Cobra Special Olympics Swimmer Qualifies for Nationals!

Tenth grade Lady Cobra Leah Scheible is all smiles after qualifying for the Special Olympics National Competition. (Photo Provided)

August 21, 2017 - Sebastian, FL - The Special Olympics Area 10 Swim Meet was held at North County Aquatics in Sebastian Saturday August 20 and Sunday 21. Area 10 includes Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, Saint Lucie and Indian River Counties. Saint Lucie is coached by Heather Gray and Carolyn Hancock.  Ten student-athletes competed over two days bringing home seven first place finishes,  six second place finishes and two third place finishes! 

Student Athletes that participated included: Richard Denike, William Denike, Wesley Glass, Stephanie Gomulka, James Jordan, Sabrina McNew, Justin Qualtieri-Terrell, Leah Scheible, Sharon Carr and Easton Santoro.

Although all the student-athletes did fantastic, representing themselves, their  school and the county the day belonged to Fort Pierce Central Sophomore Leah Scheible who won first place in the 200 and second place in the 100 qualifying her for not only the State Championship Series in October but she is the only student-athlete from St. Lucie County to earn a shot at the USA Nationals next summer in Denver.

Player Profile: Bradley Bell - The Cobra's Jolly Purple Giant!

At 6"5" and always wearing a smile from ear to ear is it any wonder why FP Central standout Tight End Bradley Bell has earned the nick name "Jolly Purple Giant?"

Name:		Bradley Bell
School:		Fort Pierce Central
Current Grade:		I’m a Senior dude!
Unweighted GPA:		3.5
What Sport(S) Do You Play?:		Football
What Position(s) Do You Play?:		Tightend
What is your favorite subject?:		History
What are your top 5 college choices?:		FIU Florida Keiser Albright IRSC
If you could spend the day with anyone in the world who would it be? Why?:		Rob Gronkowski Because he motivates me to be a better football player.
If you could be anyone in the world who would you be? Why?:		The Gronk - who else!
Would winning the Powerball change your life? Why or why not?:		Heck yea it would! I would be able to help all my family members out.
Outside of a family member who do you admire most? Why?:		Any person who tries to make the world a better place.
What five words best describe you?:		Joyful Athletic Loving Caring Funny
What are your future goals?:		Go to college and be a firefighter.

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS DAN VAUGHN?

Tag on along as well follow FP Central Quarterback Dan Vaughn on his summer college tour

Friday, June 16:  Yale University in New Haven, CT  
Nickname: Bulldogs (It must be a Vaughn thing)
Mascot: Handsome Dan (Figures, right?)
Applied for Admissions (2016):  31,455
Accepted (2016):  1,972  (6.3%)
SAT Average:  2,265
ACT Average: 34
Annual Tuition & Fee's: $49,500 (Includes health care. Does not include Room and Board)




Saturday, June 17: Columbia University, NYC
Nick Name: Lions
Mascot: Lion
Notable Alum: Lou Gehrig (Baseball Hall of Fame), Sid Luckman (4 time NFL MVP), Ruth Bader Ginsburg (US Supreme Court), Warren Buffett (Multi-Billionaire), Robert Kraft (Owner NE Patriots), and United States Presidents Barack Obama, Theodore Roosevelt & Franklin D. Roosevelt




Sunday, June 18: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Nickname: Big Read
Mascot: Touchdown, the Bear
Acceptance Rate: 12.5%

• One of only three land granted Universities in the USA and the only one in New York
• Ranked fifth in the world for student who go on to receive their  PhD
• 31 Marshall Scholars & 28 Rhodes Scholars

Notable Alum:  Lee Teng-hui - former president Taiwan, Mario García Menocal - former  president of Cuba, Jamshid Amuzegar - former  prime minister of Iran, Stephen Friedman - Chairman of Goldman Sachs, Andrew Tish - Chairman of Lowes, James McLamore - founder of Burger King, Myra Hart - Founder of Staples, Robert Adkins - devolped the Atkins Diet, Henry Helmich - developed the Heimlch maneuver, Wislon Greatbatch, invented the pacemaker, C. Evertt Koop - Sormer Surgeon General of USA, Jon Rubinstein, created the iPod, Thomas Midgley, invented Freon, Glenn "Pop" Warner, founder of American Football.


Tuesday, June 20: Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Nickname: Tigers
Mascot: Princeton Tiger
U.S. News & National Report Ranking: #1 College / University in USA

• 41 Nobel laureates
• 21 National Medal of Science winners
• 14 Fields Medalists
• 5 Abel Prize winners
• 10 Turing Award laureates
• 5 National Humanities Medal recipients
• 209 Rhodes Scholars
• 126 Marshall Scholars

Albert Einstein, though on the faculty at the Institute for Advanced Study rather than at Princeton, came to be associated with the university through frequent lectures and visits on the campus.

Thursday, June 22: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Nickname: Quakers
Endowment: $10.715 Billion (5.7% increase from the prior year) Seventh largest endowment of 815 ranked colleges and universities.

• Bosts 25 billionaires, which is the most of any university in the world at the undergraduate level
• 33 US Senators
• 42 US Governors
• 14 Heads of State
• 2 US Presidents
• 158 Members of US House of Representatives
• Benjamin Franklyn was primary founder
• First US Medical School and first university teaching hospital
• Home of Wharton School of Business considered the best overall graduate business school in the world.
• First University in the world to award a PhD to an African-American woman.

Sixth most selective school in the country accepting 7.7% of applicants in the regular admissions cycle.

Sunday, June 25: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Nickname: Harvard Crimson
Mascot: John Harvard, the pilgrim
Endowment: $34.541 Billion Largest in the world. Has regained all losses from the great recession as of 2011. 

• Oldest University in the world, established in 1636
• Acceptance rate of 5.2%, second lowest in USA
• 32% of students are undergraduate while 64% are graduate students.
• Harvard Library system contains 80 branches, holding 18,000,000 volumes and is considered the largest academic library in the USA
• Ranked first in business, education and medical research for postgraduate schools by US News and World Report.
• 27% of students are international students
• The forward pass in American football was legalized in 1906 at the suggestion of Walter Camp and is considered perhaps the most significant rule change in sports history according to "The History of American Football", published in 2006.

Notable alum include former US Presidents: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklyn D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, George W. Bush, Barack Obama; Microsoft Founder Bill Gates; Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg as well as Ban Kimoon, Secretary-General of the United Nations and other world leaders.

AT 8-0 LADY TITANS CLICKING ON ALL CYLINDERS

The Titans have been spoiled for the past four years with
 star senior pitcher Katlyn “Light Speed” McCue.

AT 8-0 LADY TITANS CLICKING ON ALL CYLINDERS

March 22, 2017 – St. Lucie County, FL – The Treasure Coast Lady Titan Softball Team is clicking on all cylinders this season. With a perfect 8-0 record, the Titans took down District 9-7A rival Fort Pierce Central yesterday by a score of 8-1.

This year’s crop of student-athletes includes only three seniors so the team will be competitive for the next couple of seasons at the least.

The girls lead long-time powerhouse Vero Beach in the local 9A division by a full two games and will earn at least a tie with the Indians for the number one seed in the district playoffs which begin on April 24^th and conclude on April 27^th at St. Lucie West Centennial High School. The district champion and runner-up each advance to the Regional Tournament to determine who will represent specific divisions and classes at the State Championship Series held annually in May at Historic Dodgertown in Vero Beach.

Divisions are created and managed by the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) and include 1A – 9A. The determination of what division a school will be classified under is based on the school’s student population as follows, according to the FHSAA: 1A 72 – 600; 2A  32 – 161; 3A 162 – 378; 4A 379 – 738; 5A 740 – 1,358; 6A 1,359 – 1,700; 7A 1,701 – 2,039; 8A 2,040 – 2,406; 9A 2,407 – 4,492.

Junior Brianna Thomas accounts for 13.3% of the Lady
Titan runs with her amazing batting average of .667,
on-base percentage of .773 and slugging percentage of .833.

At the plate the Titans are led by Junior Brianna Thomas who pitches and plays center field. Thomas is batting .667 with 16 hits (average of two per game), eight runs scored and 12 RBI’s. And she manages an extra base hit in every other game she plays in. She has an on-base percentage of .733 along with a slugging percentage of .833 and has only struck out twice all season. Her eight runs scored account for 13.3% of all the runs the team has scored this season, while her 12 RBI’s account for almost a quarter of the RBI’s the team has put in the books this year.

Freshman standout Madison Hurley is hitting .429
 with 12 hits, 10 runs and two RBI’s for the Titans.

But as already mentioned this team runs deep. So deep in fact that of the student-athletes that have played in all eight games so far this season, eight of the top nine batting averages belong to underclassmen including standout ninth-grader Madison Hurley who is hitting .429 with 12 hits, 10 runs and two RBI’s. And the combined batting average of this gang of eight is .431.

In the circle the Titans have been spoiled for the past four years with star senior pitcher Katlyn “Light Speed” McCue whose father Joe Jr., and grandfather Joe Sr. serve as the team’s head coach and assistant coach, making the Titan softball franchise a team of three generation McCue’s.

Light Speed has been truly blazing this year. Besides being undefeated in her six starts she averages 10.6 strikeouts per game – well over one per inning. Her opponent’s batting average stands at just .139. Putting that in perspective, 86.1% of the batters McCue has faced never reach base!

So what does the future hold for these dolls of the diamond? 

It’s hard to tell. But with the season over halfway completed and district play scheduled to end in just a couple of weeks the numbers sure look promising.

Here’s why –

There are 74 total teams in the FHSAA 9A classification. Of those only 16% are unbeaten in their district this season, including the Titans. The average district games winning percentage stands at .486, while the Titan’s is at 1.000. Add to that these girls score just over ten runs per district opponent faced with the overall average runs scored by other schools in the 9A class at 6.5 runs per game and it’s not hard to see why media giants such as MaxPreps predict that Treasure Coast will have a deep run into the playoffs this season.

Photos from this game can be found at www.TCSportsJournal.com

COLLEGE CORNER: SHAROT TWINS AIMING FOR NATIONAL TITLE AT UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

Lady Gators Bryanna and Alexis Sharot making
Fort Pierce proud. 

March 19, 2017 – Fort Pierce, FL – When Fort Pierce Central grads Bryanna and Alexis Sharot enrolled at University of Florida this past fall they were itching to be involved in a sport. They had been stellar student-athletes while at Central on both the swim team, where school records fell & regional championships were earned and on the girls weightlifting team.

Participating in athletics at one of Florida’s most difficult schools academically is a challenge for any student, especially incoming freshmen. The pressure to maintain good grades is often overwhelming, especially at a school like UF which has an international reputation for everything that happens on the historic campus.

But these two twins aren’t your typical students.

With mom, a trauma nurse and dad a successful small business owner having the drive to succeed runs deep in their veins.

Bryanna, who is on a pre-med track is an A/B student while Alexis who is a nursing major has a mind blowing 3.5 GPA and is being inducted into the Honor Society next weekend.

Both girls are coxswains on the UF row team. Coxswains sit at the stern (rear) of the boat and face the bow (front) of the boat. They steer the boat and are responsible for its overall navigation. This is the first year that they have rowed.

The team is considered a club sport this year, however, because of the success they have had, they are hopeful that the sport will earn a NCAA Division One slot in the near future. 

And that future D1 acceptance may come down to a National Competition on May 27 at the 1996 Olympic Site in Gainesville, GA on Lake Lanier where these Lady Gators hope to bring home a National Title.

Eagles Trace Meding One Hits Fort Pierce Westwood In Three Inning Slugfest

February 27, 2017 – Fort Pierce, FL – St. Lucie West Centennial Pitcher Trace Meding only needed 52 pitches to work his magic against Fort Pierce Westwood in an afternoon game in Fort Pierce as the Eagles downed the Panthers 16-0 in three innings. Meding allowed just one hit on the day as 64% of his pitches reached the strike zone where he fanned four Panther batters while walking two. He averaged just 5.7 pitches per batter for the day.

At the plate the Eagles were led by Nathan Hinkley who went 3-2 with three RBI’s, Austin Hiller with two RBI’s, Danilo Quezada with two RBI’s, and Luke Hartely who went 2-2 with five RBI’s as the Eagles plated four runs in the first, ten in the second and two in the third to improve to 2-1 for the season.

Maurieio Calderon had the sole hit for FP Westwood, a shot to third base in the bottom of the first inning.

Three Panther pitchers combined for 113 pitches allowing nine hits, one walk and six errors while striking out one Eagle batter.

The Eagles put 21 batters to the plate for the day compared to nine for Westwood.

The Panthers travel to Treasure Coast tomorrow to face the Titans at 3:30 while the Eagles are on the road against Jensen Beach on Wednesday for a 6PM start and back at home vs. Fort Pierce Central on Friday for a 3:30 matchup.

Golden Girls Stay PERFECT!

Lady Ram Taylor Montoya  was a
perfect 3 for 3 at the plate
today and also knocked in 3 RBI's.

February 24, 2017 – Fort Pierce, FL - John Carrol’s Lady Rams Softball team racked up their fourth win and fourth shutout in a row today against Highlands Christian of Pompano Beach in a District contest. Amya Baxley threw all five-innings fanning 4 batters while walking five in the Rams second straight no-hitter. Ashley Rosado no-hit FP Central yesterday.

In just four games this season the Rams have crossed the plate 43 times averaging nearly 11 runs per game.

At the plate Rosado and Sophomore Ashley Montoya each belted triples as the Ram girls punched 14 hits on the day, with Montoya going 3-3 with 3 RBI’s as well; Baxley going 3-4 and Rachel Thomas going 2-3.

Montoya has a whopping .750 batting average so far this season with 14 plate appearances and 14 RBI’s. Superstar pitcher Rosado is batting .667 with 8 hits and 9 RBI’s.

The Lady Rams are on the road next week at Coral Springs Christian of Friday before heading to Key West for a double-header on Saturday. The Golden Girls return home to face Vero Beach on Thursday in a non-district matchup which should be a huge test for a team looking to return to the State Series in May.

The College Corner - Week of February 21, 2017

Fort Pierce Central Grad Sam Vaughn continues his three-prong assault on University of Georgia. Vaughn is a quarterback on the football team, a pitcher on the baseball team and he was just named to the All SEC Honor Roll.

LPA Grad Taylor Martin killed it last week at Shorter University in Rome Georgia, going three for three at the plate with a home run and five RBI’s against Miles College on 02/16/2017. The homer was her first as a college student-athlete and was a line drive over the left field wall. Martin has a slugging percentage of .500 with an on base percentage of .360. She has accounted for 11 runs so far this season and has fielding percentage of .971 with 20 put outs. The Lady Hawks are in the hunt for a Division II National Ranking as they downed the country’s eighth ranked team, North Georgia, in a Valentine’s Day double header earlier in the week.

John Carroll Catholic Grad Chase Solesky is bustin’ his butt at Tulane. Per the coaching staff, Chase has the highest GPA of ANY incoming freshman in the past seven years. If that were not enough, he has made a real impression on his head coach who frequently mentions him to the local New Orleans news media. The Green Wave hosted Airforce on Saturday where Solesky reunited with longtime pal and LPA grad Jeff Gerlica, a pitcher on the Air Force squad. Chase pitched (for the first time in college) in relief for the Green Wave where he netted two strike outs and allowed only one hit. He is scheduled to start on Tuesday evening for Tulane.

Another John Carroll Grad, Mario Persuti, returned to the Treasure Coast last week with his Daytona State Baseball Team and belted his first college home run against Indian River State College. Mario’s slugging percentage is .381 with a very respectable on base percentage of .452.

Lincoln Park Grad Taylor “Speedy” Boykin is off to a fantastic start at the University of South Carolina Beaufort. The freshman Lady Sand Shark is batting .308 with eight hits, seven runs and two RBI’s in nine games played thus far.  Speedy is two for two in stolen bases and has only struck out 3 times (12%) in 26 plate appearances. She also has a fielding percentage of 1.000 and has accounted for 11 put outs.