Windermere’s stellar girls swimming team has a 2028 Olympics contender, Rylee Erisman, in the spotlight going into its Class 4A District 4 meet, at Orlando’s Rosen Aquatics Center, Oct. 31.
Erisman, 16, broke FHSAA records while winning the 50-yard freestyle (21.16 seconds) and 400 free (47.14) in the 2024 state meet. She trumped that performance when she set a U.S. 18U record in the 100 meter freestyle (52.79) while earning eight medals — including five golds — at the World Junior Swimming Championships in August.
It’s somewhat of a surprise that Erisman is still participating in high school meets — but she has said swimming in a team environment is an enjoyable escape from the intensity of national and international competitions.
The Wolverines, who placed second in the state meet in each of the past two years, also have standout juniors Lilliana Krstolic and Aidyn Reese, and senior Brynn Lavigueur. Windermere is ready to take another shot at surpassing Sarasota Riverview, which has won the past four state titles.
Swimmers to watch at next Wednesday’s 4A-3 meet at Lake Brantley include Winter Park senior Ian Heysen Ricci, a Peruvian national record holder who won state titles in the breaststroke and individual medley last season. The Wildcats also have Denzo Senekal, one of the state’s top sophomores, and senior Ben Rines.
The Rosen pool is the venue for 4A-5 on Oct. 30 and 3A-4 on Oct. 31.
District meets are this week for 1A and 2A teams. Trinity Prep hosts 1A-3 Thursday.
Windermere soph Rylee Erisman puts on show with U.S. mark in FHSAA swim final
Cross country
Oviedo confirmed its status as the area’s dominant boys team by running past 2024 Class 4A state runner-up Hagerty in Saturday’s Seminole Athletic Conference meet.
The Lions’ five scorers were in the top seven and Aiden Aysun (15 minutes, 17.67 seconds), Levi Mollica (15:23.58) and Colin Aysun (15:33.79) finished 1-2-3 and well out in front.
Based solely on each runner’s best time of the season, per FlRunners.com, Oviedo is right now the favorite to claim the 4A championship. Cross country bests can sometimes be deceiving because not all courses have the same degree of difficulty. But there’s no question that the Lions are fast.
Lake Mary edged Hagerty 45-49 to repeat as the girls SAC champ.
East Ridge flexed its depth in sweeping the girls and boys titles in a fast-track Hawks Last Chance meet at Lake Minneola. Six of the Knights girls set personal bests.
Knights junior standout Axel Sallault ran a career-best and the area’s fastest time of the year (15:01.11) to win the boys race ahead of Montverde Academy junior Will Moss, who also ran a PR (15:11.40).
The Master’s Academy junior Rachel Judy lowered her personal record to 18:19.80 in winning the girls race ahead of Tavares ninth grader Jimena Nava Garcia, who clocked a PR (18:37.71).
Horizon won the boys and girls titles at the Mount Dora Christian Academy Invitational.
The Oviedo High boys cross country team ran away with the Seminole Athletic Conference title and are state title contenders. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Girls golf
The eighth time was the charm for Lake Mary Prep girls golf.
After being invited seven times to the prestigious Cognizant High School Invitational (formerly the Honda Classic), the Griffins finally finished on top of the prestigious two-day event at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens. They posted a two-round total of 2-under-par 574 with a 290 on Monday and 284 Tuesday to top Circle Christian (288-292—580).
LMP teammates Tatiana Ang and Charlize Peterson finished in a three-way tie for first individually with Circle’s Angelina Pacheco with 141 scores. Pacheco won the medalist title due to a scorecard tiebreaker.
“This was as clutch of a final round I’ve seen from us,” said LMP coach Mike Jamison, who is in his 10th year at the helm. “There weren’t any disappointments today.”
Peterson pulled off a Michael Jordan flu-game (38 points) moment in Tuesday’s round. She suffered food poisoning from the night before, but somehow shot the lowest round of the second day, 4-under 68.
“She was dehydrated, but we helped her get through it and she played great,” Jamison said.
iWanamaker ranks Circle as the state’s No. 1 team regardless of classification heading into next week’s district tournaments. Lake Mary Prep moved up to No. 4, followed by Montverde Academy and Windermere Prep.
Nicole Sardinha shot 3-under 36 at Orange County National for Circle Christian in a 141-145 win against Windermere Prep. The Madison Malaret shot 8-under-par 62 at Winter Pines Golf Club in leading Winter Park (279) to a win against Windermere (318) and Boone (350).
In another match at Winter Pines, St. Cloud’s Karolyna Adams shot 1-under 33 in a 138-146 nine hole win vs. Winter Park. The Bulldogs also won the Orange Belt Conference title.
District tournaments are next week, Monday through Wednesday.
TFA wins Qdoba golf; No. 1 Winter Park volleyball outlasts No. 2 Osceola | Varsity Weekly
Boys golf
Benjamin of Palm Beach edged The First Academy by two shots (569-571) for the boys Cognizant title, but TFA senior Mingbo Jiang notched medalist honors with 66-71—137. His first round was the best in the event.
TFA is No. 5 in the iWanamaker rankings, tops in the area.
Ethan Parish shot 4-under-par 68 at Royal St. Cloud Golf to lead St. Cloud to a 282 team total and the Orange Belt Conference title. His teammate, Ayden Febres shot 8-under 64 on the same course in a tri-match win.
Lake Highland Prep won 143-147 vs. Lake Mary Prep with Blake Peeper shooting 2-under 34 at Rio Pinar.
Lake Mary totaled 8-over 296 at Wekiva Golf Club to win the Seminole Athletic Conference Tournament ahead of Oviedo (309).
Windermere sets bowling records; volleyball Open Division; golf gems; | Varsity Weekly
Bowling
Undefeated South Lake had to go to the limit to beat University of Orange City 3-2 in the District 4 boys tournament. Brody Carter bowled a 759 three-game series for South Lake. Both teams advance to next week’s state tournament at Orlando’s Boardwalk Bowl Entertainment Center.
The qualifying totals for the top teams were 3,405 by South Lake, followed by Leesburg (3,323) and University (3,166).
Windermere totaled 2,930 and won the District 7 final against Lyman.
In girls play, Lake Mary and Apopka were 1-2 in District 7.
State champ East River bowled for a district title on Wednesday.
Extra points
Class 2A Orangewood Christian had Florida’s third toughest regular season girls volleyball schedule according to FHSAA strength of schedule ratings. Lake Brantley was fourth, followed by Winter Park on that list.
Taylor Harris, a 2024 honors graduate at Dr. Phillips, is a dual-sport D-II athlete at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. As the football placekicker for the Braves (6-2) he’s 7-for-9 on field goal tries, with a long of 47 yards. He’s 25-of-26 on PAT kicks. He’s also a lefthanded relief pitcher for the baseball team.
East River, South Lake, Windermere, Hagerty roll into bowling playoffs
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
