It wasn’t known at the time, but the Big School All-Sports award was decided when the Lake Wales wrestling coach had to step away just three days before tryouts, leaving the Highlanders without boys and girls wrestling teams for the 2025-26 school year.
Not having the two teams cost Lake Wales at least 10 points, leaving the Highlanders four points behind George Jenkins in the overall race. Jenkins finished with 356 points, and Lake Wales finished with 352 points as the two team were neck-and-neck all year. Jenkins now has 15 All-Sports titles, the most of any big school.
In the Small Schools Award battle, McKeel and Lakeland Christian were about even in points for the winter and spring combined, leaving McKeel’s 31-point advantage after the fall as the deciding factor. McKeel finished with 334 points while Lakeland Christian, which held a 216-214 advantage for the final two seasons, ended up in second place with 305 points.
The big schools win gave George Jenkins back-to-back wins after a nine-year drought when Lake Wales won four times, Lakeland and Winter Haven won twice, and Bartow won once.
Jenkins and Lake Wales were nearly tied for points in each season. Jenkins held a 102-99 advantage in the fall. The two schools each had 95 points the winter while Jenkins edged Lake Wales 159-158 in the spring.
George Jenkins won 12 district titles to nine for Lake Wales. George Jenkins won a region title in girls track, and Lake Wales won a region title in softball and were runner-up in girls weightlifting and football.
Winter Haven was a close third with 342 points as it was the highest-scoring program in the fall with 111 points.
The top winter teams were Jenkins, Lake Wales and Lake Gibson, thanks to it state champion wrestling team, as all three finished with 95 points. Auburndale was just behind with 93 points.
George Jenkins grabbed the overall lead after the winter with 197 points, three points ahead of Lake Wales and Winter Haven.
Winter Haven also was the third in the spring with 148 points, 10 points behind Lake Wales.
Rounding out the top five teams were Auburndale with 269 points to finish fourth, and Lakeland with 251 points to finish fifh. Sixth-place Bartow, with 243 points, was the only other program with at least 200 points.
For the small schools, McKeel has now won three years in a row, five times in six year and six time in the past nine seasons with Lakeland Christian winning the other three times. All Saints’ win for 2012-13 was the last year that a team other than McKeel or LCS has won.
Lakeland Christian remains first with 22 All-Sports titles while McKeel has six in the small schools race.
McKeel, which won 13 district titles, started strong in the fall by winning district titles in volleyball, girls swimming and boys and girls golf. Frostproof with 87 points was in third place after the fall with 87 points, two behind LCS.
LCS with 95 points was the top small schools program in the winter led by its final four girls soccer team. The Vikings also won the district title in boys soccer.
By having state runner-up teams in boys basketball and girls soccer, Victory Christian was able to edge McKeel for second place in the winter by three points.
No other team had more than 55 points (Santa Fe Catholic) in the spring as McKeel with 130 points and LCS with 121 points were the dominant teams. McKeels boys and girls tennis teams were deciding factors as each reached the state tournament.
In the overall standings, All Saints was a distant third with 191 points, followed by Santa Fe Catholic (175) and Frostproof (162 points). Despite its strong showing in the winter, Victory could finish no better than sixth overall with 137 points, one point ahead of Fort Meade.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Here’s how George Jenkins and McKeel won Ledger’s All-Sports Awards
Reporting by Roy Fuoco, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Roy Fuoco, Lakeland Ledger | USA TODAY Network
