The Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Summer Program will open registration for summer 2024 Monday, April 1. The program is designed to provide educational opportunities for children who will be entering kindergarten in the upcoming school year.

Summer VPK will be at Blue Lake Elementary in DeLand and Timbercrest Elementary in Deltona, South Daytona Elementary and Edgewater Elementary. A student must have a VPK Certificate of Eligibility. Contact the Early Learning Coalition for more information.

Features of the program include certified teachers and an aide in each classroom, smaller classes (maximum of 12 students), and a free full-day program, 7:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays June 10-Aug. 1.

Students must participate in the entire program, with minimum absences allowed.

For more information, either contact the registrar at the selected summer site or go to k12.vcsedu.org/early-learning-department.

Honored West Volusia graduates

Blake Hinson, former student basketball player at Deltona High and now playing for the University of Pittsburgh, has been added to the list for Atlantic Coast Conference First Team basketball honors.

Hinson averaged 18.8 points per game for the season, along with 4.6 rebounds. He leads the conference with 106 3-point field goals, and had 27 double-doubles during the season. Pitt is 21-10 overall for the season.

Ethan Tussing, former track and football player at DeLand High, who now is the throws coach at Virginia Commonwealth University, has been named Women’s Indoor Track and Field Southeast Regional Assistant Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track-and-Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association.

Tussing is in his 16th year at VCU as the throws coach. He guided junior Gudrun Hallgrimsdottir to fourth place at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, while earning First Team All-American honors. During his tenure at VCU, every throwing record has been broken.

Florida State Fair

The Volusia 4-H and FFA chapters earned numerous honors at the Florida State Fair in Tampa. Eight Volusia County students were recognized as “the Best of the Best” within the Champion of Champions Program. Ivy Hawn Charter School, DeLand High FFA and Taylor Middle-High School all earned honors.

Recognized are Hunter Root, Madison Braun, Hayley Luznar, Abbeigh Millard, Kayden Duncan, Mia Portillo, Izabella Moss and Grady Callahan. They were guided by Lori Smith, 4-H leader from DeLand High, and Abby Marion.

The Ivy Hawn Charter School middle-school team placed fifth in the state in the Florida FFA State Horse Judging Contest. The participants were Sheri Potter, Elizabeth Collins, Harrison Bitler, Claire Campbell, Mia Glover and coach Juli Bitler.

Four of the sheep exhibitors at the fair from DeLand High were Portillo, Moss, Callahan and Braun, while the swine exhibitors from Taylor Middle-High were Kayden Duncan, Shannon Minger and Taryn Leverett.

DHS Football Golf Tournament

The fundraising DeLand High Football Golf Tournament, presented by the DeLand Century Club, will take place at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, April 20, at Venetian Bay with a scramble start.

The cost is $600 per foursome, with free food, drinks and parking included.

Sign up at DeLandfootball.org.

Deltona Middle School

Deltona Middle School’s Intermediate and Advanced Orchestra earned straight superior ratings at the Music Performance Assessment. These groups are directed by Victoria Senko.

Pine Ridge High School

Pine Ridge High School in Deltona earned straight superiors at the District Concert Music Performance Assessment. Student conductor Edward Wilkinson earned superior honors for his sight reading. These honors are the first ever for the Pine Ridge program.

West Volusia high-school track and field

Two outstanding meets took place involving track-and-field athletes from West Volusia. The first of these was the Volusia/Flagler Freshman/Sophomore Championships, which found the DeLand boys winning the meet, while University High placed ninth, Deltona 10th and Pine Ridge 13th.

The DeLand girls placed sixth, University ninth, Pine Ridge 12th and Deltona 13th.

DeLand High had six individual winners along with one relay. Marceles Carey won the 100- and 200-meter races at 11.31 and 23.32, respectively.

Owen Smith won the discus at 126 feet, 11 inches; Connor York won the javelin at 145 feet, 3 inches; Anna Vandell won the high jump at 5 feet, 1/4 inches; while Savannah Hatfield won the 1,600 at 5:43.68.

The foursome of Michael Mandell, Daniel Rodriguez, Solomon Lorenzo and James Johnson won the 4X800 relay at 8:46.71.

The second major competition was the running of the Big D Relays, which has taken place at DeLand High for more than 60 years.

The winning individuals for DeLand High were Owen York in the javelin at 170 feet, 8 inches; Vandell in the high jump at 4 feet, 11 3/4 inches; Shamia Allen in the long jump at 15 feet, 9 inches; Emily Lamb in the javelin at 112 feet, 7 inches; and Kylie Neira in the pole vault at 12 feet, 7 1/2 inches, which is the best in the state so far this year.

Next week’s column will review the winning relays from the meet. The DeLand boys outpaced Mainland to win the meet, while the DeLand girls took second to Mainland.

DeLand High School Athletics

The DeLand High School Bulldog baseball team topped Pedro Menendez, 10-0, and University, 5-2, but lost to Spruce Creek, 10-0.

The Lady Bulldog softball team beat Mainland, 9-2, with Brianne Yocum doubling and tripling, while creating two RBIs, and Payton Mathis hitting a triple, with three RBIs.

The DHS beach volleyball team was stopped by New Smyrna Beach, 5-0, but the Bulldogs turned it around with a 5-0 win over Matanzas.

The Lady Bulldog flag-football team won two games with almost the same scores, 14-6 over Crescent City and 13-6 over Deltona. In the first game, Tashia Williams rushed for 93 yards while scoring the two TDs, with Tatiana Gonzalez-Garcia getting eight flags with three sacks.

In the second game, Williams threw for 123 yards, rushed for 46, while scoring one TD. Kaysha Hill had 50 yards of pass receptions, while collecting a TD and getting an interception on defense. Kayla Hill had four solo tackles.

The DHS spring sports calendar has the JV baseball team playing host to Flagler Palm Coast at 4:30 p.m. Monday, April 1.

On Tuesday, April 2, the DHS softball team goes to Taylor in Pierson for a 7 p.m. game, while the JV team plays at 5 p.m., and the tennis teams greet Deltona at 4 p.m.

Wednesday, April 3, sends the softball team to Sanford at 7 p.m., with the JV playing at 4 p.m. The baseball team meets East River on Conrad Field at 7 p.m., while the JV team goes to Flagler Palm Coast at 4 p.m.

Stetson University Athletics

The Stetson University men’s basketball team won the ASUN tournament and a position in the NCAA tournament. In the ASUN tournament, Jalen Blackmon earned MVP honors, while setting a record of 43 points in the championship game. Also making the All-Tournament team were Aubin Gateretse and Stephan Swenson. Blackmon also earned First Team All-Conference honors, while Swenson earned Second Team honors.

The Lady Hatter basketball team finished second in the conference and earned an automatic qualifying position in the WNIT Tournament for the ASUN Conference.

The Stetson men’s soccer team will be hosting an ID camp April 13-14 at the Athletic Training Center in DeLand. This is for grades nine and up. The cost of the camp is $160 for one day and $260 for two days. Go to https://stetsonmenssoccercamps.totalcamps.com/shop/EVENT for information and registration.

The Hatter baseball team stopped Bradley, 7-3, with Yohann Dessureault and Nelphie Lopez hitting home runs, while Daniel Paret struck out nine in five shutout innings. The team lost to JU, 8-6, with Daniel Labrador hitting a four-bagger.

The Hats then topped JU, 7-2, with Landon Moran and Dessureault hitting homers. The team followed this up with a second loss to JU, 5-2, with Gio Cueto homering.

The Lady Hatter softball team stopped Robert Morris, 3-2, then faced Kennesaw State, losing two of three games. The scores were 1-0, 10-7 and 1-2.

The Stetson women’s tennis team lost to Penn, 4-3, but stopped North Alabama, 6-1. The men stopped Lipscomb, 5-2, North Alabama, 3-2, and East Tennessee State, 5-2.

The beach volleyball team beat Santa Clara, 4-1, but lost to No. 9 Long Beach, 5-0, and then topped North Alabama, 3-2, College of Charleston, 5-0, North Carolina Wilmington, 4-1, and JU, 3-2.

Stetson’s lacrosse team downed Lipscomb, 23-3, with Sam King scoring five goals, and Jordyn Humphrey and Lexi Bird each scoring three. They then lost a close one to Niagara, 20-17.

The Lady Hatter golf team placed fifth out of 13 at the Pizza Hut Lady Thunder Invitational in St. George, Utah. Wendy Hsiao tied for seventh at 7 over.

The men’s golf program tied for sixth out of 14 at the Seminole Intercollegiate in Tallahassee.

The Stetson baseball calendar has the team at Eastern Kentucky Thursday-Saturday, March 28-30, with games at 6 p.m. for the first two and at 11 a.m. for the final game. On Tuesday, April 2, they return to Conrad Park to face South Florida at 6:30 p.m.

The softball calendar has the Lady Hats at Central Arkansas March 29 and 30. On the 29th, they play at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., followed by a 1 p.m. game on the 30th.

On Wednesday, April 3, they return home to play against the University of Florida at 6 p.m.

The minor sports home calendar has the women’s and men’s tennis teams hosting North Florida at 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 30. The day before, Friday, March 29, has the lacrosse team greeting Liberty at noon.

College honors

Lianse Paneto, of Deltona, was recently initiated into the honor society Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most-selective all-discipline collegiate honor society. Paneto was initiated at Florida International University in Miami.

— Send school news to Tony Tussing via email: at flacoach43@hotmail.com.