Lakewood Ranch defends crown at county swimming championship

Editor’s note: The prep roundup is compiled from emails sent by coaches or scorekeepers to sports@bradenton.com.

SWIMMING

County Championship: Lakewood Ranch defended its title Saturday at G.T. Bray in both the boys and girls competition.

The Mustangs’ girls relay team -- junior Emily Massengale, senior Emily Loefgren, sophomore Suzy Aguirre and senior Keely Radloff -- won the 200 medley and 400 freestyle races. The Mustangs’ boys relay team -- senior Sebastian Aguirre, senior Josh Moore, freshman Dimiter Zafirov and senior Ata Akar won the 200 medley, then a relay team that included freshman Frank Runge in place of Josh Moore captured the 400 freestyle.

Top individual performers for Lakewood Ranch included multiple-event winners Sebastian Aguirre (100 butterfly, 100 backstroke) and Emily Loefgren (200 individual medley, 100 breaststroke). Other LWR event winners were Massengale (100 backstroke), Zafirov (200 freestyle) and Radloff (100 butterfly).

Up next, the Mustangs will compete for the Tri-County Championship at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Sarasota YMCA pool.

FOOTBALL

IMG Academy 34, Miami Northwestern 7: The Ascenders (4-1) bounced back from their first loss to defeat the Bulls (3-3) on Saturday night.

IMG QB Bryson Lucero opened the scoring with a 58-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mike Redding. That was followed by a 66-yard punt return touchdown by Trey Sanders.

Lucero’s second TD pass, 49 yards to wide receiver Josh Delgado, and two field goals from Cam Gillis increased the lead to 27-7 at halftime. Running back Chandler McGruder scored the game’s final touchdown, an 8-yard run, in the fourth quarter.

IMG has a bye this week and will return to action at 7 p.m. Oct. 12 against Clearwater Superior Collegiate (5-0) at IMG Academy Stadium.

CROSS COUNTRY

FLRunners.com Invitational: Manatee High freshman Caroline Lehman finished 11th overall with a time of 18 minutes, 51 seconds in the Girls Race of Champions on Saturday at Holloway Park in Lakeland.

In the Girls Invitational, the Hurricanes placed 23rd of 36 teams. Freshman Melissa Weber (20:24) finished seventh out of 274 entrants.

Manatee’s boys team was seventh out of 26 teams Boys Unseeded race, led by senior Matt Lyons (second, 18:10) and freshman Paul Lespasio (fourth, 18:23).

GIRLS GOLF

Saint Stephen’s 174, Palmetto 232: The Falcons, led by medalist Maria Huang’s 40, defeated the Tigers on Tuesday at the Links at Greenfield Plantation.

Other qualifying scores for Saint Stephen’s included Catherine Huang (41), Bella O’Donnell (46) and Angel Dai (47).

The top four players for Palmetto included Sydney Woodman (47), Ashlyn Gardner (48), Meaghan McCarthy (68) and Riley Bergmann (69).

Riverview 157, Lakewood Ranch 166, Braden River 183: Jacueline Putrino earned medalist honors with a 36, leading the Rams (28-2) to a victory against the Mustangs and Pirates (23-8) on Tuesday at Heritage Harbor Golf Course.

Qualifying scorers for Lakewood Ranch included Natalie Robson (39), Ashley Ringo (42), Ashlyn Einwachter (42) and Ashleigh Angelo (43).

Top four scorers for Braden River included Taylor Petz (43), Samantha Walters (44), Tabitha Hanely (47) and Halle Hallman (49).

Braden River 194, Out-of-Door Academy 237: Taylor Petz (43) and Samantha Walters (44) led the Pirates to a victory Monday at Heritage Harbor Golf Club.

Charlotte High’s Becky Davis was the medalist with a 40, but the Tarpons did not have enough players to qualify for a team score.

Other qualifying scorers for Braden River included Tabitha Hanely (51) and Halle Hallman (56). The top four scorers for ODA were Christy Watt (49), Madeline Crosby (59), Savanna Fisher (63) and Sara Chinnici (66).

BOYS GOLF

Out-of-Door Academy 166, Saint Stephen’s 167: Jim Cai of ODA earned medalist honors with a 38 as the Thunder edged the Falcons by one shot in Tuesday’s match.

Other top scorers for the teams included Jet Chen (39), Noah Cone (40) and David Hu (41) of Saint Stephen’s as well as ODA’s Jake Naese (40).

VOLLEYBALL

Saint Stephen’s 3, Palmetto 1: The Falcons rallied after losing a tight first set to defeat the Tigers 26-28, 25-17, 25-10, 25-19.

Top performers for Saint Stephen’s included Jordyn Byrd (16 kills, four blocks, 10 digs, nine aces), Sarah Stevens (13 kills, seven blocks, eight digs) and Kate Folkens (29 assists, eight digs, four aces).

Saint Stephen’s travels to The Imagine School of North Port for a 7 p.m. match Wednesday.

This story was originally published October 3, 2018 at 1:56 PM.