46 Sports
Keeping up
with area
athletes
By Barbara Boxleitner
Special to Ponte Vedra Recorder
Erica Burt has been recognized for
her standout soccer play.
The Florida Atlantic University redshirt junior defender has been named
to the all-Conference USA first team.
The Ponte Vedra High School graduate
was the team’s lone representative on
the first team.
Burt had two goals--both game
winners--and two assists in starting
all 21 games. She was the conference
defender of the week Oct. 12, helping
the team post consecutive conference
shutouts. Burt also was the conference
defender of the week Aug. 24.
Ponte Vedra Recorder · November 12, 2015
BASKETBALL PREVIEW
Sharks reload for upcoming season
By Jim Moyes
Community submission
One would be led to believe that
after losing three starters and an abnormally large group of graduating
seniors, the prospects for yet another successful season for Ponte Vedra basketball would not be in the
cards.
However, optimism breathes eternal for veteran coach Bud Beech,
who is itching to once again lead
the Sharks roundballers from the
bench after taking a couple of years
off while overseeing Ponte Vedra
basketball as a quasi-general manager of sorts.
Although this year’s edition of
Ponte Vedra basketball will be
missing their entire front line from
the previous season, a bevy of tal-
ented newcomers from last year’s
outstanding Junior Varsity should
provide a very athletic look for the
2015-16 school year.
The Sharks wasted little time to
demonstrate to their followers that
this season’s squad will be an exciting squad to follow during the upcoming season.
Running out to a resounding 19-1
lead with 1:49 still to be played in
the opening quarter, the Sharks
showed mid-season form with a decisive 73-25 pounding of Matanzas
in Monday’s pre-season opener in
the Todd Mitchell classic.
Ten of the 11 players that suited
up for the game entered the scoring
column, as the Sharks played the final 10 minutes of the contest with a
running clock.
Ponte Vedra has their own Johnson & Johnson company that will
excite the fans this year as the lone
senior that scored points for the
Sharks, Matthew Johnson, as well
as the only sophomore dressed for
Ponte Vedra, Jack Johnson, put up
some outstanding numbers in the
rout.
Matthew Johnson led all scorers with 20 points and utilized his
quickness and lightening hands to
come up with six steals. Meanwhile,
the 6’6 Jack Johnson (no relation)
excited the crowd with 8 points on a
perfect 4 for 4 shooting, 5 rebounds
and 4 blocked shots.
Junior Clay Welch was the other
Shark to score in double figures with
BASKETBALL continues on Page 47
More women’s soccer
Alderson Broaddus University sophomore Lauren Small has been named to
the all-Great Midwest Athletic Conference second team. The Bartram Trail
High graduate started all 19 games and
led the team with eight goals and four
assists.
Through 20 games, junior forward
Brooke Sharp was second in scoring
for University of Florida. Previously at
Ponte Vedra High, she had 10 goals
and four assists.
Sophomore forward Madison
Caldwell, a past Bear, started all 21
games for Florida Atlantic and had one
assist.
Also from the Bears, Courtney Shell
had two goals and two assists in starting 19 games for Auburn University.
Ponte Vedra resident Grace Mathis
scored once in 13 games for Haverford
College.
Marsh
Landing WC
championship
results
Marsh Landing held its Womenís
Club Championship Nov. 5 and
6. Letitia Aitken (left), the 2015
Womenís Club Champion, won the
gross division, shooting a 79 on
both days. Lorry McCamey (right)
is the net division champion with a
two-day total of 142.
Men’s basketball
Senior forward Drew Hagemeister
had six rebounds and two blocks for
Southeastern University in a win over
Trinity College. He played for Allen D.
Nease High.
Quinn Carey, who played for the
Sharks, is a freshman guard for Roberts
Wesleyan College.
Former Shark Donovan Garrard is a
freshman forward for Lynchburg College.
Wrestling
Hayden Good is a freshman in the
285-pound class for Johns Hopkins
University. He competed for Bartram
Trail.
Ponte Vedra resident Steven Midkiff
is a freshman in the 149-pound class
for Virginia Military Institute.
Send updates about area athletes to Barbara Boxleitner at [email protected].
Photo by Isobel Spink/Community submission