Miami local medals in sailing in Italy. Broward wrestling coach on Team USA in France and more
Isabella Mendoza-Cabezas of Key Biscayne captured a bronze medal during the 2024 Youth Sailing World Championships in Italy.
Cabezas, 18, representing the U.S. Youth sailing team, inched ahead of Delfina Kuttel of Argentina in a tiebreaker to earn herself a podium spot. She totaled 81 points over nine races in the girls’ ILCA 6 class. The ILCA 6 is a one-person dinghy that attracts athletes with physical endurance and sharp tactical racing skills.
“I feel euphoric. I worked hard for this and earned it; so I’m in my place and feel at home,” Cabezas said via ussailing.org. “The theme of this week was focusing on the basics. Improving small things led to good consistent results that I could rely on throughout the regatta. My coach, Sophia Reineke, helped me stay calm when things went good and bad.”
Reineke of Fort Lauderdale is no stranger to top sailing competition as a four-time All-American at Boston College. She is head of the Lauderdale Yacht Club’s race team in Fort Lauderdale.
Reineke said: “[I’m] beyond proud of what [Isabella] accomplished and to have been on [her] team. This is just the start.”
The U.S. Youth sailing team is composed of the nation’s top under-19 athletes in sailing. After five days of intense racing on Lake Garda, Team USA concluded the regatta with three podium finishes and six Top 5 placings.
Overall, the U.S. Youth sailing team achieved all Top 20 finishes across nine disciplines in one of the most competitive youth regattas in the world. The event featured 70-plus countries with 400-plus athletes. The United States finished fifth.
“I’m so proud of this team and this coaching staff” said Phil Muller, team leader and US Sailing Youth Performance manager. “These athletes conducted themselves so professionally. We owe a lot of credit to the regional club programs, teammates and coaches at home that have supported the growth of our team representing the USA. The consistency of our performance shows the depth of talent in the United States. We are excited for the future.”
Cabezas, who trains at the Key Biscayne Yacht Club, travels to Ballyhome, Ireland for the Youth Europeans.
She noted: “Staying consistent on the water and visualizing defeat and success was a big thing during training season. I’d say the biggest one is learning from your mistakes as well as pushing past your mental and physical limits.”
Cabezas began sailing at the Key Biscayne Yacht Club at age 8. KBYC laser head coach Pedro Mascarenhas is her coach, but she also trains in Europe for four months during the year. She is home-schooled with a 4.0 GPA and will attend College of Charleston in the Fall. Her father is a former professional soccer player from Peru.
Wrestling
Cardinal Gibbons wrestling coach Jamal Morris represented Team USA at the United World Wrestling Beach Wrestling World Series at Saint-Laurent-du-Var in France.
Morris at 198 pounds placed sixth, defeating Kevin Gremm of Germany. The event featured wrestlers from 14 countries.
Team USA, under the guidance of USA Wrestling, made history with three medals at the Beach World Series at Saint-Laurent-du-Var, the most for Team USA in a single UWW World Series event.
Morris and his twin brother, Jamel, coach the Cardinal Gibbons wrestling team. They are Cardinal Gibbons alum. During their high school wrestling days there, they won state titles while helping the Chiefs win a team state championship.
Josh Silveira was an integral part of that team, too, winning state. They were Miami Herald All-Broward first team wrestling selections. Silveira wrestled collegiately at North Carolina State and Arizona State, where former Western standout and state champ Lee Pritts coached.
Silveira, a top pro MMA fighter, recently qualified for the PFL semifinals in the light heavyweight division, which are Aug. 16 at Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino near Hollywood.
This marks Silveira’s third consecutive PFL semifinal. He finished runner-up last year and tied for third two years ago. In a rematch of last year’s finals, he will battle 2023 PFL Champ Impa Kasanganay, who was born in Fort Lauderdale and trains at Kill Cliff FC in Deerfield Beach.
The PFL offers a regular season and playoff format with each winner in each division, taking home $1-million and the championship belt.
He trains at the prestigious American Top Team in Coconut Creek. His father, Conan, is an MMA legend, head coach and co-founder of ATT, which is recognized as the top MMA training center in the world.
Volleyball
Charles Norman, who coached at Ferguson High School, is a first-year assistant on the Barry University volleyball coaching staff, director of athletics Dr. Scott Smith announced.
Norman joined the volleyball staff in the spring 2024 as a volunteer assistant and was promoted to full-time in the summer. He has helped lead the recruiting effort to staff the inaugural men’s indoor team for 2025.
He served as the boys’ volleyball and girls’ volleyball coach at Ferguson Senior High since 2020. He also serves as the head coach, camp director and recruiting coordinator for Miami United Volleyball Club.
Norman led the Falcons’ girls’ program to three consecutive GMAC titles and three district championships and led the boys to a runner-up spot in the GMAC tournament and districts (2020-21 and 2021-22).
He also led the Ferguson boys to a Top 10 ranking in the state in 2022-23 and received an Outstanding Leadership Award at the Miami-Dade All-Star Game as head coach in 2021-22.
Norman is on track to receive his bachelor’s degree from FIU in December in psychology, behavior analysis track.
About Barry volleyball
The Barry University volleyball program is expanding. Barry women’s beach volleyball began in 2024, and Barry men’s indoor volleyball debuts in the spring of 2025.
The women’s indoor team has captured three NCAA Division II national championships, including the 1995 title under the direction of current director of volleyball, Leonid Yelin. The Bucs have won 49 All-American awards, as well as seven Adacemic All-America commendations. Volleyball Bucs have won the Walter Byers Award and been a finalist three times for NCAA Woman of the Year.
Special Olympics Florida
Four local athletes of Special Olympics Florida made an impressive debut on the Miami triathlon circuit.
Representing Area 8, Peter Vila and Orlando Caro from Miami-Dade County and Joshua Olds and Sergio Cano from Broward County competed in the Key Biscayne Sprint Triathlon, part of the 2024 Key Biscayne Aquabike/Duathlon/Triathlon Trilogy organized by Integrity Multisport.
For Vila, Caro and Cano, it was their first triathlon.
Olds is a triathlon veteran, but it was his first as a member of the Area 8 group and also as a member of Tri2One, a South Florida team. He finished sixth overall and first in his age group.
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.
---
Roundup compiled by Jim Varsallone
jvarsallone@miamiherald.com
This story was originally published August 7, 2024 at 5:34 AM.
