A Look Back at the 2010 Sunshine State Games Complete results and features from 27 sports in 20 locations April - July, 2010 2010 Sunshine State Games Headlines Three Months, 27 Sports, 19 Locations, 9,444 athletes The 2010 Sunshine State Games Calendar of Events, held between April and June, saw 9,444 of Florida’s Finest Amateur Athletes compete in 27 sports. To get an idea of how many athletes were in the games, the number falls right in the middle of the population two notable Florida cities, Alachua (population, 9,306) and Marathon (population 9,528). It was an unprecedented year in the 30+ years of the Sunshine State Games as 19 locations hosted events of Florida’s only Olympic-style Sports Festival. The 2010 Sunshine State Games featured individual sport festivals individual sport festivals in nine different locations. The annual Summer Games Festival was held in Polk and Alachua Counties and the Sport Shooting Championships were held in eight different locations. The Alachua County Summer Games Festival, held June 11-13, had 2,306 athletes playing 11 sports while the Polk County Summer Games Festival saw 2,352 athletes competing in nine sports. The total number of athletes for the two weekends of Sunshine State Games events reached 4,658 athletes. Some even earned the opportunity to compete in the Southeast Sports Festival in Polk County, June 30-August 1. Athletes from 12 Southeast states will be in action in eight sports over three days. Sports of the Southeast Sports Festival include Baseball, Basketball, Fencing, Lacrosse, Soccer, Table Tennis, Taekwondo and Track and Field. Athletes who compete in those sports in Florida's Sunshine State Games are eligible to compete in the Southeast Sports Festival. Each year the Sunshine State Games produces a myriad of tales of athletic achievement as amateur athletes of all ages achieve feats never imagined. Following are samples of only a fraction of the action that occurred on the fields of play between April and June. The Sunshine State Games are a Florida tradition, serving amateur athletes for more than 30 years. Diamond Dusters advance through elimination bracket to win 18 and under gold The West Pines Diamond Dusters 18 and under softball team advanced through the elimination bracket to win the gold medal defeating the Tampa Mustangs twice on Sunday for the program’s seventh Sunshine State Games title. The 2010 Games were a reversal of fortune for the Diamond Dusters. In 2009, the advanced through the winners bracket only to lose two games to the Miami Stingrays in the championship round. “This was our year where we had the ability to come back and win,” said head coach Jennifer Boyd-Pugh. “It was an honor to play an opponent as formidable as the Tampa Mustangs at that level of competition.” Finishing the two-days of softball with seven wins, the Diamond Dusters fell into the elimination bracket on Saturday following a 4-1 loss to the Mustangs Walt team. Undeterred, the Diamond Dusters reeled off five consecutive wins, including 8-2 and 4-3 wins over the Mustangs Walt in the final two games. In the championship final, The Diamond Dusters broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the seventh inning, playing in the tie-breaker format, when Julie Brito laid down a suicide squeeze bunt scoring Alyssa Miller from third base. Brittany Pugh picked up the win in both championship finals going the last 3.2 innings in the final and pitching six innings in the 8-2 win. In the first game of the elimination bracket, a 1-0 nail biter win over the Manatee Twisters, Brito had a run scoring double in the top of the fifth inning and Jessica Nori hurled a shutout. The Diamond Dusters followed up with a 5-2 win over the Davie Power Black and a 7-2 win over the Tampa Mustangs Red. In the eight games played in less than 48 hours, The Diamond Dusters outscored their opposition 41-14. Spirit of former Sport Director lives on in Synchronized Swimming In keeping the face of Sunshine State Games synchronized swimming in the hearts and minds of swimmers of all ages, the Mary Rose High Point Award was awarded at the end of all three days of competition to Novice, Intermediate and Age Group teams. Rose was the Synchronized Swimming sport director for 30 years before her passing in November of 2009 and is largely credited for the growth of the sport in Florida. Current sport director Lorraine Valerino told the crowd before announcing each day’s award Rose was smiling down on them from above, “with one dimple.” The Synchro Belles Swim Team (pictured below), from Miramar, won the Novice High Point Award with 68 points, 16 ahead of the Flagler County Belles, who finished with 52. Synchro Belles head coach Lorens Callejo credited Rose with her team’s continued participation in the Sunshine State Games. After starting a recreational program in 2002, Callejo contacted Rose about taking the program to the next level in April of 2007. “She convinced me to bring the team to the Sunshine State Games in June and this is our fourth time competing,” Callejo said. “She told me shortly afterwards she knew she was doing a good thing by helping me.” Before Callejo began the Synchro Belles program in 2002, she was a coach for the Puerto Rico National Synchronized Swimming team. The Synchro Belles Novice Swimmers won seven gold, three silver and one bronze in Friday’s competition in winning the inaugural award. The Intermediate Award was won by Gardens Synchro, from Palm Beach Gardens, with 59 points, six points ahead of Team Orlando Loreleis, the team founded by Rose. The Age Group Award was won by the Flagler County Belles with 138 points, ahead of the host team Gainesville Gaviatas who finished with 110 points Lakeland Archer sets new all time best score The Easton Newberry Archery Complex saw an Olympic Style Archery performance worthy of its billing on Saturday, June 12 when Lakeland’s Bill Kelly recorded the highest FITA score ever recorded in 31 years of Sunshine State Games competition. He also broke the record in the Adult Male Compound Release division. It was his own, which he set last year. At the 2009 Games in Polk County, Kelly broke a 27-year old record set in 1983 by one point with a score of 1346. He bettered his 2009 performance by 20 points and recorded a 1366, setting the new Games overall best. “It was a significant record,” said Tim Austin, the Sunshine State Games Sport Director since 1981. Kelly’s record breaking mark of 2009 bested the previous record set in 1983 when the FITA portion of Archery was held at the University of Central Florida, in Orlando. Hardly on the same level as the Easton Newberry Archery Complex, a $9 million facility, which opened in October, 2009 featuring 100 acres of mixed use recreation fields, archery ranges, wooded trails, 3D courses and an indoor archery range. Central Florida Lacrosse program wins four team medals in Gainesville Braveheart Lacrosse, of Longwood, was the only Boys team to win a medal in each division of play. The four teams compiled a 12-4-1 record playing in the High School Boys A and B division, and the 15 and 13U divisions The gold medal winning High School Boys A division team finished undefeated in four games and outscored their opponents 53-5. The 13 and under team won the silver medal finishing with a 3-1-1 record while the 15 and under team won a bronze with a 3-1 record. Also winning the bronze medal was the High School B division team with a 2-2-1 record. The Tampa Tribe won three overall medals. The Tribe won the gold medal in the Boys High School B and 15 and under divisions and a bronze in the Boys High School A division. In the 13 and under division, the Tribe was eliminated in the first round of bracket play. The three medal winning teams combined for a 12-1-1 record. The Gainesville Tournament was the second of three Lacrosse competitions in the Sunshine State Games Lacrosse Series. The first was held in Broward County, May 22-23, with 49 teams participating. The third and final tournament will be held in Wesley Chapel, July 10-11. Teams competing in two of the three 2010 Lacrosse Series tournaments are eligible to compete in the 2010 Southeast Sports Festival, in Polk County, July 30-August 1. Jacksonville Racquetball family comes together at Sunshine State Games The Knudsen racquetball playing family came to Gainesville and won a total of four medals at the University of Florida Student Recreation Center. Dad Leonard Knudsen (pictured below on right) won a silver and bronze while sons Nicholas and Bradley (pictured below on left) won a silver and bronze, respectively. The fourth and final member of the Knudsen men missed out on the tournament, youngest son, Michael. Leonard is a 30-year veteran of the four wall court and even met his wife playing racquetball. His sons have been playing since the age of four so it’s a family affair. A native of Ohio, Leonard and the family moved to Jacksonville and the Knudsen’s began playing at a local club. Upon its closing, the three sons took up tennis while at Bartram Trail High School but picked up the game again at the University of Florida. Nicholas and Bradley have served as the president of the UF Racquetball Club and 19-year Michael is the incoming president for the 2010-11 school year.