How did Manatee County athletes do during the fall sports season?
Manatee County athletes enjoyed various levels of success this fall.
Manatee High was the only county school to win a district championship in football. The Hurricanes were also the only local program to win a playoff game. They were eliminated from the Florida High School Athletic Association region semifinals by Sarasota Riverview.
The Rams eliminated Palmetto in the first round. Lakewood Ranch and Parrish Community also saw their seasons end in the region quarterfinals.
The Bulls made the playoffs for the first time in program history.
But football isn’t the only sport played in the fall.
County athletes advanced to state tournaments in cross-country, golf and swimming and diving, while one volleyball team made the state playoffs as a No. 2 seed in the regional round.
Here’s a look at how area participants performed in those fall sports:
Swimming and Diving
Southeast’s Abigail Hite came to the closest to bringing a state championship back to Bradenton following the Class 3A swim meet at Florida Aquatics Swimming and Training (FAST) in Ocala. She had the top time in the preliminaries for the girls 100-yard breaststroke event. But Hite was pipped in the finals, and took a silver medal with a time of 1 minute, 4.90 seconds.
Hite also qualified for the state meet finals in the 100-yard freestyle, where she took fifth place with a time of 52.25 seconds.
Lakewood Ranch (4A), Southeast (3A) Braden River (3A), Bradenton Christian (1A) and Saint Stephen’s (1A) qualified swimmers to the state meet in different events. Here’s how they fared:
Lakewood Ranch’s girls 200-yard freestyle relay team took 14th with a time of 1:41.31. Team members are Zharra Conner, Payton Griffin, Abigail Loefgren and Adiranna Galliano. The girls 200-yard medley relay team placed 10th with a time of 1:51.84 with the team of Griffin, Conner, Galliano and Reese Messal.
Griffin placed 10th in the girls 500-yard freestyle at 5:02.94 and 15th in the 200-yard freestyle at 1:54.71.
Conner placed 13th in the girls 200-yard individual medley at 2:10.63, and was eliminated in the preliminaries of the 100-yard butterfly.
Messal snagged 10th in the girls 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:06.04.
Loefgren did not advance to the finals of the 200-yard individual medley.
Lakewood Ranch’s Daniel Snitkovsky made it to the boys 100-yard breaststroke event at the state meet, but did not qualify for the finals.
Braden River’s Sydney Koshinski placed ninth at 54.05 in the 3A girls 100-yard freestyle and 13th in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.94.
Southeast’s Denis Jones joined Hite as a state meet qualifier for the Seminoles. He placed sixth in the boys 500-yard freestyle at 4:41.70 and did not qualify for the finals in the 200-yard freestyle.
Saint Stephen’s girls 200-yard freestyle relay team consisting of Camryn Sanders, Piper Pullen, Layla Turner and Danielle Weathers did not get through the prelims at the 1A meet.
Saint Stephen’s Blair Wootson did not qualify for the finals in the boys 200-yard individual medley.
Bradenton Christian’s Jack Freed did not qualify for the 1A finals in the boys 100-yard backstroke.
Golf
Lakewood Ranch’s boys team left Mission Inn Golf and Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills with the Class 3A state runner-up trophy. They posted a 606 total. Fleming Island won the state championship with a 583 total.
Parker Severs, a junior, carded a 70-73 for a 143 total to tie for the second in the state as an individual. Fleming Island’s Tyler Mawhinney won the state title with a 140 total. Henry Burbee, a junior, tied for fourth with a 77-68 for a 145 total to also top the Mustangs’ scoring at the tournament.
Other golfers reaching the state tournament were as follows:
Lakewood Ranch’s girls team took seventh place with a 669 total. Emily Storm was the top finisher for the Mustangs with a 76-76 for a 152 total to tie for 16th place.
Parrish Community’s girls team had a 672 total to take seventh place at the 2A state tourney. The top scorer for the girls team was Avery Banfill and Natalie Angelo, who carded matching 152 totals to share 15th place.
Parrish’s Alex Angelo posted an 84-81 for a 165 total to tie for 52nd place in the boys 2A state tourney. His teammate, Tristan Pasch, placed 58th with an 87-80 for a 167 total.
Braden River’s Taryn Nguyen had the best showing in the girls 2A state tournament. The sophomore shot 76-75 for a 151 total to snag 12th place.
In Class 1A, Saint Stephen’s boys team placed 14th with a 640 total. Chase Nicks, a freshman, topped the Falcons with a 73-79 for a 152 total to tie for 19th place.
Saint Stephen’s Tifannie Tran posted a 78-84 for a 162 total to tie for 64th place in the girls 1A tournament, while Gulf Coast HEAT’s Jordan Pickens had a 90-85 for a 175 total to take 89th place in the boys 1A tournament.
Cross Country
Two schools had teams at the recent cross-country state meets held at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee.
Lakewood Ranch’s girls team finished 20th in the 4A state meet with Olivia Spiegel running the fastest time for the Mustangs. The junior placed 57th with a time of 20:16.1.
The Parrish Community girls team took 20th in the 3A state meet with Sullivan Morrish posting the top time at 21:09.02 for 88th place.
Volleyball
Braden River was eliminated in the Class 5A-Region 3 semifinal after earning the No. 2 seed for the regional playoffs. The Pirates were the only county school to qualify for the state volleyball playoffs.
