their first state championship together and the school's first since 2013. De La Puente is confident a day like that is coming at Mater Lakes, although the Bears had their own memorable season, reaching the state finals for the first time. Both were key to their respective teams' success and, as such, Beltran and De La Puente are the Miami Herald's Miami-Dade Water Polo Players of the Year. Beltran, a freshman goalie, is the Girls' winner after establishing herself as one of the best players at her position in the state. Beltran finished the season with 228 blocks, 40 steals and 19 assists, and was the anchor of her team's defensive efforts during some of the Raiders' most crucial matches. Beltran, who has been with the varsity team since sixth grade, came up huge in the state final against Seminole as Gulliver held its opposition scoreless for the final two and a half quarters after falling behind 4-1 early. The result was the Raiders rallying for an 8-5 victory. 'It was a mental game. At the beginning we were getting in our heads and losing hope,' Beltran said. 'But we just changed our mentality in the second half and took over.' Beltran stopped several penalty shots throughout the season and has developed the skill and confidence rarely seen in players her age. She is one of several key players who are set to return for Gulliver as it seeks a championship repeat. 'My blocking got better and I had more confidence in myself,' Beltran said. 'I just improved a lot on that. I'm happy and sad that this season is over, but excited for what's to come.' De La Puente became the centerpiece on a team, which broke through to the state championship match for the first time this season before losing a 10-9 heartbreaker to Fort Lauderdale Westminster Academy. De La Puente and most of Mater Lakes' core grew up playing club ball together in the Hialeah area and have helped a young Bears program carve its own place among the sport's elite in Dade County. 'All of us grew up together and have been playing for seven years or more,' De La Puente said. 'It brought up our chemistry. They mean everything to me.' This season, De La Puente was a scoring force for Mater Lakes, but also learned more of what it took to be a leader in the pool. 'The ending isn't what we wanted but I'm so proud of my boys and we created so many memories this season,' De La Puente said. 'We got farther than ever and couldn't ask for more. We'll be back next year and get the job finished.'
Miami Herald
27-03-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Mater Lakes' Neifeld and South Dade's Balmeceda are the Dade Wrestling Coaches of the Year
Mater Lakes' boys made school history. And South Dade's boys added to their already historic state championship run while their girls got close to their first title. Both wrestling programs won state championships this past season in both the duals and individually-bracketed tournaments in their respective classes. As a result, their coaches - Brandon Neifeld at Mater Lakes and Victor Balmeceda and Gamaliel Duran at South Dade are the Miami Herald's Wrestling Coaches of the Year for Miami-Dade County. Neifeld and Balmeceda share Boys' Wrestling Coach of the Year honors while Duran wins on the girls' wrestling side. After coming close in recent years, Neifeld led Mater Lakes' boys to its first ever state duals title in Class 1A and the Bears followed that up with a dominant performance to capture the 1A title in the individually-bracketed tournament earlier this month in Kissimmee. Mater Lakes totaled 212 points to finish clear ahead of second-place Zephyrhills Christian's 149. The Bears placed six wrestlers in the championship matches and five came away with state titles, including Kellen Mesina (113), Keagan Mesina (120), Ethan Tran (126), Kalias Nazario (165) and Damian Soto (190). Christopher Greene finished as state runner-up at 132. 'This team has been around for four and five years. It's been the same group of guys,' Neifeld, who has been the school's coach for 13 years, said at the state meet. 'We should have won last year but we lost a tough one at the end. This year we just knew it was going to be our year and it's been incredible.' Balmeceda, meanwhile, directed the South Dade boys to another stellar season that included state titles in both formats once again. South Dade now has 27 wrestling state championship trophies having also won its seventh Duals state title earlier this year. The 20 IBT titles is the most for any Miami-Dade program and trails only Brandon High's 28 on the state's all-time list. The Bucs won their 12th in a row, which is the second-longest title streak in state history behind Brandon's 16 in a row from 2001-2017. South Dade placed nine wrestlers in the finals and came away with six individual champions, including Guillermo Jaramillo (126), Jovani Solis (138), Elvis Solis (144), Armand Williams (150), Tyree Graham (157) and Willie White (165). 'Realistically, anyone would have been happy to get four or five guys in the finals, but we went 18-0 on Day 2 with the quarterfinals and semifinals,' Balmeceda said after the state IBT meet. 'They answered the bell.' On the girls' side, South Dade had its own successful season under Duran's tutelage as they tied for the second-most points in the state (106) behind Flagler Palm Coast's 150. Willow White led the Bucs at 120 pounds by completing an unbeaten state championship season.
