Miami Southridge High sprinter Ebony Eutsey scored the biggest victory of her career Friday. Eutsey ran a time of 52.88 seconds to win the 400-meter race at the sixth annual World Youth Championships in Sudtirol, Italy.

Eutsey finished over a half-second ahead of fellow American Michelle Brown in the race after coasting to victory in her semifinal race Thursday. Eutsey, a senior this fall, ran the fastest time in the country in high school competition this past season when she ran a 52.42.

Eutsey is a five-time state champion, winning the 400 meters three times, and the 200 twice.

Her rival at Miami Jackson, Robin Reynolds, secured another quadruple victory. Two months after winning four state titles at the Class 3A championships, Reynolds took home gold in the long jump, 100, 200 and 400 meters in the intermediate girls' division of the USA Youth Outdoor Track Field Championships last week at Eastern Michigan University.

Reynolds ran 11.68 seconds to win the 100 meters, 23.82 seconds to win the 200 and 54.07 to win the 400. She also jumped a distance of 19-feet, 4 ¾-inches to win the long jump.

BASEBALL

Former Miami Ferguson High catcher Steven Baron, selected by the Seattle Mariners with the 33rd overall pick in last month's Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, signed a minor-league contract worth a guaranteed $980,000 this week.

Baron will play for Seattle's Advanced Rookie affiliate in Pulaski, Va. Baron led the Falcons to their best season in school history, which included a berth in the Class 6A regional semifinals. He hit .350 with two home runs and 16 RBI.

Baron, who signed with Duke University during his senior season, will receive $200,000 for tuition following his baseball career and is guaranteed a chance to compete at the Mariners' spring training for the next two seasons.

COACHING CHANGE

Miami Killian will try to keep its place as a football powerhouse under a new coach next season.

Cougars coach Steve Smith stepped down to take an assistant coaching position at Duncanville High, a Class 5A school in Texas. Smith coached Killian for the past two seasons, leading the Cougars to the Class 6A regional finals and a 10-3 record this past season.

''It's hard to leave a place where you've had success and had the chance to work with a lot of great people, but this is a great situation for me to go to and I can't pass it up,'' said Smith, who will coach the offensive linemen at Duncanville, which won a state title in 1999.

Killian athletic director Pete Hertler said Tuesday that the school has hired former Southwest Miami assistant Cory Johnson as its new coach.

Johnson was Southwest's defensive coordinator the past eight seasons, and helped the Eagles earn winning records each of the past two years, along with their first district championship. Johnson, a graduate of Killian in 1996, coached with Smith at Killian during spring workouts as the defensive coordinator. Smith, who has lived the past 12 years in Miami, coached two seasons at Hialeah prior to his stint at Killian. He compiled a 23-16 record during those four seasons and in both cases led his teams to winning records by his second year.

Smith was also an assistant coach at Hollywood Chaminade under then-coach Mark Guandolo, whose teams won two state titles, and at Miami Southridge, where the Spartans reached the state championship game in 2000. Smith also coached briefly at FIU under then-coach Don Strock.

USA WINS

Columbus wide receiver Erik Lora, his coach, Chris Merritt, and Edison defensive back Phillip Thomas all did their part to help the United States win a gold medal this month in the inaugural Junior World Football Championship in Canton, Ohio.

The U.S. secured the title last week in the championship game at Fawcett Stadium with a 41-3 win against Canada in front of 15,473 fans. Lora, who will play at Eastern Illinois this fall, caught a 34-yard touchdown pass in the championship game. Merritt coached the defensive backs.

HONORS

• Pembroke Pines Charter pitcher Lauren Sewell earned EA Sports second-team All-American honors this week. Sewell went 12-3 with 255 strikeouts and an 0.35 ERA to lead the Jaguars to the Class 4A state semifinals.

• Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas recently won the Dodge Sunshine Cup All-Sports Award Trophy, which recognizes athletic excellence statewide in overall boys' and girls' sports. The Raiders won the overall award for Class 5A, as well as the boys' and girls' major sports awards after securing state titles in football, boys' track and field and boys' tennis.

Miami Columbus won the Boys' Major Award for Class 6A for the first time. The Explorers, who won a state title in cross country and earned state runner-up finishes in baseball and track, became the first Dade school since Miami Southridge (1998) to win the award.

Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons, which won a state title in competitive cheerleading, and earned a state runner-up finish in soccer, won the Girls' Major Award for Class 4A.

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