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Jr. Lightning nab Congressional Cup

By EMERY SKOLFIELD
Published March 18, 2007

The Tampa Bay Junior Lightning Squirt AA youth hockey team survived against squads from Maryland, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania last month to win the Congressional Cup in the Washington suburb of Reston, Va.

The Junior Lightning Squirt AAs age 9-10 advanced through round-robin play before beating the Montgomery (Md.) Blue Devils 4-3 in overtime of the Feb. 19 championship game. The Junior Lightning, coached by Darren Whiffen, plays at Sunblades Ice Arena in Clearwater.

The Junior Lightning roster consisted of Zack Biss, Alexandra Emoff, Nick Frankich, Tanner Frankich, Luke Gibb, Stevie Kuzio, Steven McElroy, Connor O'Brien, Joseph Pergolizzi, Austin Ventura, Grant Wellinger, Hunter Whitlock, Brandon Wizikowski and Cameron Wizikowski.

SOCCER: Korey Veeder, Wesley Sever and Frankie Villar of the Clearwater Chargers under-15 boys team were selected to the Florida 91 Olympic Development Program team. Last summer, Florida 91 went 4-0 to win the region tournament in Alabama.

GOLF: Matthew Ruelm, a 9-year-old from Oldsmar, shot an 18-hole score of 82 (42-40) in the 7- to 9-year-old division of the X-Factor Junior Golf Tour at Bloomingdale Golfers Club in Valrico. Ruelm came back from a five-stroke deficit with seven holes to play to force a playoff and win on the third playoff hole.

CHEERLEADING: The Cheer Express All-Stars (Tarpon Springs) captured four state tittles at this year's state competition in Jacksonville.

SWIMMING: The Clearwater Aquatic Team won the boys team title and finished second overall behind the Sarasota YMCA Sharks at the Florida Swimming Senior Championships on March 1-4 at the Long Center in Clearwater. St. Petersburg Aquatics was second in the boys standings and third overall among 36 scoring teams.

CAT's Emman Crescimbeni, 16, won the 100- and 200-yard freestyles and the 500 freestyle to capture the high-point honors in the 15-16 boys division. Teammate Alex Glover won the 50 freestyle in 21.38 seconds - .28 seconds ahead of Crescimbeni - and finished third in the points race. Cameron Martin, 15, won the 200 individual medley.

Claire Thompson and Katie Kastes, both 17 and members of Largo's West Florida Lightning Aquatics, finished first and second with 107 and 105 points, respectively, in the senior girls division. Thompson won the 100 and 1,000 freestyles and was second in the 50, 200 and 1,650 freestyles.

GYMNASTICS: LaFleur's Gymnastics Club (Largo) captured team titles at Levels 8 and 9 and in Prep-Optional during the Gasparilla Classic on March 3-4 at Tropicana Field.

Leading LaFleur's Level 8 team to victory was Kaitlin Green, who won all four events and registered an all-around score of 38.05. Teammate Amanda Condready finished atop her age group in the all-around.

In Level 9 competition, Sarena Bumbarger won her all-around with victories on the vault, bars and beam. Danielle Kazakos also captured the all-around, while Dali Lemezan placed first on the vault, beam and floor.

Other all-around winners for LaFleur's were Britany Calley (Level 10), Rebecca Wunderlich (Level 7) and Jessica Maggio (Prep-Optional).

The Tampa Bay Turners (St. Petersburg) won the Level 3 team competition thanks to all-around titles from Samantha Marvel, Destiny Fillmer and Julie Stosh.

The Turners' Level 4 team placed third thanks to age division all-around titles from Monica Fehr and Molly Hellier.

The Clearwater-based Flipz Extreme All-Stars placed third at Level 4. Missy Abdullaj, 9, won two events (bars and beam) and finished third in her Level 4 all-around. Teammate Keeley Mayers was first on the floor with an impressive score of 9.8 and finished second overall.

Falon Canham of Oldsmar's Victory Gymnastic Training Center took the title in her age group vault at Level 9, while teammate Sarah Zoldos placed second in all four disciplines and the all-around in her Level 9 age group. In Level 7, Victory's Rachel Bianca won her group's vault.

Kaylen Stine of Clearwater's Apollo School of Gymnastics won the bars in her age group of the Prep-Optional level.

The Turners boasted team titles at Levels 4, 6, 8 and 9 in competition at the GymQuarters National Invitational on Feb. 16-18 in St. Louis.

The Turners' Hannah Mixson, Ariel Cardine, Abigail Hawthorne and Sarah Sudduth each won all-around titles at Level 4. In Level 5, Kayna Mogelnicki and Olivia Cecil each won three events en route to age division all-around titles.

Other all-around champions for the Turners were Taylor Salazar and Dannie Edmonds in Level 6; Jeanna Cube and Destiny Ezell and Level 8; and Sarah Wolford and Naomi DeVries in Level 9.

If you have youth sports news that you would like to see included, contact Times correspondent Emery Skolfield at (727) 481-2027 or via e-mail at sptimesyouth@yahoo.com.

[Last modified March 17, 2007, 19:51:46]