Roman Anthony & Todd Fitz-Gerald of Douglas win state baseball awards. Plus softball & track honors
Stoneman Douglas High School swept the state’s top baseball honors under the Florida Dairy Farmers banner.
Senior outfielder Roman Anthony of Douglas High School was selected as the Florida Dairy Farmers 2022 Mr. Baseball, following a final round of voting by a statewide panel of high school baseball coaches and media representatives.
Anthony, who signed to play baseball at the University of Mississippi, led his team to the Class 7A state championship with a .520 batting average, 14 doubles, 10 home runs, 36 runs and 40 RBI.
Previously selected the Class 7A Player of the Year, Anthony tallied 159 points and garnered 13 of the 20 first-place votes in winning this year’s overall award.
Finishing as runner-up was Class 2A POY Bradley Hodges of (Orange Park) St. Johns Country Day (88), while Class 5A POY Wes Mendes of (Tampa) Jesuit finished third (60). Rounding out the voting were Class 4A POY Kevin Martinez of (Cape Coral) Island Coast (49), Class 6A POY Walter Ford of Pace (43), Class 3A POY Cade Kurland of (Tampa) Berkeley Prep (36) and Class 1A POY Colby Jones of (Bonifay) Holmes County (5).
Coach of the Year
Todd Fitz-Gerald of Stoneman Douglas High School was named the Florida Dairy Farmers 2022 Baseball Coach of the Year.
(Back-to-back winner) Fitz-Gerald, who was also named the state’s top coach in 2021, guided his team to a 30-2 record and its second straight Class 7A state championship. In 11 years at Douglas, he has posted a 226-55 record with three state titles (2016, 2021-22). His career record of 476-121 includes a 10-year stint at Plantation American Heritage where he won a state title (2008) and had two other Final Four appearances (2002 and 2009).
Previously selected as the Class 7A COY, Fitz-Gerald won the overall award with 16 first-place votes and 184 points, to finish ahead of Class 4A COY Clint Montgomery of (Cape Coral) Island Coast (96) and Class 6A COY Ralph Suarez of Doral Academy (80). They were followed in the voting by Class 1A COY Jeromy Powell of (Bonifay) Holmes County (26), Class 2A COY Chris Cuadra of Miami Christian (17), Class 5A COY Miguel Menendez of (Tampa) Jesuit (15) and Class 3A COY Brian Campbell of North Broward Prep (12).
The Florida Dairy Farmers High School Sports Awards program exemplifies Florida Dairy Farmers’ commitment to the state’s youth. This is the 30th year of these unique awards as we honor the state’s top athletes and coaches in all FHSAA sanctioned and recognized sports.
The program also emphasizes to young people the importance of keeping dairy products a primary part of their diet in their overall nutrition plan.
Softball state honors
Alyssa Zabala of Doral Academy finished third in the Class 6A Softball Player of the Year voting, in association with the Florida Dairy Farmers.
Willie Viruet of Doral Academy was runner-up for Class 6A Coach of the Year honors.
Yahaira Williams of Key West was third in the Class 4A Player of the Year voting. Jason Garcia of Key West was third for Class 4A Coach of the Year honors.
Track & Field state honors
There are four finalists for the 2022 Miss Track Award in association with the Florida Dairy Farmers.
Two are from the area.
Jassani Carter, a Flanagan senior, is the Class 4A Track Athlete of the Year.
She repeated as both the 100-meter (11.59) and 200-meter (23.43) state champion, becoming the first Broward County athlete to win back-to-back titles in the two events since Olympic champion Sanya Richards pulled off the feat in 1999-2000. Carter has signed with the University of Southern California.
Alyssa Jones, a Southridge senior, is the Class 3A Track Athlete of the Year.
She completed her high school career by becoming the sixth athlete in state history to win four championships in the same year. She won her third straight high jump title, repeated in both the 100 meters and long jump and added the 200-meter title to finish with eight individual titles in her career. She has signed with Stanford University.
Miami Northwestern’s Carmen Jackson, the Class 3A Coach of the Year, is a finalist for Girls’ Track Coach of the Year. She led her team to its 13th consecutive state title and 18th title overall with a repeat win over runner-up Southridge (94-76). The championship extended the state record for most consecutive titles.
There are four finalists for the 2022 Mr. Track Award in association with the Florida Dairy Farmers.
Kyvon Tatham, a Pembroke Pines Charter senior, is one of them. He is the Class 3A Track Athlete of the Year, sweeping the long jump (23-10 ¼) and triple jump (48-11) state titles.
The four finalists for Boys’ Track Coach of the Year honors include St. Thomas Aquinas’s Alex Armenteros, the Class 3A Coach of the Year. He guided the Raiders to their first state title since 2014 by edging 2021 champion Dillard, 62-61, after winning the closing 1,600-meter relay.
All County Spring Sports
The Miami Herald All County teams for Broward and Miami Dade spring sports were revealed June 8 in the newspaper and online at https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/high-school.
Awards, honors, college signings
If you have local, state, national and/or team awards for your varsity student athletes, email hssports@miamiherald.com.
College signings, too.
New athletic directors, coaches
For high schools in Broward and Miami-Dade, if you have new sports administration and/or coaching hires to announce, email hssports@miamiherald.com.
Submit summer sports results
For high school aged athletes in Broward and Miami-Dade, if you have summer results, top performers and stats for this column, email hssports@miamiherald.com.
They will run in the newspaper and online. Photos accepted, too. No deadline. Send after the event, the next day or weekly. You will be alerted when it will appear in the newspaper and online.
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Roundup compiled by Jim Varsallone
jvarsallone@miamiherald.com
This story was originally published June 21, 2022 at 9:47 PM.
