Clear space for more trophies in Fletcher’s aquatic collection.
Long the most successful Duval County public school in the water going back to their glory days under John (Wimpy) Sutton that included two state trophies in 1955 and 1956, the Neptune Beach school won its third consecutive Gateway Conference boys swimming and diving championship and its seventh in succession on the girls side at the annual meet at Cecil Field.
Merrick Vanscoy won the boys 50-yard freestyle (21.31) and 100 butterfly (52.40), Noah Rogers took the 100 free (48.68), Seth Ayers placed first in the 100 breaststroke (59.54) and Jasper Jackson earned the diving title. Those Senators combined with Mason Baldwin, Michael Murdono, Bradley O’Toole and Matt Wilkinson to sweep all three boys relays for 579 points, comfortably ahead of Wolfson (364) and Stanton (331).
Overall depth also brought Fletcher the girls championship with 523 points. Even though diver Leah Cox won the Senators’ only individual girls event, JK Timmerman brought home a pair of top-three finishes and Fletcher placed second in two relays. Wolfson was second with 426 points and Stanton third with 378.
Wolfson earned event victories with Grady Wilkins (boys 200 IM and 100 breast), Monica DiGaetani (girls 200 free) and Moriah Ayres (girls 500 free), as well as the girls 200 free relay.
Stanton also placed at the top of multiple events: Eli Little in the boys 200 and 500 free, Nicole Avila in the girls 100 butterfly, Sabrina Avila in the girls 50 and 100 free, Gabriella Marim in the girls 200 individual medley and 100 breast, and Lucy Page in the 100 backstroke, plus two relays.
Next up for Fletcher will be the District 2-3A meet, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Oct. 28 at the Northeast Pool in Gainesville.
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Mandarin, Wolfson win Gateway cross country
The Mandarin streak in boys cross country is still going strong.
For the sixth consecutive year, the Mustangs brought home the Gateway Conference boys title for Duval County public schools at New World Disc Golf at Cecil Field. Mandarin scored 36 points, ahead of Fletcher (63) and Wolfson (68), earning their 18th Gateway trophy in 21 seasons.
The streak is now the third-longest in Gateway boys cross country history, behind only Wolfson’s 15-year run from 1990-2004 and Mandarin’s earlier 11-year streak from 2007-17.
Mandarin senior MacKenly Ritz took the top spot in 16:34, with Mustang teammates Grey Murphy (fourth) and Joseph Herrera (sixth) also crossing under 17 minutes. Fletcher’s Evan Kirby and Judah Vieira came in second and third.
Meanwhile, Wolfson ended another long drought, capturing its first Gateway girls cross country championship since the Bill Clinton Administration. The Wolfpack had last lifted that trophy in 1998.
Although the top four spots went to Atlantic Coast freshman Allison Austin (19:01), Mandarin’s two-time winner Alaysa Chipunov and the Fletcher pair of Eliza Hutton and Clara Murillo, Wolfson’s all-around depth delivered the top prize.
Elli Kane, Morgan Sharp, Izy Wheeler, Emily Myers and Grayson Tucker all finished under 21 minutes as Wolfson recorded 37 points, ahead of Stanton (76) and Atlantic Coast (79). That success came only a week after Wolfson ended a 24-year wait in Gateway volleyball, earning the school’s first county crown in that sport since 2001.
Austin became Atlantic Coast’s first-ever individual Gateway cross country champion, and her time was the fastest in the event since future U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier Kayley DeLay won the last of her four consecutive conference titles for Fletcher at Patton Park in 2016.
As cross country advances toward the playoffs, next up will be this weekend’s FSU Invitational Pre-State meet at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee.
Blue Devils repeat in Gateway bowling
It’s back-to-back time for Stanton in Gateway girls bowling.
The Blue Devils easily repeated as Gateway champions, placing ahead of Sandalwood, Mandarin and Baldwin.
Sophomore Bailey Forrest led Stanton with a 392 series, along with Cassandra Wichman, Isabella Ricketts, Gemma Matthews and Mya Greene.
Stanton’s success sets the Blue Devils up nicely entering the Florida High School Athletic Association District 2 tournament, which begins 9 a.m. Oct. 23 at Batt Family Fun Center.
FHSAA mix-up scrambles volleyball bracket
Time for another entry in the errors column for the FHSAA.
When the FHSAA announced its volleyball playoff bracket on Oct. 18 — already delayed by more than 30 minutes — the association listed Madison County in the postseason for Region 3-Rural.
Just one problem, though: The FHSAA’s own rating formula, used to assign at-large berth for volleyball just as it is for football, credited Madison County with 1.205 points. Union County, in the same region, had 14.626. But it was Madison County, not Union County, listed as an at-large qualifier. That’s an error.
The FHSAA quickly fixed the mistake in its official bracket, confirming the correction in an e-mail response to the Times-Union on Saturday afternoon.
In a statement posted to the association’s Instagram page, the FHSAA “acknowledges and has corrected errors identified in the recently released girls’ volleyball playoff brackets. The updated 5A Region 2 and Rural Region 3 brackets are now live on FHSAA.com. We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding as we work to ensure transparency, accuracy and fairness throughout the postseason.”
Under the corrected bracket, Union County now holds the No. 3 seed in Region 3-R and opens its postseason at Mayo Lafayette at 1 p.m. Oct. 25.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Gateway Conference fall sports tournaments crown new champions. Who’s on top in Duval?
Reporting by Clayton Freeman, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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