Brooke McCoy is now on top of the Sunshine State in lacrosse.
So are Ponte Vedra’s championship-winning head coaches.
Episcopal midfielder McCoy received the Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Lacrosse award, the state’s top award in the sport, following her fourth Florida High School Athletic Association regional championship with the Eagles.
Meanwhile, Ponte Vedra boys lacrosse coach Chris Polanski and girls lacrosse coach Kara Koolage were also named best in Florida statewide, after steering the Sharks to the state’s first-ever double lacrosse championships. No school had ever won both boys and girls lacrosse titles in the same year.
McCoy’s Miss Lacrosse award is Northeast Florida’s third in four seasons, after Bartram Trail’s Ryann Frechette went back-to-back in 2023 and 2024.
Committed to Duke, McCoy recorded 67 goals, 18 assists, 123 draw controls, 33 ground balls and 32 caused turnovers in her senior year at Episcopal. Also a former FHSAA track and field champion in the 800 meters, she recorded 217 goals and 78 assists in her Eagles career.
At Ponte Vedra, fifth-year Sharks boys coach Polanski steered Ponte Vedra to a No. 1 USA Lacrosse ranking for the South region, and first-year girls head coach Koolage earned the first-ever girls title for the program.
Wright stuff for Palatka sprinter
A double champion on the track, Palatka’s Kedric Wright Jr. is now in the running for the state’s top award in the sport.
Wright was named the Class 2A boys track athlete of the year, advancing to statewide balloting for the Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Track award.
The junior won the 100-meter dash (10.60) and the 400 (46.07), setting Florida’s fastest time of the year in the latter mark. His 46.07 in the 400 placed him in the United States high school top 10 for 2026, and ranks among Florida’s top 15 marks all-time in the MileSplit archives.
In addition, area coaches Steven Bellamy (Raines boys), Ricky Fields (Creekside girls) and Tony Ryan (Bolles girls) also placed first in balloting for their respective classes.
Cunningham, Hartley, Rahman win at UNF
The high school track season finished two weeks ago, but some Northeast Florida high schoolers — and not-quite-high-schoolers — are making waves at meets inside and outside the Sunshine State.
In Jacksonville at the Southeast Meet of Champions at Hodges Stadium, Sean Cunningham of Providence won the boys 2-mile run in 9:10.90, and Avery Hartley of Bartram Trail won the girls 2-mile in 10:33.49. At the same meet, Aariz Rahman of Stanton took first in the boys 400 showcase event, running 46.71.
The First Coast’s future is also bright. St. Johns County seventh-grader Brianna Motycka ran 11:05.14 to place 10th against an elite high school field in the girls 3,200 at the RunningLane Track Championships in Huntsville, Ala. That’s a time that would have placed her in Florida’s top 40 this year.
Motycka, at Liberty Pines Academy, won the MileSplit middle school girls track and field athlete of the year statewide award, and Oakleaf Junior High’s Bobbie Gibbs was named Florida’s boys middle school track athlete of the year.
Bolles boats earn national medals
Bolles rowers took home a silver and a bronze medal from the Scholastic Rowing Association of America national championship regatta, held May 22-23 in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The Bulldog duo of Jillian McLaughlin and Esmee Jeannin placed second in the girls lightweight senior pairs in 6:18.5. They crossed nine seconds behind the winning boat of Sandy (Utah) Waterford.
Bolles also took third in the girls senior coxed fours in 5:59.32, with Presley Swain, Broward Kavanaugh, Maggie You, Sophia Zhang and coxswain Chi Vo. Gwynedd Mercy finished first, ahead of Notre Dame de Namur in a one-two for Pennsylvania schools.
Around the area
Paxon outfielder Robert Bryson IV committed to Cowley Community College baseball. … Middleburg’s Porter Loveland committed to Ellsworth Community College men’s wrestling. … Former St. Johns Country Day pitcher Jack Ensell is transferring to Miami baseball from Barry. … Former Fletcher defenseman Jaylen Gabb announced his transfer to North Florida men’s lacrosse from Malone. … Fletcher named Dakoda Grove head baseball coach. … Atlantic Coast named Pilar Howard head girls basketball coach. … Tocoi Creek named Kelli Bushman head girls tennis coach. … Fleming Island named Emma Herbst head cross country coach. … White High School cut the ribbon on the new artificial turf field at Commander Stadium, the seventh Gateway Conference school to do so. … Former Oakleaf fullback Hannah Johnson is among the players on the Lexington SC roster that qualified for the May 30 Gainbridge Super League final in women’s soccer. … Boca Raton St. Andrew’s midfielder Nick Testa won the Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Lacrosse award. … Westminster Academy’s Dane Fox is the new Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Water Polo, and Sanford Seminole’s Vivian Swain won the Miss Water Polo award. … Michael Goldenberg of St. Thomas Aquinas and Ryan Ackerson of Sanford Seminole were named water polo coaches of the year. … The final FHSAA board of directors meeting of the school year is scheduled for June 8-9 in Gainesville.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Florida’s finest: Episcopal’s Brooke McCoy wins Miss Lacrosse award
Reporting by Clayton Freeman, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
