Director's Letter:

“Congratulations to all our girls’ teams; it was an exceptional year. This was the third Sunshine Cup for the girls’ program and the first for Lake Highland since 2002.”

- Frank Prendergast,
__Director of Athletics

ATHLETIC ACCOLADES, SPRING 2008

Varsity Baseball won the district title! Led by seniors Lindsey Caughel, Christian Tamayo, John Mantecon, Blake Maher and Brent Parker, the team was coached by Dave Erickson.

Varsity Softball was district runner-up under Coach Bonifacio and was led by seniors Natalie McAlpin and Courtney Capps.

Varsity Boys’ Track seniors John Conley and Luca Ferrara and junior Shelby Straight qualified for the regional meet. The team finished sixth at districts under Coach Marcus Odell.

Varsity Girls’ Track seniors Michaela Bowen and Allie Prendergast, along with underclassmen Jessica Prendergast, Casey O’Neill and Allie Duncan participated in the state meet. The team defended their regional championship to make it three in a row. Four runners qualified for the 3200 at the state meet, a first for LHPS.

Varsity Boys’ Tennis- Coached by Jim Oescher, the team won the district title. The Highlanders had one senior, Gregory Whitehurst, graduate. Nine underclassmen will return next year.

Varsity Girls’ Tennis- the Lady Highlanders returned to state after winning the district and region Championships. They tied for 5th at the state finals under the coaching of Coach Susan Coop.

Varsity Weightlifting- Seniors Johnathan Moment, Devenesh Patel, JP Gainza, Michael McGinn, Jimmy Yount, Will Hedgepath, Dan Knuth, Brent Parker, Matt Virgilio and Coach Tim Borcky led the team to a successful season. Will Irwin (grade 11) advanced to the regional meet.

Girls’ Lacrosse- Led by Coach Stacey Williams and seniors Sarah Demers, Kim Devitt, Allie Kovar, Nina Stark and Olivia Yergey, the team qualified for the district tournament for a second year in a row. Five players were selected as 2008 US Lacrosse Academic All-Americans: Melanie Cook, Anne Elise Creamer, Sarah Demers, Kim Devitt and Allie Kovar. Melanie Cook was selected goal keeper for the First Team All-State and top goal keeper in the state of Florida.

Boys’ Lacrosse- This district runner up team was led by seniors Will Maddux, Reed Hudson, Graham Grindstaff, D.J. Bernatavitz, Varun Hippalgaonkar, Jared Root, J.C. Peterson, Ricky Daley, Jacob Stern, Ian Gallagher, Max Rotatori, Devon Smith, Matt Jager and Jason Rasmussen. The coaches for this team, Chris Spalding and Jeff VanderMeulen, report that Varun Hippalgaonkar was awarded Academic All-American and D.J. Bernatavitz was selected All-American by US Lacrosse.