Miami Herald High School Athlete of the Week 26: Felipe Quinones of Columbus

Felipe Quinones of the Columbus boys’ basketball team is the Miami Herald Athlete of the Week for Week 26.

The senior scored 15 points and made a pivotal steal late in the game as the Explorers (26-6) edged Sarasota 53-50 for their fifth consecutive state title in the FHSAA Class 7A boys’ state final at UNF Arena in Jacksonville. In a state semifinal win over Lake Mary, he had a game-high 17 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.

Other nominees were: Zane Elliott, St. Thomas Aquinas basketball; Ronneisha Thomas, St. Thomas Aquinas basketball; Melissa Gallo, Florida Christian School wrestling; Stephanie Vega, Doral Academy basketball; Robert Guishard, Pembroke Pines Charter basketball; Cayden Daughtry, Calvary Christian basketball; Lazaro Soto, Southwest wrestling; Michael Mocco, Cardinal Gibbons wrestling; and Kalias Nazario, Mater Lakes Academy wrestling.

To be considered for a nomination (Broward and Miami-Dade high school varsity athletes only), email hssports@miamiherald.com.

Jim Varsallone

Miami Herald

305-376-3621

Jim Varsallone writes a high school sports column twice a week, featuring top performers in all varsity sports (boys and girls) in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. He also covers pro wrestling, something he’s done since his college days in the late 1980s. Now in his fifth decade of coverage, he currently follows WWE (Raw, SmackDown and NXT), AEW, Ring of Honor, TNA Impact Wrestling, MLW, WOW, NWA, and the South Florida indies, mainly CCW. He writes MMA, too -- mostly profile stories and video interviews with American Top Team and Sanford MMA fighters in South Florida. As for pro wrestling, he writes feature stories and profile pieces, updates upcoming show schedules in South Florida, photographs the action and interviews talent (audio and video) -- sharing the content here and via social media on his Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channel: jim varsallone (jimmyv3 channel). Support my work with a digital subscription