ROUNDUP
Pine Crest swimmers overpower district foes
BY CONCEPCION LEDEZMA
Miami Herald Writer
Thomas Veale and Siena DeVenuto produced record-breaking performances to lead Pine Crest in another dominating swimming district meet Saturday at St. Andrew's in Boca Raton.
``If there were awards for outstanding swimmer of the meet, I'd say they'd be Thomas for the boys and Siena for the girls,'' Pine Crest coach Jay Fitzgerald said after watching his teams sweep the boys' and girls' District 10-1A titles in the 12-team meet. ``Both broke meet records today, won a couple of individual events and were a part of winning relay teams.''
The coach added that his team advanced 98 percent of its members to the regionals, scheduled to be held at Nova Southeastern University on Thursday.
The boys' team finished with 554 points, host St. Andrew's was second with 445 and Westminster Academy took third with 222 points, edging out Pompano Beach (219.5).
The girls' team won by a similar margain over St. Andrew's (588-410), with Coral Springs Charter (378) and Westminster Academy (260) taking third and fourth, respectively.
Veale, a junior from England, led a Pine Crest sweep in the boys' 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle finals.
In the 500, he shaved off nearly 20 seconds off his preliminary time to dominate the field. His time of 4 minutes, 36.88 seconds broke a district meet record previously set by Pine Crest's Andrew Novakoff in 2006. Veale also helped the Panthers capture the title in the 400 freestyle relay and qualify for regionals in the 200 freestyle relay.
DeVenuto led the girls' team with individual titles in the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle. With a time of 4:52.33, she broke her record in the district meet she set two years ago.
Other Broward County highlights include Westminster Academy's Jessica Nederlanden (girls' 200 freestyle) and diver Patti Kranz, who is vying for her third consecutive individual state diving title.
Coral Spring Charter produced a two-event individual district champion in Ashley Hicks, who won the 100 backstroke and 200 individual medley. Pompano Beach's Benjamin Teuchert help lift the Tornadoes their third-place overall finish by winning the individual 100 butterfly, edging out Pine Crest's Jose Arrillaga by with a time of 55.14.
Late Friday -- Boca Raton Olympic Heights 21, Pembroke Pines Charter 19: Pines Charter's hopes of making the playoffs for the first time took a serious blow when a late comeback fell short. Running back Brandon Bennett, who had 17 carries for 138 yards, scored a late touchdown, but the two-point conversion run failed allowing host Olympic Heights to hang on.
With no more games against District 14-3A opponents, Pines Charter (4-5, 2-2) needs Fort Lauderdale (4-4, 1-2) to beat Olympic Heights (4-4, 2-1) next week to force a three-way tiebreaker for a playoff berth. Archbishop McCarthy (8-0, 3-0) secured the district title Friday with a win against Fort Lauderdale.
Late Friday -- Sheridan Hills 37, Highlands Christian 0: Led by Ryan Robinson's 137 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries as the Sharks clinched a playoff berth in District 8-1B. Quarterback Zach Joseph completed 7 of 8 passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns.
Late Friday -- Upperroom Christian 18, Hollywood Christian 12 (OT): Jerrell Dowels' 5-yard touchdown run gave Upperroom (3-5, 3-2 District 8-1B) the thrilling victory, and eliminated Hollywood Christian (4-3, 2-2) from playoff contention.
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