SPORTS

Three days after defending his Class 2A state high jump title, Santa Fe’s Kyren Washington made the leap into the college ranks by signing with Oklahoma University. Four years after deciding to try out for the Raiders track and field team – where as a freshman he only cleared the 5-foot, 3-inch mark – the senior tied with the third-best high jump in the country this season at 7-1 on March 11. According to Athlete.net, Washington has the best leap in Florida for the 2023 season.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) -Clients with the Arc of Alachua couldn’t hold their excitement as a group of cyclists made their way. 25 cyclists with ‘The Ability Experience’ are halfway through their 1,000-mile trip from Homestead to Tallahassee but stopped to see their friends along the way. “You...

ALACHUA, Fla. (WCJB) -If you’re a state champion athlete, sooner or later, a top program will find you. In the case of Santa Fe’s Kyren Washington, that school happens to be nicknamed the Sooners. Washington, a state champion high jumper, signed his letter of intent to compete for...

FORT WHITE — The persistent threat of lightning and rain forced the permanent stoppage of Tuesday’s spring football matchup between host Fort White and Madison County. The start of the game was…

It didn’t take long to get a glimpse of what we might see in the fall from the Newberry football team, which only graduated four seniors from last year’s Class 1R playoff team. Rising sophomore quarterback Keil McGriff threw a 43-yard pass to sophomore Ty Moses on the...

Friday night's meeting between the Newberry Panthers and Gainesville Hurricanes' football programs at Citizens Field was the showing of two teams in two different places. It wasn't all that long ago that Newberry head coach Edward Johnson returned to his alma mater to help the Panthers' rebuild their football program. This year, it's Gainesville alum Ian Scott's turn to put on a hard hat and try to turn around a Hurricanes' program that went winless last fall.

The Santa Fe High School (Alachua) baseball team is sending two more players to the college ranks. That makes a total of four Raiders from the 2023 team who will be playing college baseball. In December, pitcher Zane Starling signed with UNF while center fielder Dalton Dampier signed to play...

FORT WHITE — Don’t call it a revenge game. When Fort White takes on Madison County at 6 p.m. Tuesday night at Arrowhead for the teams’ spring game, there will be a lot to look at: a revamped offense…

FORT MYERS, Fla. (WCJB) -The Lafayette Hornet baseball team scored four runs in the first and third innings and pulled away from 2022 champion Holmes County, 9-6 to win Wednesday’s Class 1A state semifinal matchup in Fort Myers. The Hornets (22-4) extended their winning streak to five and will play for their second state crown since 2016.

The Hernando Leopards Softball team (24-4) outlasted the Santa Fe Raiders (16-10) by a 5-2 margin on Tuesday night at Tom Varn Park. Thanks in large part to a gutsy performance from Senior Pitcher Ava Braswell, the home team rode a five-score second inning to victory in the regional semifinals of the 2023 FHSAA Softball State Championships. After locking up the twelfth straight win with his squad stretching back to the beginning of April, Coach Kevin Bittinger broke down how the Leopards came out victorious in the matchup.

Two years ago, the Newberry baseball team got hot at the right time and never cooled off in winning their first state title in program history. That team finished 25-1 and won their last 19 games of the season, which included a 7-5 win against Chipley in the FHSAA Class 1A state title game.

Seven innings weren’t enough on Wednesday in the FHSAA Baseball Class 1A state semifinals at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers. Chipley’s David Carley doubled in a run just past diving center fielder Jayden Holcombe for a 1-0 win in eight innings against Newberry. “He gave it everything he...

CHEBOYGAN – It was a rough start to the season for the Cheboygan baseball team, but with the postseason just a few weeks away, the Chiefs are finally starting to find a groove on the diamond. The Chiefs continued to build momentum on Monday, as solid pitching and hitting...

In the three biggest boys’ high school sports, the area has quite the streak going. This past Saturday night, the Newberry baseball team advanced to its second state semifinal appearance in three years. They overcame a 4-3 deficit with a 4-run sixth inning to defeat visiting Chiefland, 7-4, in the Class 1A-Region 4 Final.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - Two football teams on the opposite ends of the spectrum last season clashed at Citizens Field. Newberry from Class 1R is coming off a 6-4 season while Gainesville is developing a new culture with the Class 3S Hurricanes football program. Newberry wins the spring football scrimmage, 24-7. Newberry took an early 10-0 lead and despite GHS scoring a touchdown before halftime, 10-7. The Panthers scored 14 unanswered points in the second half, both JV squads finished out the evening. It was also Ian Scott’s debut as the Hurricanes football coach.