Community sports | Top three finish for Bradenton runner at Sarasota Half Marathon
Bradenton's Fernanda Scalera had the best finish among Manatee County individuals at Sunday's Sarasota First Watch Half Marathon and Relay. Scalera took third place in the female division with a time of 1 hour, 34 minutes and 2 seconds. New Port Richey's Jacki Wachtel won the overall female title by clocking in at 1:25:41.
Other female division winners included: Lighthouse Point's Georgia Underwood (Masters, 1:35:23) and Weston's Terri Swanson (Grand Masters, 1:40:01).
Jon Mott, of Babson Park, won the male overall title in 1:11:55.
Other male division winners included: Indianapolis' James Harris (masters, 1:23:51) and Lake Placid's Michael Quigley (grand masters, 1:24:44).
Other local racing news
Many Bradenton runners participated in the third annual Shamrock 5K Run, Walk & Pub Crawl. Bradenton's Michael Lamb ran the course in 16 minutes, 44 seconds to capture the overall male championship.
Palmetto's Diana Sitar finished with a time of 19:45 to win the overall female crown.
Ellenton's Tom Eisenhauer was the male masters champion with a time of 20:18, and St. Petersburg's Debra Leverenz was the female masters champ at 21:52.
There were 252 participants that finished the race in this year's event that emanated in downtown Bradenton.
Local soccer teams fall short
Area soccer clubs made a deep run at winning the Florida Youth Soccer Association's Region C Cup this year. However, none walked away with the trophy in tow.
Playing at Braden River, the Manatee Magic's boys U13 Division II club advanced to the finals, before succumbing to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the West Florida Flames.
The Magic also had three other semifinalists: the boys U14 DII side (2-1 semifinal loss to San Carlos Park), the girls U13 DII team (1-0 semifinal loss to the West Florida Flames) and the U15 DI group (3-1 semifinal loss to the Wesley Chapel Flames).
Host Braden River sent two boys teams, its U14 DI and U15 DII, into the knockout phase of the tournament. The Rage's U14 squad lost in the final to Ridge Youth, 7-0. The U15 team fell in the semifinals, 1-0, to Pinellas County United. IMG Academy's U16 boys team advanced to the final, before faltering, 4-0, to FCT Scorpio.
Matches began in February and resumed in March with the Round of 16 and quarterfinals. This past weekend was the semifinals and finals for all the age groups.
Gladiators keep unbeaten record intact
The Southwest Florida Gladiators, the area's lone minor league football franchise, earned a 10-0 victory over the Key West Sun Devils in a road game last weekend to become the lone unbeaten team in the Florida Football Alliance. The Gladiators are 6-0 and host the Miami Spartans at G.T. Bray park at 7:05 p.m. on March 28. The Gladiators are off this week. The Spartans are 4-1 on the season. Bradenton leads the National Conference's Central Division by two games over the Tampa Patriots.
Jason Dill, sports reporter, can be reached at 745-7017 or via email at jdill@bradenton.com
Follow him on Twitter @Jason__Dill or on his Facebook page at Jason Dill Bradenton Herald.
This story was originally published March 16, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Community sports | Top three finish for Bradenton runner at Sarasota Half Marathon."