Preps

Hillsborough: News and Notes

By JOE SMITH
Published November 7, 2007

A tipoff treat

Two of the county's top girls basketball teams, Plant and Sickles, will test their mettle tonight in the Lady Panther Preseason Prowl at Plant High. Sickles, led by sharp-shooter Shawnta Snakovsky, will play Jefferson at 6 p.m. followed by Plant vs. Tampa Catholic at 7:30. On Thursday, the Panthers will play Sickles at 7:30.e_SClBPanther honored

Plant junior Meg Anderson, who won the Class 2A championship in the 100 free, was selected to the 2007 Scholastic All-America swim team, which includes 754 female swimmers from across the country. Anderson broke the school record in the 50 free and clocked All-America consideration times in the 50 23.78 and 100 free (51.83).

Check it out

Sure, the football playoffs were locked up last week, or Monday, if your team was involved in a tiebreaker. But that doesn't mean Friday's games are meaningless, and columnist John C. Cotey will tell you why. See 2C.

Soccer showdown

Several of the county's top boys soccer teams will compete in the Wharton Invitational, which runs today through Saturday at Wharton and Brandon. The 12-team draw includes defending tourney champ Durant, as well as county stalwarts Wharton and Alonso. Wildcats coach Scott Ware said he hopes that in years to come he can bring all county teams to the event. The championship is 6:30 Saturday at Wharton.

"There are four or five teams that have a chance at winning it," Ware said. "The field is really strong."

Gryphons gear up

Sickles has arguably one of the best top-three runners around, sparked by defending Times runner of the year Derek Wehunt. But two of the biggest reasons the Gryphons have overcome a slow start to become state contenders are their No. 4 and No. 5 runners, seniors Brett Wilson and Bryan Gollins. Both have cut their 5K time by a minute since the start of the season, hovering in the 17:30-17:45 range.

"They've both stepped up a lot," Sickles coach Jim Zander said. "They plan on running even faster at state. They feel they have a shot at (winning it)."

To do so, they'll have to get past top-ranked Melbourne, which is in the Gryphons' region meet on Saturday.

Panthers pitcher picks Navy

Plant senior right-hander Tyler Stinson has orally committed to play for the Naval Academy, coach Dennis Braun said.

Stinson, who went 3-1 last season, had an impressive summer with the All-American Prospects, an elite summer league team. At 6-9, Stinson is getting looks from pro scouts, Braun said.

"It's his ability to throw downhill," Braun said of Stinson's strengths. "He's starting to run it up there 88-89 mph. He just needs some time to polish."

Stinson is the fourth Panthers baseball player to commit; he joins Logan Welch (Maryland), Preston Tucker (Florida) and David Bergin (Georgia Southern).

[Last modified November 6, 2007, 21:07:32]