Hit or Miss: Jen Blanco

Booker High has found its next Athletics Director close to home. 

On June 20, the Tornadoes announced boys basketball coach Phil Helmuth would assume the position, replacing Rod Dragash, who stepped down earlier this year. 

“He is a visionary,” Booker Principal Rachel Shelley said of Helmuth. “He has a goal and a strategy to develop our overall department. He’s going to make our athletic program phenomenal.” 

The role is one Helmuth is familiar with, having served as Sarasota Christian’s athletic director and boys basketball coach for 17 seasons until May 2013. 

Helmuth is looking forward to the opportunity and believes his philosophy coincides with that of Shelley and the school as a whole. 

“I try to work harder than anyone else,” Helmuth said. 

As athletic director, Helmuth will be responsible for overseeing the Tornadoes' 14 sports programs, as well as the hiring of several new coaches, including a boys basketball coach since Helmuth will have to relinquish his position as a coach. 

He’ll also help the department become more strategic as a whole through professional development opportunities for coaches and intensive physical training for athletes. 

Helmuth spent a year as an assistant for Booker before taking over the program prior to the 2014-15 season. In his two seasons at the helm, Helmuth picked up his 300th win and saw the Tornadoes steadily improve on the court. 

He also had his players join the Men of Distinction or MOD Squad on campus, which focuses on developing leaders who understand how to set goals, inspire others, work as a team and manage priorities. 

“First, you build character in every athlete,” Helmuth said. “Second, you make that person the best player and athlete they can be. When you reverse that order, it’s a shortcut to disaster.”

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The Sarasota Crew is making it hard to go unnoticed, and I imagine the area’s largest rowing club wouldn’t want it any other way. 

As in years past, the Crew sent a fairly large contingent of rowers to the USRowing Youth National Championships June 10-12, in West Windsor, N.J., and walked away with several top 5 finishes. 

The Men’s Youth 8+ posted the Crew’s best finish of the regatta, claiming a bronze medal in the event while the Women’s lightweight 8+ raced to a fourth-place finish. 

The Men’s Lightweight 8+ finished third in the B Finals and ninth overall. The Men’s Lightweight 4+ finished fourth in C Finals while the Women’s double finish 12th overall. 

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A trio of The Out-of-Door Academy graduates will be adding their names to the lengthy list of Division I athletes to come out of the East County area. 

M’Balia Bangoura, who captured the Class 1A doubles tennis state championship with Sydney Sforzo this spring, earned a scholarship to play for the University of Nebraska. 

Miller Condrack has aspirations of being a dual sport athlete in college. Condrack will attend SUNY Maritime College, in the Bronx, N.Y., where she plans to compete in lacrosse and sailing. 

Finally, Qiwen ‘Wendy’ Tan will continue her golf career at Vassar College, in Arlington, N.Y. 

Congratulations girls!