The Windermere boys bowling team is carrying a mountain of momentum into next week’s FHSAA state playoffs. The Wolverines, enjoying by far the best season in its nine-year history, smashed school records last week when Ryan Martin and Jacob Larson rolled near-perfect 299 games one day after another. Both are juniors.
To card a 299, bowlers must nail 11 consecutive strikes before leaving one pin standing on the final shot of the game.
Martin did just that last Wednesday as Windermere scored a 2,587 team total to roll past Horizon and Olympia.
One day later Larson matched that 299 as Windermere ran its record to 8-0 with a 3,059-2,117 victory against Lake Buena Vista. Andres De La Rosa had a 632 three-game series and Larson totaled 628.
The 3,059 was another school record for a squad aiming to score its first district title and first state tournament appearance as a team.
“This is the year we’ve been waiting for,” Windermere coach Joe Amendola said. “You get lucky to have that one kid who’s really good, and maybe a second, but we’re really deep with seven guys we can start any match.”
The Wolverines closed their regular season Wednesday and play in the District 7 tournament at Bowlero Apopka on Tuesday. The top two teams advance to the state tournament, which is Tuesday-Thursday, Oct. 28-30, at Orlando’s Boardwalk Bowl Entertainment Center.
MORE BOWLING NEWS BELOW
Girls golf
Winter Park sophomore Phah Smitasin shot 7-under-par 63 at Winter Park Pines in leading the Wildcats to a 275-307 win against St. Cloud. Madison Malaret added a 66.
Ninth grader Johanna McKinney shot 67 at Twin Rivers Golf Club in a win for International Community.
Lake Nona edged Circle Christian 143-146 in a duel of two top teams.
TFA sophomore Tyler Creavy was the individual winner with a 68 at the Winter Park Invitational golf tournament. (Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel)
Boys golf
The First Academy junior Nathan Erickson shot 66 at Shingle Creek and 65 at Dubsdread for a sizzling 131 total to win medalist honors in the Sam Ryder Bishop Moore Catholic Invitational. Circle Christian’s Luke Gossett was runner-up at 72-65—137.
State title contenders Ponte Vedra (292-275—567), The First Academy (288-283—571) and Circle Christian (300-278—578) went 1-2-3 in the team standings.
Arnold Pouncy shot a 4-under 68 at Royal St Cloud Golf Links to lead St. Cloud (287) to a win against Harmony and Lake Nona.
Wensheng Liu shot 3-under 33 at The Timacuan Club in a 151-163 win against Circle Christian.
Wesley Hakanen shot a 3-under 33 at Wedgefield Golf Club in an East River victory.
TFA scored a victory in the 16-team Winter Park Invitational, also known as the Birdies for the Brain fundraiser event. The Royals totaled 3-under 285 to top 2. Lake Highland Prep (288), Bishop Moore (293), Winter Park (294) and Circle Christian (298) at Rio Pinar Country Club on Monday.
TFA sophomore Tyler Creavy was medalist with a 4-under 68, followed by Lake Highland Prep’s Christian Koehn at 69.
Montverde Academy’s Michael Frasure shot 3-under 33 at Orange Tree Golf Club in a 145-148 Tuesday win vs. TFA.
Innovation’s Jake Pevoroff shot 4-under 32 at North Short Golf Club.
New FHSAA Championship Division puts top 8 teams in spotlight
Volleyball
District tournaments culminate with tournament championship matches Thursday night. Region quarterfinals next week are Tuesday for the Rural and 1A-3A classifications and Wednesday for 4A-7A, with 32 teams in each bracket.
The playoff picture will change next year with the Florida High School Athletic Association adding an Open Division that will be a separate playoff bracket for the eight teams with the highest power rankings, regardless of class. If that format was used this year the Orlando area’s three top state title contenders, Winter Park, Orangewood Christian and Kissimmee Osceola, would have been pulled out of their current classification as three of the top eight “Open” teams based on ratings at the close of the regular season:
1. Winter Park, 7A
2. Calvary Christian (Clearwater), 3A
3. Orangewood, 2A
4. Chiles (Tallahassee), 5A
5. Beachside (St. Johns), 5A
6. Gulf Breeze, 6A
7. Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale), 6A
8. Osceola, 7A
That would have opened the door for teams like Lake Brantley (7A), Hagerty (7A), Oviedo (6A) and Lake Highland Prep (3A) to be top contenders for the traditional class championships.
Girls volleyball: Winter Park, Osceola, Orangewood are playoff favorites
Cross country
In her first race since Sept. 6, Bishop Moore ninth grader Annabella Tomasic clocked a career-best 17:25.0 time to win in a fast field of 348 runners at the New World Fall Spectacular elite race on the Cecil Field golf course in Jacksonville. Eight girls ran under 18 minutes.
Tomasic has won all three of her 2025 races but has been dealing with shin splints.
“I was just happy to come out here and be able to race,” Tomasic said with a big smile in a post-race interview by FlRunners.com.
The Hornets placed eighth out of 40 teams.
East Ridge junior Axel Sallault ran his personal best with a sixth-place time of 15:14.0 in the New World boys elite race. Marcelo Mantecon, a junior for Belen Jesuit in Miami, ran the fastest time in Florida XC history (14:33) to win a race that saw 53 runners cover 5,000 meters in less than 16 minutes.
Girl bowling
East River’s Larielle Tharps had a 264 game in a girls win against Colonial, Timber Creek and University (Orlando).
Winter Park improved to 12-1 with a 2,291 to 2,125 win against Trinity Prep (11-2). Adriana Cabezas turned in a 210 game for the Wildcats.
Boys bowling
Shelby Davis rolled 259 and 258 games as East River improved to 11-0 with a win against Space Coast and a four-team victory. The Falcons posted 2,761 and 2,683 team totals.
Trinity Prep sophomore Wren Harasym bowled a personal-best 725 three-game series for the Saints (9-4) in a 2,667 to 2,202 win vs. Winter Park (11-2).
Nick Stephan rolled a 439 and Paul Medico III a 438 two-game series for Hagerty (14-0) in a 2,675 team win.
Extra points
• Osceola High will be naming its basketball court as the “Coach Nate Alexander Court” in a ceremony during its regular season opener, Nov. 18. Alexander coached the Kowboys for nine seasons and won state championships in 2017 and 2019 after a 2015 state runner-up finish.
• High School marching bands will perform at the Bands of America Orlando Regional Championship on Saturday at Camping World Stadium. Lake Buesta Vista High School is the host for an event that has 22 bands from Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and South Carolina competing.
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com. Steve Gorches contributed to this report.
