TCPalm previews lacrosse, flag football, track and field, beach volleyball and tennis

The spring sports season across the Treasure Coast in 2022 is underway and TCPalm is the one to turn to to keep track of the top athletes and teams.

A new sport makes its debut as beach volleyball joins baseball, softball, lacrosse, flag football, track and field and tennis to give schools and players plenty of opportunities to make waves locally and on a state level.

Three teams reached state championship games last spring as the Vero Beach girls lacrosse team, St. Edward's boys lacrosse team and Jensen Beach flag football team all earned state runner-up finishes.

The big news across the area was Jensen Beach's boys tennis doubles duo of Gabriel Escobar and Nicolas Galligan winning the 2A state championship. Both are back again to try and repeat as seniors.

TCPalm will have plenty to keep track of over the next few months — here's a rundown of names and teams to keep an eye on.

Lacrosse

Both the Vero Beach girls and St. Edward's boys are going to be expected to make return trips to state despite each team losing key seniors.

Vero Beach welcomes back Michigan signee Calli Norris, who missed all of last year with a knee injury and classmate Joy Coffey, one of the top goalkeepers in Florida who is signed to High Point. She brings valuable experience that will be needed as most of Vero’s defense graduated.

Firepower on offense will be led by Norris, juniors Alexa Vega and Kerrigan Gilmore, senior JoJo Kowalski and sophomore Kiera Runske.

South Fork had a strong season last year and return many of their top contributors including juniors Katie Hale and Zoe Williams along with sophomore goalkeeper Sydney O’Connor.

Jensen Beach returns seniors Meg Schoppe and Ashley Dunnuck in their hopes of challenging South Fork, St. Edward’s and Pine School among others in District 13-1A.

The Pirates return much of their roster from last year littered with dual-sport athletes and the Knights will have sophomore Julia Kerr leading its offense.

At Sebastian River, contending with Vero Beach in District 8-2A is a longshot, but senior Kayla Martellotti is another dual-sport athlete to keep an eye on and down at Martin County, the same can be said for sophomore Camryn Debian, who leads the Tigers in their hunt for a District 13-2A title.

On the boys side, St. Edward's dealt with an emotional postseaso,n enduring the loss of a classmate BT Termidor, to achieve a great season.

This year, several returners offensively are back including seniors Riker Pratt and Oscar Lindenthal, juniors Ricky Savage and Eli Barin and sophomores Will Russell and Reed Sternberg.

The most important returner for the Pirates is senior goalkeeper Liam Murphy, who will have new faces in front of him on defense to organize on the fly.

Jensen Beach, led by senior Chase Walker and a young Pine School roster will challenge the Pirates in District 8-1A.

District 8-2A will be wide-open with defending champion Vero Beach not having it easy against a much-improved Martin County, South Fork and Viera.

Seniors Landon Farrow for Vero, Jaxson Sellick for the Tigers and Lance Olson for the Bulldogs are names to watch along with Martin County freshman Jayden Vega, who should be one of the top newcomers across the state.

Flag football

A number of top seniors moved on from last year, meaning the area is up for grabs for many teams to stake their claim as the best.

Jensen Beach does return junior Lauren Duke, one of the top receivers in the area last season and seniors Courtney Cromer and Makayla Lowenbach that will handle multiple roles for the Falcons.

Centennial won a district title for the first time in program history in overtime over Martin County and both teams will be strong again this year.

For the Eagles, senior two-way threats Kiarha Wood and Mya Heath and quarterback Olivia Kaes, all First Team All-Area selections are back for Centennial.

For the Tigers, senior Jasleen Nguyen will be one of the top returning touchdown producers leading the way for Martin County.

Senior Madison Wright at South Fork is one of the most dynamic players back that features on both sides of the ball.

Fort Pierce Westwood had a strong season last year and returns seniors Tre’Necia Merricks and Shakeria Briggs.

Beach volleyball

Fort Pierce Central, Treasure Coast, Vero Beach and Centennial make up a four-team District 25 that will compete against each other locally while also playing teams from Palm Beach County.

32 districts are in the inaugural season for the sport, with district champions making up the state tournament bracket with the state final not yet determined where it will take place.

Two Cobra seniors will be ones to watch as both Presley Murray and Kendra Brown will be headed to the Division-I level at North Florida and Florida International.

Numbers will consist of five two-player teams in a match, with the first to win three matches the winner.

Compared to indoor volleyball, sets are played to 21 until a third set if necessary that goes to 15 points with margins of two points like indoor volleyball needed to win sets.

Track and field

Throwers and sprinters lead the crop of returners in track and field from last year across the area for both the boys and girls.

John Carroll Catholic senior Cody Menke will be a top contender in both the discus and shot put in 1A after finishing fourth in each event at state last year.

Sebastian River senior Jacori Clark will also be a contender in the discus in 3A after finishing fourth at state a year ago.

Martin County junior Denzel Alexander is one of South Florida’s top returning sprinters as the football standout will be looking for a big season specializing in the 100 and 200-meter dash as well as on the Tiger relay teams.

Distance runners that were among the best cross country runners in the fall are back for more as Martin County senior and Cross Country Runner of the Year Anthony Matthew and Jensen Beach junior Justin Cannata, a Cross Country First Team All-Area selection will look to have big seasons in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs.

The same can be said on the girls side as South Fork sophomore and Cross Country Runner of the Year Addison Boyer excelled last year in her high school debut finishing fifth at state in 3A in the 3,200-meter run and blew away her cross country times this past fall.

John Carroll Catholic sophomore Paige Lallicon is one of the top returners in the state for the javelin after finishing fifth in 1A at state last year.

South Fork senior and dual-sport athlete Erin Craig finished sixth in the 3A pole vault last year and is back for more for the Bulldogs.

Pine School eighth graders Riley McCaughey and Emerson Brinn excelled in multiple events as state qualifiers last year and should only improve with another year of training under their belts.

Tennis

Escobar and Galligan at Jensen Beach with their success last year will lead the tennis contingent locally, but a number of other standouts from last year are also back to build on great seasons.

The Vero Beach girls made a run to state as a team with senior Manuela Van Cotthem, TCPalm's Player of the Year last season and classmate Elise Hepburn had excellent seasons along with sophomore Katherine Earnest and the team has added talented junior Grace Levelston to the team in 2022.

For the girls, Okeechobee juniors Isabella Derigo and Kiersten Sales were state qualifiers last year and are a formidable doubles partnership.

Jensen Beach sophomore Sarah Schoppe has state tournament experience in doubles and will lead the Falcons.

Martin County’s Ashley Messer, Sebastian River’s Bella Snee and Master’s Academy’s Sunshine Tarpey are three names that have started off well in 2022 for their teams.

On the boys' side, Martin County brothers Jaden and Dylan de Windt will be a tough doubles duo to face for opponents as both are equally tough individually.

Okeechobee junior Peyton Johnson had an outstanding season last year as a state qualifier and Vero Beach junior Mac Johnson is back to try and be a leader for the 4A state runner-up that did have a number of its players graduate from last season.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: TCPalm gives you the names and teams to watch for 2022 spring sports