Ponte Vedra High School Swim & Dive Team Performs Well at the State Level   
 
Qualifying swimmers from last week's regional swim & dive competition moved on to the class 2A State Competition in Stuart, Florida on November 9th.  

Kadeem LaFargue was the sole swimmer for the boys.  He just missed moving on to finals with a 19th place finish in the preliminaries.

The girl's 200 Medley Relay team of McKenna Johnson, Jenny Norenberg, Madison Michaels and Hannah Santillo took 10th place overall.  Sprinter McKenna Johnson placed 14th in the 50 Free finals.  

Divers Meg Barnhorst placed 8th with 356.30 and Lora Frazier finished 23rd with 120.55.  

Madison Michaels placed 3rd overall in the 100 Butterfly.  Distance swimmer Emily Benson placed 19th in the prelims and narrowly missed moving on to finals. McKenna Johnson, Emily Grace Alfaro, Madison Michaels and Hannah Santillo teamed up to take 8th place in the 200 Freestyle Relay finals. 

The 400 Free Relay team of Emily Grace Alfaro, Molly Voytecek, Emily Benson and Brigid Morgan swam took 12th place in the finals. 

The Ponte Vedra Lady Sharks scored higher than 32 other schools and placed 11th overall in the class 2A state competition.  Nice swimming, sharks!

Cross Country:
The girls finished their finest XC season in PV history at the FHSAA state meet held at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, home course of the Florida State Seminoles XC team. The atmosphere was incredible for our Sharks with 1,000's of spectators lining the hilly course throughout, large video boards, first class conditions, while bright skies and cool weather greeted all the runners.

The Lady Sharks ended up 15th overall in 3A out of the 128 teams that started the Cross Country Season!  Our girls took  home a new girls team school record and multiple personal and season best performances to end the season on a high note!

Your Sharks were led by senior Bella Poole who finished in 25th place in team scoring, running her second fastest time of her career. She was followed by senior Ashley Carpenter, who ran a PR to finish 45th to help the Sharks with a fine, gutty performance.  Sophomore Abby Reimer knocked almost 20 seconds off her PR in her best race of the year and career to finish in 85 place in team scoring to help the Sharks. Despite running with a painful foot injury, senior Casey Boland fought though to complete the race in a close to PR performance scoring points for the team. Junior Sara Lindell ran her best race of the year to finish with a season best performance to help out the Sharks and senior Courtney Henderson and junior Alexa Burch both ran close to their PR's to close out the Shark scoring. The State Championship Finals was a great way for our seniors, Bella, Ashley, Casey and Courtney to end their high school XC career!

 Girls Head Coach Amy Schottel commented, "It was a great experience for the team and a wonderful finish to a phenomenal season.  To race with the most talented ladies in the state and come through with a new school record performance was a perfect ending to our season! It is beyond words how proud I am of these ladies. They possess the character of true athletes.  I want to thank all of the athletes, parents and coaches involved with our girls and boys PVXC programs this year for all your support.  I especially want to thank our seniors for the leadership they displayed throughout the season.  The legacy of desire, determination, and talent they displayed on a daily basis was a gift to our team.  They have set the bar high for all future  PVXC runners.  You will all be missed but remembered fondly by all of us as  "class act" ladies!"

Girls' Golf:
Led by junior Nicolette Donovan's even par 144 (73-71) -- good for the overall individual championship! - the Lady Sharks Varsity Golf Team finished third at the FHSAA State Golf Championship tournament, just three shots behind rival Bartram Trail who emerged as runner up behind American Heritage of Planation, FL.  The Sharks ended the first round in fifth place and made a strong run on day two to climb into third place.  Held at the Mission Inn Resort in Howie-in-the-Hills, there were 16 teams and 95 girls at the tournament.  Also having a solid tournament, Sophomore Hannah Berman finished 11th overall with a 153 (76-77).  Rounding out the squad with excellent play were seniors Lauren Brychell, Kelsey Lecker and Aleya Peete, all who shaved off strokes from day one to day two.  In what is turning out to be a great cross-town rivalry, Bartram edged out the Sharks by just three shots to take the runner up hardware.  The two teams battled hard throughout the post season with just four strokes TOTAL separating the teams across three tournaments.  Bartram won the Districts by just one shot, they tied on the scorecard at the Regional Final (Bartram having won in a rain-soaked playoff) and the Sharks missed by just three shots at States.  Said Coach Finlay, "It was great golf for three straight weeks with all five girls from each team bringing their A-games.  We got them last year.  They got us this year.  I'm proud of our girls for clawing back in round two.  It was a great way for the seniors to go out.  We'll miss them next year on many levels."  The 2013 squad also included Sara McKevitt, Heidi Mathe, Ellie Lecker, Julie Snow, Jenna West and Theresa Irwin.  Coach Finlay added added, "We've got a great group of girls coming up next year, and I really look forward to seeing what this team can do in 2014."  American Heritage also loses three seniors, so the door is open for the Lady Sharks to make a run at the title.  The Lady Sharks would like to again thank Greg Lecker, his the staff and the membership at Sawgrass Country Club for providing the home course facilities for girls.  They also send their congratulations to the boy's team for winning the State Championship!