Local student-athletes celebrate early signing day

MOUNT DORA — Megan Wright has wanted to play softball for the University of Central Florida for as long as she can remember.

And on Wednesday, her dream moved one step closer to reality.

Wright, a senior outfielder at Mount Dora Christian Academy, signed a national letter of intent on Wednesday with UCF during a brief ceremony in the office of MDCA Athletic Director Megan Ziegelhofer. Wednesday was the first day of the school year that student-athletes were permitted to sign with NCAA Division I and Division II for all sports, except football.

“This is a dream for me,” Wright said. “I verbally committed with UCF halfway through my sophomore year (at MDCA). I was born and raised with a UCF grad — my father (Michael) — and when I visited UCF and saw their softball facilities, I instantly felt like I was supposed to be there.

“I had interest from other schools (during the recruiting process), but UCF was always the number one choice for me.”

After receiving her national letter of intent, UCF Softball welcomed Wright by tweeting, “Pumped to add another big left-handed bat to our lineup.”

The Knights, who finished 34-21 in 2019, are getting a solid player in Wright, who has played at MDCA since her sixth-grade season, with the exception of her freshman year when she transferred to Mount Dora. She helped the Bulldogs reach the Class 2A state semifinals in 2016 and the Class 2A state finals last season.

As an eighth grader in 2016, Wright hit .539 with 14 RBIs. More than half of her 41 hits that season — six doubles and eight triples — went for extra bases.

Wright hit .366 with two homers and 31 RBIs as a sophomore in 2018 and .363 with two homers and 26 RBIs in 2019. During her five seasons at MDCA, the Bulldogs have compiled a 95-46 record.

Ziegelhofer, who is also an assistant coach on the softball team, said she believes Wright’s signing will serve as an inspiration for her younger teammates.

“Our players, even those who start with us in the sixth grade, can see that we have access to large schools, like UCF,” Ziegelhofer said. “It shows them that if they have the talent and work hard to develop it, like Megan has, that they can go to any school they want. Just because we’re a small school doesn’t mean they can’t realize their goals and dreams.

In addition to Wright, the Bulldogs also celebrated pitcher and infielder Darian Pippin, who signed on Saturday with Lake-Sumter State College. Pippin sported a 7-1 record with a 1.88 ERA in the pitching circle last season and hit .385 with three homers and 34 RBIs.

The pair headed up a solid group of signees in a variety of sports from area schools. Among those reported to the Daily Commercial include: swimmer Mimi Filkin from Tavares, who signed with Rice University; Eustis volleyball player Brittiney Jones, who signed with UCF; South Lake baseball players A.J. Shaver (signed with Florida State University), Caleb Pundsack (South Florida), Travis Stapleton (North Florida), and Carter Geier (Polk State College); East Ridge volleyball player Naomi Cabello, who signed with the University of Texas; and, Real Life Christian Academy baseball player Ian Thornton, who signed with LSSC.

Montverde Academy sported the largest signing class — 15 student-athletes — including: soccer players Jody Brown (FSU) and Hannah Davies (Leese-McRae College); girls basketball player Kayla Morris (East Carolina); softball player Shaela Bybee (Santa Fe College); baseball player Joseph Coffey (UCF); golfers Thin Wai Khaing (South Florida), Gabriella Gilrowski (Georgetown), Arantza Armas Stenner (New Mexico State University) and Junfan Wang (Rochester); and boys basketball players Anwar Gil (LaSalle), Lachland Bofinger (Texas-San Antonio), Zeb Jackson (Michigan), Day’ron Sharpe (North Carolina), Cade Cunningham (Oklahoma State) and Scottie Barnes (FSU).

Swimming

Lake County was well represented at last week’s FHSAA Class 2A Swimming and Diving state championships at Sailfish Splash Waterpark and Aquatics Center in Stuart.

Montverde Academy’s boys team recorded a second-place finish and the Eagles’ girls team finished sixth to top all local teams. In addition, Montverde’s boys 200-yard freestyle team won the state championship and the boys 200 medley relay was second.

Tavares senior Mimi Filkin recorded the top individual race with a second-place finish in the girls 100 backstroke. Filkin also finished third in the 200 individual medley.

Other top-eight finishes in the finals included: Montverde girls with a fourth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay; Montverde girls with a fifth-place finish in the 200 medley relay; Montverde’s Pedro Helou, tied for fourth in the boys 50 freestyle; Montverde’s boys team with a fourth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay; Montverde’s Alexa Cecchi, fifth place in the girls 50 freestyle; Montverde’s Brennan Muramatsu with a fifth-place finish in the boys 100 backstroke; Eustis’ Mia Yeo, with a sixth-place finish in the 100 butterfly; Tavares’ Jacob White, with an eighth-place finish in the 50 freestyle; and, the Tavares boys with an eighth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay.

Cross country

Mount Dora Christian Academy’s two-year run as the boys Class 1A state champions ended at Saturday’s FHSAA Cross Country state finals, but there were still several quality finishes posted by area runners and teams.

The MDCA boys team’s fourth-place finish at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee was the top team finish, with Bulldog teammates Mitchell Curtis and Riley Novack recording the top individual performances by finishing in 11th and 12th place, respectively.

In the boys Class 2A finals, The Villages were 14th as a team and were led by Austin Wyatt, who posted the top finish for a local runner with a 38th-place finish. Montverde Academy, led by Karah White’s 27th-place finish, led area teams with a sixth-place finish in the girls Class 2A race.

In the boys Class 3A race, Lake Minneola’s Tavin Bradshaw finished 86th to lead the Hawks to a 25th-place team finish. For the girls, Ellie Kunze’s 24th-place finish sparked Lake Minneola to a 22nd-place finish.

Boys basketball

Mount Dora Christian Academy will host its annual preseason tournament next week, featuring three of the area’s top programs.

In addition to MDCA, which recorded a 22-6 record last season, local teams competing include Eustis (21-9 record in 2018-19) and Wildwood (18-13). Orlando Olympia, a Class 9A school coached by former Eustis coach Rob Gordon, rounds out the four-team field.

Eustis and Wildwood face off at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the tournament opener, followed at 7:30 p.m. by MDCA and Olympia. On Thursday, Eustis and Olympia play at 6 p.m., with MDCA and Wildwood closing out the two-day event.

Admission is $5 per day.