15-05-2025
Cypress Bay's Brunt and Heritage's Croke are the Broward Tennis Coaches of the Year
Both American Heritage's Toby Croke and Cypress Bay's Michael Brunt have presided over two of the premier tennis programs in the state in recent years.
For Croke, it had been a little bit since one of his Patriots' squads had finished the season at the top.
That changed this season when American Heritage's girls secured the Class 2A team state championship.
On the boys' side, Cypress Bay didn't come away with a state team title. But the Lightning maintained their standard with top performances both individually and as a team in Class 4A.
As such, Croke and Brunt are the Miami Herald's Tennis Coaches of the Year for Broward County.
Croke wins the Girls' Coach of the Year honors after leading the Patriots girls to their first state title since 2021 and their seventh overall.
Senior Tina Liu and junior Angelina Lin led the way as a doubles team and at the top of Heritage's singles' rotation.
After losing in districts to rival Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest, American Heritage bounced back with a huge team win over the Panthers in the rematch a week later to secure a regional title.
Heritage carried that momentum to the state meet where it swept Orlando Lake Highland Prep and followed that with a 4-2 win over Naples Barron Collier to secure the championship.
Brunt wins the Boys' Coach of the Year honors after leading Cypress Bay to the Class 4A state final four. Although the Lightning lost in the state semifinals to eventual state champion Orlando Lake Nona, Cypress Bay dominated the competition throughout the season in Broward County. The Lightning won district and regional championships led by Pablo Alunni-Cobo at the top of its singles rotation. Alunni-Cobo then teamed up with senior Rolando Torrellas and sometimes with junior Sebastian Elias to win some clutch matches throughout the season.
