- January 8, 2025
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The 2024 West Orange and Southwest Orange sports season was littered with championships, broken records and the type of stories Hollywood filmmakers couldn’t come up with on their own.
After another tremendous year of sports, it is only natural to look forward and imagine what is in store for 2025 across the litany of youth, high school and even professional sports the area offers. To scratch that forward-looking itch — and really celebrate the incredible individuals in the community — the Orange Observer team has put together a list of the 14 sports people (players, coaches, administrators and other individuals) who will make a mark on the 2025 sports landscape.
Here is the 2025 class of the Forecast 14.
Windermere High football, track & field
If 2023 was Bronaugh’s debut to the high school athletics stage — by earning a starting role on the Foundation Academy football team and being part of the Lions’ track-and-field region championship-winning 4x100 meter relay team — then 2024 was his emergence as a leading man.
This past spring, he went from a contributor to Foundation’s impressive collection of sprinters to literally and figuratively separating himself from the pack by winning an individual state championship in the FHSAA Class 1A 100- and 200-meter dashes while also leading the 4x100 meter relay team to silver.
His accomplishments didn’t end on the track in 2024. After transferring to Windermere High for the 2024-25 school year, he continued to show just how dominant an athlete he is by helping lead the Wolverines football team to an undefeated season. Bronaugh, a 6-foot-1 and 170-pound junior cornerback, caught six interceptions — three of which he returned for touchdowns — in his seven appearances and racked up a truckload of offers from Power 4 football programs from around the country.
Based on the leap Bronaugh made from 2023 to 2024, it’s only natural to expect even bigger accomplishments from the Nebraska football commit in his 2025 efforts on the track and gridiron.
Foundation Academy cheer coach
The Foundation Academy competitive cheerleading program is a dynasty.
Here’s the proof: The Lions have won five consecutive regional championships, three consecutive FHSAA state championships, and in 2024, this team won the NHSCC national championship and the WSC world championship.
At the helm of this dynasty has been Carey, who took over the program in 2019, and with her continued leadership — with co-coach Kristin Johnson alongside her — to expect 2025 to be any different would be foolish.
Windermere High boys basketball
With a little less than half the 2024-25 boys basketball season left to play, Windermere High’s 6-foot-8 senior forward has been the best player on the area’s clear-cut best team, leading the Wolverines to a 12-3 record.
After a sensational junior season for Windermere — during which he led the 20-9 Wolverines in points per game (19.8), rebounds (8.6) and blocks (3.2) — Drain fielded a plethora of college offers before signing with Liberty.
So far this season, Drain already has made his mark by setting a new Wolverines’ single-game scoring record of 39 points against rivals Olympia High.
Projecting forward to 2025, Drain and the Wolverines have a real shot at making some noise in the Class 7A playoffs; especially when you consider their stellar play and district rivals Oak Ridge High’s — the defending 7A state runner-up and district champions — less-than-ideal start.
Horizon High softball
There isn’t an athlete more synonymous with their program than Duncan is with Hawks softball.
Since the team’s inception in 2022, Duncan has established herself as the most accomplished player in program history.
She is Horizon’s career leader in games played — having appeared in 77 of the team’s 79 games — runs batted in (58), innings pitched (290), strikeouts (439) and pitching wins (24). Duncan is also just 11 hits and one home run shy of those career marks.
In 2024, the Penn State signee helped lead the Hawks to their best season with her best-ever season from the circle. She had career-highs in ERA (0.95), opposition batting average (0.153) and wins (12), Duncan helped guide Horizon to its first district championship, first regional championship, most wins (23) and its best finish in program history, by reaching the Class 5A final four. The Hawks had never advanced past the first round before.
In her final season at Horizon, Duncan has a chance to further cement herself as the program’s all-time best by breaking even more records and leading the 2025 Hawks even further into the postseason.
Windermere High girls swimming
In terms of competing on the highest stage in their respective sports, there’s not a single area student-athlete that can match the heights Windermere’s sophomore sensation reached in 2024 — or what she’s destined to accomplish in 2025.
Erisman began her incredible run last year by breaking four-time Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin’s U.S. national age group (13-14 girls) record in the 50-meter freestyle and becoming the youngest girls swimmer ever to record a time under 25 seconds in the event (24.98). In the summer, she was just .36 seconds away from earning a spot on the 2024 U.S. National team competing at the Paris Olympics. Despite missing out on the Olympics, she was selected to represent the U.S. at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships and brought home five gold medals and a silver.
In the fall, Erisman returned to Southwest Orange and put together a dominant high school season for the Wolverines, winning the individual state title in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle and being part of the 400-meter freestyle relay state championship team.
To end 2024, Erisman reminded the national swim community that she’s not going anywhere by becoming the youngest girls swimmer (15 years old) to break the 47-second barrier in the 100 freestyle at the 2024 Speedo Winter Junior Championship. She also became just the fourth-ever American female under 18-years-old to best the mark. Her time of 46.69 was the 17th-best all-time performance among all female swimmers and would have placed fourth in the event at the 2024 NCAA National Championships.
It’s safe to say — at the very least — Erisman comes into 2025 as the most impressive student-athlete the area has to offer, and with her unrivaled list of accomplishments, there’s no limit to what she’ll do in the pool this year.
The First Academy baseball
In his first season as part of The First Academy baseball team, having transferred from Saint Ignatius College Preparatory School in Chicago, Indomenico’s performance from the batter’s box was crucial to the Royals’ midseason turnaround and run to the final four.
Indomenico, an Oklahoma State signee and senior outfielder, led the TFA offense in 2024 with a .455 batting average (35-for-77), .577 on-base percentage (22 walks), 11 stolen bases and 26 runs batted in. He also added four home runs and 31 runs scored; both of which were the second-most on the team.
With a majority of the Royals’ 2024 roster — which went 24-7, won a district crown and reached the Class 2A state semifinals — returning and the addition of new coach Alan Kunkel, who brings college baseball and FHSAA state title-winning experience to Orel Hershiser Field, there’s no reason to think the 6-foot, 185 pounds lefty won’t once again be leading TFA to glory in 2025.
Influencer Counsel, NIL expert
With the Florida Department of Education’s ratification of the FHSAA Name, Image and Likeness policy last summer — which allows the state’s high school student-athletes to monetize their NIL without jeopardizing their eligibility — there’s a chance high school sports in 2025 could turn into the wild west.
With an impending gold rush of sorts by the area’s student-athletes, athletic departments and businesses to capitalize on the new policy, there is an opportunity for someone to be at the center of the NIL Venn diagram that connects each piece together.
LaForest is that guy because of his deep roots in the Central Florida football community — he’s a former Apopka High player, a member of the Orlando TD Club, Florida Citrus Sports and Cure Bowl All-Star Games and he also hosts the Central Florida High School Scoreboard Show — his financial and legal qualifications, NIL expertise and marketing savvy. Combined, LaForest is positioned to get his name in front of any and all student-athletes interested in obtaining an NIL deal.
The First Academy football, boys basketball
Despite what the record books may say following sanctions handed down by the FHSAA, which stripped the Royals football team of its nine wins in 2024, in McCray’s eight games on the gridiron for TFA, he showed he’s the kind of player who can carry a program to the promised land.
The best way to characterize his impact is this nugget: In the Royals’ eighth game of the season — McCray’s seventh — the junior wide receiver broke the program’s all-time career receiving yards record. Overall, he finished 2024 with 36 catches for 894 yards with nine touchdowns. His performances, coupled with his 6-foot, 187-pound frame and lightning speed, earned him offers from UNC, UCF, West Virginia, Ole Miss, Illinois and others.
Expect more of the same from McCray on the football field in 2025, with the added bonus of being an asset for TFA on the hardwood as a member of the boys basketball team. He is currently averaging 10 points and 2.4 rebounds a game for the 8-2 Royals.
Ocoee High girls basketball
Looking back at the 2023-24 girls basketball season in West Orange and Southwest Orange, it’s easy to see just how talented the area is in the sport.
When it was all said and done, eight of the area’s teams made it to the FHSAA playoffs in their respective classifications, five were district champions, four won a playoff game, three reached the regional championship game, two reached the state title game and one — Dr. Phillips High — won a state championship.
So, for Merthie to walk in into her first season in the area as one of its best players is a testament to just how talented the junior transfer from Lake Mary High is, and over the season’s first 15 games, she’s exceeded expectations.
Not only has she led the Lady Knights to a 13-2 record by upping her scoring output — going from 20.8 points per game as a sophomore to 23.7 ppg — but also Merthie has seen her per-game rebounds (3.5 to 5.3), steals (3.4 to 4.7) and assists (2.2 to 3.7) averages increase.
With a large chunk of the regular season still to play and the playoffs on the horizon, expect Merthie and Ocoee to make headlines in the early portion of 2025.
Dr. Phillips High boys water polo
After a surprising 2023 season, during which a young Panthers team with no seniors and one junior reached the playoffs and finished with a 17-10 record, DP grew into a force in 2024 — finishing the season with a 29-3 record, winning a district and regional title and reaching the state championship game.
At the center of this two-year run, both literally and figuratively, has been junior hole set Emanuel Pardo.
The hole set role — which resembles the traditional center role in basketball — is one of the most crucial spots in the pool for any successful water polo team. The player in this role is positioned directly in front of the goal, facing away from the scoring target and toward his five other teammates; who usually surround him in a semi-circle.
Often, the offense runs through the hole set, with teammates passing the ball to the player nearest the goal in the hopes that he can either score, make a pass to an open teammate, after the defense collapses on him, or draw a foul. Because of this, hole sets are often the focal point of the opposing defense’s strategy — aka don’t let Pardo get the ball — but if he does, pounce on him.
That attention doesn’t bother Pardo, and, it hasn’t slowed him down either. He’s scored 189 goals and recorded 34 assists across 57 games in two seasons for the Panthers, even earning himself a spot on one of the 2023-24 NISCA Boys Water Polo All-America teams.
Expect Pardo and the Panthers to once again be a force in 2025.
Dr. Phillips High girls basketball
For the past two seasons, no one has had a better opportunity to learn what it takes to become the leader of a championship-winning program than the Panthers’ junior guard. She shared a backcourt with the best girls basketball player to walk the halls of Dr. Phillips High, current Georgia guard Trinity Turner, on DP’s quest to win state titles two and three of a three-peat.
So far in the 2024-25 season, Perry has taken the opportunity to step up and lead DP by increasing her production across the board from last season. Through 15 games, she’s seen her numbers go from 10.2 to 14.1 points per game, 2.3 to 4.1 assists per game — both team-highs — and 4.3 to 5.6 rebounds per game.
Although the Lady Panthers’ 8-7 record may indicate a down season, a quick look at their murderer’s row of opponents and their claiming of a third-consecutive Metro West Conference crown will calm any doubts about six-time state championship-winning coach Anthony Jones’ team in 2025.
With a less taxing schedule to finish the regular season a, expect DP to be fighting for another state title.
Windermere Prep, USA Women’s Cricket
From tennis to basketball, swimming and even competitive weightlifting, Vallabhaneni’s exceptional athletic gifts have been seen from an early age as part of various Windermere Prep sports teams. Still, it wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that she found her true athletic calling: cricket.
Thanks to her father’s passion for the sport and a makeshift backyard setup, Vallabhaneni fell in love with the game and quickly climbed up the youth cricket ranks, eventually breaking through on the international stage this past summer by making her U19 USA Women’s Cricket team debut against the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago.
Fast-forward to the end of 2024, and — thanks to that debut performance, continued development as a player, and various showings at the club level and during a week-long national team camp — the Windermere Prep senior was named to USA Cricket’s T20 roster for the ICC U19 World Cup in Malaysia.
As of Jan. 3, Vallabhaneni has been with the team in South Africa for a pre-tournament camp and warm-up fixtures against Cricket South Africa’s U19 team.
From there, the national team will travel to Malaysia for its final warm-up matches against New Zealand Monday, Jan. 13 and Nepal Wednesday, Jan. 15, before its first group stage game of the World Cup against Pakistan Saturday, Jan. 18.
The First Academy Head of School
For more than 20 years, Whitaker has been at the helm of The First Academy, overseeing numerous major renovations and expansion projects — such as the building of a new Upper and Middle School, the opening of the Tennis Center, the renovation of the Boyd-Moline Library, the building of the $10.5 million Cramer Family Field House and more.
Although his leadership over the academic and spiritual portions of TFA is probably what he’ll say he’s most proud of during his more than two-decade-long tenure, his impact on the area’s sports community has also been felt in that time.
However, it can be argued that Whitaker’s most significant impact on high school athletics is still to come.
After the hiring of football coach Jeff Conaway and his subsequent promotion to athletic director following his first season at TFA, the Royals’ athletics department began a pursuit of elite-level success on the field of play that sparked a massive overhaul in its coaching staffs, rosters and general athletics philosophy — with Whitaker serving as one of the forces behind the shift.
This new direction, which seemed to have begun in late 2023, has shown to be extremely fruitful on the fields of play but controversial in the area’s athletic community and in the FHSAA board room, with the Royals football team serving as the prime example. After going 9-1 on the field against a gauntlet of a schedule, destined for a deep playoff run, TFA was stripped of its nine wins and banned from the postseason after an FHSAA investigation brought sanctions down on the team.
Following these sanctions, Whitaker and TFA announced an athletics department restructure that shifted Conaway’s focus exclusively to coaching and no longer as athletic director.
How Whitaker decides to fill this vacancy at the top of his athletic department could be the most influential decision the area’s sports community could see in 2025 and beyond. On one side, an AD hire that aligns with the continued pursuit of athletic excellence that Conaway began could result in Royals Athletics racking up championship after championship while continuing to have its every move dissected by the FHSAA, media, opposing schools, and fans.
The other path of hiring an athletic director who leads in a more traditional way could see less scrutiny but less on-field success.
Whitaker’s decision surely will make a mark on 2025, one way or another.
Windermere Prep girls golf
As just a freshman, the Lakers’ golfer demonstrated throughout the high school and junior circuits in 2024 why she’s considered one of the state’s top female prospects.
For Windermere Prep, Zhang finished tied for third at both the district and regional championships. At the Class 1A state championship tournament, she had the area’s top individual performance — finishing tied for 10th with a score of 142.
On the junior circuits, Zhang continued to show her merit on the course by racking up four top-5 finishes and six top-10s. She’s currently 84th on the American Junior Golf Association’s player rankings.
