Weston’s Shravani Chennamsetty, Miami’s Gabriel Valdes win tennis titles. Plus baseball honors
Tennis player Gabriel Valdes, who will be a junior at True North Classical Academy, recently won the boys’ 16s title at the prestigious USTA Florida Bobby Curtis Sectional Championships for 16s and 18s.
Competitors from throughout the state competed in the annual five-day event at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona.
Valdes won his first three matches convincingly, but the quarterfinal and semifinal were no easy task. He was pushed to the limit against Ajinkya Karnataki (Boca Raton), who took the opening set. Valdes forced the tiebreaker and won to set-up a semifinal showdown with William Freshwater (Naples). They two went back and forth, trading game for game, and it took three sets, where Valdes recorded a two-point victory.
The championship match between Valdes and Teodor Davidov (Bradenton) wasn’t played; so Valdes won via walkover.
Earlier in the tournament Davidov beat Caleb Chow, who also plays high school tennis for True North.
During the spring high school sports season, Chow and Valdes helped the True North boys’ tennis team place second in Class 1A at the FHSAA State Tennis Championships. Chow, who will be a junior, was a state runner-up with his older brother Brennon at No.1 doubles.
More tennis
Shravani Chennamsetty of Weston won the girls’ 18s title by defeating Berklie Simmering of Fort Myers 6-4, 1-6, 10-5 during the USTA Florida Bobby Curtis Sectional Championships at USTA National Campus in Lake Nona.
%20Berklie%20Simmering%20(Right)%20Bobby%20Curtis%20G%2018s%20June%202024.jpg "Shravani Chennamsetty (Left) Berklie Simmering (Right) Bobby Curtis G 18s June 2024.jpg")
In the first set, Chennamsetty finally broke serve to win 6-4. Simmering won set two convincingly 6-1. The 10-point tiebreaker is where Chennamsetty found her groove again, winning 10-5 to become a Bobby Curtis champion.
Chennamsetty was strong throughout the tournament. She received a walkover win in her first match and dominated her second one. In her third match, she was pushed to a third-set tiebreaker, as Shradha Grover of Boca Raton was looking strong. However, Shravani took the final set 10-4. Shravani carried that confidence over into her next two matches, dominating her opponents, while winning both in straight sets and setting up a battle with Simmering for the championship.
In the boys’ 18s, Miami’s Nikolas Stoot (Coral Gables High School) was fourth. Miami’s Steffan Correa (Palmetto High School) was fifth and Martin Macias of Miramar sixth. Henry Stoller of Coral Gables High School was the consolation division winner.
In a semifinal battle, Benjamin Saltman of Winter Haven edged Stoot as the two went point for point the entire match. They traded the first two sets, both 6-4. The tiebreaker was close, too. It took a late rally by Saltman, who won a few points in a row to take it 10-7 and advance to the finals.
Saltman won the title, defeating Kyle Chesman of Port St. Lucie 6-1, 1-6, 10-6. Stoot lost the third place match to Jaden Brady of Palm Beach Gardens 6-1, 6-1.
Baseball state honors
Stoneman Douglas baseball coach and player, father and son, Todd Fitz-Gerald and Devin Fitz-Gerald were runners-up in the state’s Florida Dairy Farmers Baseball Coach of the Year and Mr. Baseball selections, following a final round of voting by a statewide panel of high school baseball coaches and media representatives.
Coach Fitz-Gerald won the state’s top baseball coaching award the prior three seasons, and a Stoneman Douglas player won Mr. Baseball honors the prior two seasons.
Jordan Yamamoto of Dwyer High School is the Florida Dairy Farmers 2024 Baseball Coach of the Year.
In his first year as a coach, the former Florida Marlins pitcher led his squad to a 23-7 record and the Class 6A title, Dwyer’s first state baseball championship.
Previously selected as the Class 6A Coach of the Year, Yamamoto won the overall award with nine first-place votes and 112 points, just ahead of Class 7A COY Fitz-Gerald with seven first-place votes and 103 points. Class 4A COY Jason Hamilton of Cardinal Gibbons finished third (53), followed in the voting by Class 3A COY Brian Campbell of North Broward Prep (47), Class 1A COY Duane Raley of Jay (43), Class 5A COY Miguel Menendez of Tampa Jesuit (38) and Class 2A COY Tom Lucas of St. Johns Country Day (34).
Senior pitcher/first baseman Johnny King of Naples High School is the Florida Dairy Farmers 2024 Mr. Baseball.
King led his team to a 21-8 record and the district championship with an 8-1 record, an 0.73 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 48 innings pitched, with only 17 walks. He also had a .500 batting average with 12 doubles, four triples, two home runs, 25 runs scored and 23 runs batted in. He has signed to play baseball with the University of Miami.
Previously selected the Class 5A Player of the Year, King tallied 145 points and garnered 12 of the 20 first-place votes in winning this year’s award. Finishing as runner-up with 86 points was Class 7A Player of the Year Fitz-Gerald, while Class 6A POY Logan Baisley of Land O’ Lakes finished third (77).
Rounding out the voting were Class 3A Player of the Year Mateo Gray of North Broward Prep (60), Class 1A POY Trey Power of Bozeman (25), Class 4A POY Nic Partridge of Mulberry (21) and Class 2A POY Andreas Alvarez of Northside Christian (12).
The Florida Dairy Farmers Sports Awards program exemplifies Florida Dairy Farmers’ commitment to the state’s youth. This is the 32nd year of these unique awards as we honor the state’s top athletes and coaches in sanctioned FHSAA 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.
Submit summer sports info
If you have summer sports results with local top performers (with stats) for high school or middle school-aged athletes in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, email hssports@miamiherald.com.
They will run in the newspaper and online. Photos accepted, too. No deadline. Send after the game, the next day or weekly. You will be alerted when it will appear in the newspaper and online.
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.
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Roundup compiled by Jim Varsallone
jvarsallone@miamiherald.com
This story was originally published June 19, 2024 at 12:05 AM.
