You can’t expect much drama on National Signing Day these days as high school prospects are encouraged to announce their commitments early.
But the Sentinel’s reigning girls basketball player of the year — dynamic point guard Trinity Turner of Dr. Phillips — is creating some suspense. She has a final four of Arizona State, Georgia, Mississippi State and UCF and was scheduled to announce her choice in a Wednesday morning signing ceremony at DP. But that was rescheduled to Saturday after the 12:30 p.m. Panthers blue-and-white scrimmage game.
Turner led the state in double-doubles with 24 last season while averaging 20.6 points, 10.9 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 4.6 steals per game in leading DP (30-2) to a repeat Class 7A state championship.
Lake Highland Prep, winner of four consecutive girls basketball state titles, is loaded with four Wednesday signees: Lexie Blue (Virginia Tech), Jada Eads (Seton Hall), Camila DePool (Fordham) and Bri Rivera (Austin Peay).
Kylee Kitts, a 6-foot-4 forward who averaged 12.6 points and 9.0 rebounds for Faith Christian as a sophomore last season, signed with Florida. She reclassified into the graduating Class of 2024 and is playing for Hagerty this season as a senior.
Her big sister is already in the SEC. Chloe Kitts joined South Carolina’s NCAA Final Four team as a late-arriving freshman last December.
Montverde’s machine
The national No. 1 Montverde Academy boys basketball program had another banner year of blue-chip signees: Cooper Flagg (Duke), Liam McNeeley (Indiana), Asa Newell (Georgia), Robert Wright (Baylor) and Curtis Givens (LSU).
Flagg, like Kitts, reclassified to bypass his junior year of high school and is the consensus top prospect in the Class of 2024.
Derik Queen, a 6-10 senior from Baltimore, visited Maryland, Houston, Kansas, LSU and Indiana but had not committed as of Wednesday.
Flagg, Queen, Newell and McNeeley are Florida’s top four prospects in that order, according to 247Sports.
Other hoops happenings
Orlando Christian Prep guard Isaiah Brown signed with Florida.
Oak Ridge had three men’s basketball signees in Tyler Johnson (Virginia Tech), Cameron Simpson (UCF) and Jordan Tillery (Georgia Southern), who will celebrate in a school ceremony on Tuesday.
Cameron Codio, a 6-foot guard who is now at Bishop Moore after pouring in points for Montverde Academy’s varsity team as a junior, signed with FAU.
More signs of the times
Winter Park volleyball seniors Fallon Stewart (Cincinnati) and Emma Ortiz (Syracuse) signed with Cincinnati and Syracuse, respectively — two days ahead of the 28-2 Wildcats’ Class 7A state semifinal match vs. Jupiter (25-3) at 4 p.m. on Friday at Polk State College in Winter Haven.
Bishop Moore (22-8), which plays Bishop Kenny (23-7) of Jacksonville in a Friday 10 a.m. 4A semifinal, also had two signees: Avery Schweiger (UNC Asheville) and Sophia Iglesias (Eastern Florida State College).
Hagerty’s Jonathan Leon, who ran the fastest district meet cross country time in the 4A classification (14:56.60) last week, signed with UF for track and XC.
Softball signees include highly rated seniors Lexi King (Arkansas) of Windermere High and Zoe Calvez (LSU) of West Orange.
FHSAA decision day
The Florida High School Athletic Association’s board of directors on Monday asked executive director Craig Damon to put the finishing touches on a groundbreaking proposal to revise reclassification so it can be voted on before Christmas.
School administrators want a decision ASAP because football scheduling is challenging and impacts planning for many other campus events (homecoming, etc.).
As of Monday, the association’s ongoing survey of member schools showed that 54% favored the proposal to create an Open Division for elite teams. The no votes were 31%, and 15% were unsure.
That’s definitely not an overwhelming stamp of approval. But a 16-person task force created to study and discuss the polarizing issue was said to have unanimously endorsed the Open concept used in California and Arizona to put powerhouse programs into one pool.
Memo to FHSAA: Don’t go overboard on Open Division | Varsity Insider
Swimmingly
Windermere High dominated last week’s 4A Region 1 swim meet, sweeping girls and boys team titles. The Wolverines have sights set on state championships in Friday’s FHSAA finals at the Florida Aquatic Swimming & Training (FAST) indoor venue in Ocala.
Windermere senior Addison Reese, a UF signee, was the fastest 4A regional winner in the 100-yard butterfly with a 53.63-second time and the 100 breaststroke at 1:02.34. She also swam on a 200-medley relay that qualified No. 1 with an All-American time of 1:44.05.
Top boys qualifiers include Windermere’s junior duo of Walter Kueffer in the 50 free (20.95) and Roberto Zarate in the 100 butterfly (49.46).
Oviedo’s boys were the 4A Region 1 champs and Winter Park’s girls were runners-up behind Creekside of Orange Park.
Winter Park’s Adriana Lojewski was the fastest qualifier for the 50 freestyle with a 23.38-second time.
Boone had two top qualifiers in senior diver Lanie Gutch and junior Arianna Wertheim in the 500 free (4:52.13).
Lake Buena Vista junior Nathan Freete repeated as the Class 2A state diving champion last week.
In 1A, Montverde Academy’s Emily Santos won the girls 100 breaststroke (1:01.44), Foundation Academy senior Emma Sundermeyer was state runner-up in the girls 200 individual medley; and Circle Christian’s Ryan Turner placed second in the boys 500 free (4:30.98).
The 3A state meet is Saturday.
XC prodigy
Somehow, Lake Highland Prep seventh-grader Annabella Tomasic is getting faster.
She knocked 10 more seconds off her personal best with a time of 17 minutes, 25.3 seconds in a runaway win in last Thursday’s 2A District 4 cross country meet in Melbourne.
Tomasic will run in the Region 2 meet Thursday in Brooksville in her last tuneup race before the FHSAA state finals, Nov. 17, in Tallahassee.
Hagerty’s boys won 4A-2 on their home course. In other boys races, Boone won 4A-5 and Horizon won 3A-3.
Girls team titlists were East Ridge in 4A-2, Winter Park in 4A-5, Winter Springs in 3A-3 and Bishop Moore in 2A-4.
Extra points
- Lake Mary junior golf standout Ryleigh Knaub committed to LSU on Tuesday. Shortly thereafter she received a congratulatory text from former LSU baseball standout Paul Skenes — who was the 2023 MLB Draft No. 1 pick for the Pittsburgh Pirates. She leads the Rams into the 3A state tournament on Friday-Saturday at Mission Inn.
- Boys soccer opened Monday with a matchup of FHSAA state finalists. East Ridge, the defending 7A champion, scored a 1-0 victory at 4A state runner-up Bishop Moore. Tyson Brown scored on a penalty kick nearly halfway through the second half. Nicholas Aquilino had four saves in the shutout. Class 3A state champion Trinity Prep plays its first game Friday at Hagerty.
J.C. Carnahan contributed to this report. Varsity Content Editor Buddy Collings can be reached by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
