The prep football season is about to crown its state champions but the other fall sports have already finished their campaigns. Bay area athletes performed well in the state swimming, golf and cross country finals.
In the Class 2A state swimming finals, the
Academy of the Holy Names (Tampa) girls 200-meter free relay team captured gold. Senior Paige Russell, eighth-grader Konner Brewer, sophomore Tori Litschgi and freshman Clare Fleming took first place with a time of 1 minute, 39.35 seconds.
Other Bay area swimmers to win individual state championships were Devin McCaffrey, a sophomore at
Mitchell (New Port Richey). McCaffrey won the boys Class 2A 100 breaststroke event with a first-place time of 58.7.
Also, Tarpon Springs junior Kelsey Buckley won the girls 200 IM finals with a 2:03.68 first-place performance.
In the state golf finals, one Bay area boy and two girls managed Top 6 finishes.
At The Country Club at Silver Springs Shores in Ocala,
Calvary Christian (Clearwater) player Lee McCoy shot a 2-under-par 142 (74-68) to tie for sixth in the Class A finals. His teammate, Taylor Hancock, fired an even-par 144 (74-70) to tie for 11th.
In the Class A girls state meet,
Northside Christian (St. Petersburg) player A.J. Newell shot a 3-under 141 (73-68) to tie for third place. Newell helped lead the Northside girls to a second-place team finish. Steinbrenner (Lutz) was eleventh.
In the Class 2A state meet, held at Golden Hills Golf Club in Ocala,
Durant (Plant City) player Madison Opfer shot 4-over 148 (74-74) during the two-day event to place third among individuals.
Kelsey Eisch shot 160 (82-78) to tie for 15th and pace
Plant (Tampa) to a seventh-place team finish. Plant City's girls placed eighth.
At the state cross country meet, the Plant (Tampa) girls won their record ninth state championship.
The Panthers placed three runners in the Top 12 to capture first place in the Class 4A meet. Julia Rodriguez placed sixth, followed by teammates Caroline Gibson (ninth) and Danielle Kissel (12th).
In Class 3A, Grace Van DeGrift of
Durant (Plant City) placed seventh among individuals while Mitchell (New Port Richey) runner Kelli Williams was ninth.
Eighth-grader Collen Doherty of Tampa's Academy of the Holy Names ran to a ninth-place finish in the Class 2A state meet. Holy Names placed ninth overall.
In the girls Class A meet,
Northside Christian (St. Petersburg) finished eighth as a team. Katelyn Greenleaf paced Northside with a ninth-place finish.
In the boys Class 4A meet,
Chamberlain's (Tampa) Max Del Monte ran to a fifth-place finish among individuals. Chase Sutton of Seminole was sixth. Meanwhile, the Plant boys placed seventh among teams.
In the Class 2A team finishes,
Steinbrenner (Lutz) placed second and
Jesuit (Tampa) was third, paced by Blake Lopez's seventh-place individual finish.
Berkeley Prep (Tampa) placed sixth.
In Class A, the Northside Christian boys finished in seventh place.
