Prep notes: Mosley's Grant named to Ray Guy All-American team
LYNN HAVEN — Mark Grant of Mosley was among the inaugural Ray Guy Prokicker.com High School All-Americans for some of the nation’s top punting, kicking, kickoff and long-snapping prospects.
Players were selected from the Prokicker.com staff, which watched and coached the players during camps, and also by how the players performed on the field during the 2011 high school season.
There were four All-America categories — punting, kicking, long-snapping and kickoff specialist. Grant was named honorable mention in the kickoff specialist category. He had 32 touchbacks among 42 kickoffs for the Dolphins, and an average of 64.3 yards per kickoff. Grant also had 36 points on four field goals and 24 extra points.
Ray Guy is considered the greatest punter in NFL history. — Pat McCann
Duderstadt leads Tsunamis: Michael Duderstadt claimed high-point honors in the Senior Boys division with four victories, and the Panama City Swim Team placed third in the GPAC Winter Invitational Jan. 13-15 in Pensacola. PCST competed with 37 swimmers against more than 400 swimmers from 14 teams from Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Duderstadt won individual races in the 50-yard backstroke, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 200 individual medley. Kari Troia (11-12 girls) won two races, the 50 and 100 breaststroke to finish third in high-point scoring in her age group.
Three other Tsunami swimmers won one race. Kyla Hallam (11-12 girls) won the 50 freestyle, Hannah Retherford (13-14 girls) won the 50 butterfly, and Chad McGuire (13-14 boys) won the 200 breaststroke.
The Tsunamis will compete at the Mac Crutchfield Invitational in Tallahassee on Jan. 27-29. — Jason Shoot
Gallagher’s Gymnasts excel: Gallagher’s Gymnastics men’s team recently competed at the O Zone Invitational in Knoxville, Tenn., while the women’s team was in Tallahassee and PCB Elite cheerleaders performed in Daytona Beach.
In Knoxville, at the largest men’s gymnastics invitational in the Southeast, Andrew Hess led the way in Level 8 capturing first place in the floor, rings and parallel bars. His efforts catapulted him into a first-place finish in the all-around.
In Level 9, 13-year-old Paxton Peacock placed first on rings and earned second on pommel horse and parallel bars to win all-around in the age 12-13 group. Peacock had the highest all-around score of Level 9 athletes, a total of 49 boys in all age groups.
In Level 10, the highest Junior Olympic level, Alexander Hess was fourth on pommel horse and sixth on vault. The Arnold sophomore placed 14th all-around.
Level 6 gymnast Trent Bawcom placed fifth on floor and rings and 10th all-around. In the older age group, Cameron Nagy was seventh on floor and 10th all-around.
Gallagher’s Level 5 team of Cole Nagy, Alex Creswell, Eli Creswell and Austin Smith placed sixth in a field of 13. Smith placed fifth on pommel horse, third on rings and seventh all-around. Eli Creswell was second on horse and ninth all-around and Alex Creswell sixth on both vault and parallel bars.
In Tallahassee, Nadya Parsons, Eliza Sims, Madalyn Ward, Grace Andes and Lena Ottinger competed in their first competition. In Level 4, Ottinger was fifth on balance beam. Also competing in the AAU State Qualifier, Level 4 gymnast Sydney Melvin was second on vault, beam, floor and all-around. In Level 5, Kirsten Bjerkeset was second on beam. Ammy Castillo and Aliza Molnar competed in their first Level 7 meet. Molnar finished second on beam and all-around and third on vault, bars and floor. Castillo won the bars title.
At “The State” hosted by American Championships in Daytona, Gallagher’s competitive cheer team, PCB Elite, took sixth out of more than 100 teams. It will compete in the National Championships in March in Orlando. — Pat McCann
