Clearwater's Veronica Ryan transferring to West Port
Clearwater point guard Veronica Ryan is transferring to Ocala West Port, Tornadoes coach Tom Shaneyfelt said.
Ryan, a first-team, all-county selection, averaged 9.7 points per game as a junior and led Clearwater to conference and district titles before losing in the Class 5A region semifinals to Jefferson. Her absence will be felt on a Tornadoes team that lost key contributors to graduation, including Rachel Brown, Artajah Collins and J'Beria Davis.
"Veronica is a great player who is already getting a lot of interest from Div. I schools," Shaneyfelt said. "We will definitely miss her, but we understand the move and wish her nothing but the best."
Ryan will live with her father, Tim Ryan, who is the head coach at Central Florida Community College. Tim Ryan has coached CFCC the past six seasons.
In May, Veronica's mother, JoAnne Ryan, the ex-finance director for the city of Safety Harbor, pleaded guilty to second-degree grand theft for using the city's credit card to buy personal things. Her sentencing is on Aug. 7.
"Veronica has a lot more things going on in her life right now other than basketball," Shaneyfelt said.
-- BOB PUTNAM, Times Staff Writer
The St. Petersburg Times High School Sports blog is written and compiled by the Times preps sports staff from Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties. We invite your participation in the comments area.
Oops. Our mistake. Thanks for the heads up.
Posted by: Times Editor | June 23, 2009 at 05:13 PM
The article states the name of her father incorrectly. Tom Ryan is the head coach at Eckerd College. Tim Ryan is Veronica's father and head coach at CFCC.
Posted by: Girls Hoops Fanatic | June 23, 2009 at 04:42 PM
Boy, did I call it. Didn't even take that long for the 'transfers' to arrive. Welcome to Clearwater girls/boys basketball........don't build the gaps...replace them with transfers.
Posted by: Tim | June 23, 2009 at 12:34 PM
Doesn't matter........Clearwater will get transfers to fill in the gaps.....always do in situations like this......just wait and see.
Posted by: Tim | June 23, 2009 at 12:44 AM