Double Duty For Oak Hall Athlete
September 26th, 2007 Posted in Florida Running, Florida volleyball, Florida Cross Country, Florida, High School Sports, Florida Sports, volleyballThere’s an enjoyable story on Emily VanGelder, an eighth-grader from Gainesville Oak Hall over at the Gainesville Sun’s Web site. It appears that she’s going to be one to watch for a number of years. Her 5K run in 22:24 puts her among some of the state’s better girls runners. Of course, her 14 kills against Maclay weren’t bad either.
The growth of private schools in Florida has contributed to an increasing number of young athletes who excel even before most kids reach high school. Aucilla Christian has eighth-grade Matt Dobson behind center, and 1B school Lighthouse Christian features an eighth-grader at running back. That would be Marlin Lane Jr., who is on his way to a second straight 1,000-yard rushing season, all before he cracks his first book as a legitimate high school student. The same school, which is based in DeLand, has a girls basketball team that is likely to make some noise this winter behind some eighth-grade students.
Some folks believe there’s a trade-off for athletes who attend private schools. While they’re able to be an integral part of a varsity team at an earlier age, the reality is that many of the opponents are no better than a larger public school’s JV team.
