Two county championship events took place last week, and while one Nature Coast Technical team won as expected, another did not.
On Wednesday afternoon, Weeki Wachee hosted the county meet for girls weightlifting. The Lady Sharks had claimed the previous three county titles, but this time it was Hernando taking first-place honors.
The Lady Leopards scored 70 team points, with Nature Coast in second at 63 followed by Weeki Wachee (55), Springstead (11) and Central (eight). It’s Hernando’s first county crown since 2004. “Absolutely amazing,” Hernando head coach Casey Ellis said. “I could not be more proud of the way the team performed today. The girls have been working hard and it all paid off today.”
There were two individual champions for the Lady Leopards, with sophomore Janea Mobley winning at 183 pounds for the second year in a row, benching 125 pounds while putting up 110 in the clean-and-jerk for a 236 total. Paisley Easton, a senior, placed first at 101 with a 105-95—200 tally.
Nature Coast had five champions: Jessica Osborne at 119 (105-120—225), Victoria Davila at 129 (120-120—240), Ashley Gentz at 139 (160-180—340), Annelise Rentas at 169 (155-160—315) and Jouie Miller at unlimited (170-140—310).
The remaining weight classes were won by Weeki Wachee lifters: Calleigh Brannan at 110 (110-110—220), Brooke Spaulding at 154 (130-125—255) and Kelsey Manns at 199 (135-125—260).
Hernando, though, still managed to collect more points overall and now has momentum going into the Class 1A, District 10 Meet this Wednesday at South Sumter.
“I think it’s huge for the team,” Ellis said. “It’s great for our school. It’s great for the girls to have this win under them to build on for next week.”
Also this week, the Coaches Cup boys soccer county tournament was held at Nature Coast. The top-seeded Sharks (14-2-1), after winning 6-0 over Central on Wednesday, defeated Weeki Wachee in Friday night’s final, 1-0.
“For me, it’s exciting because, well, it’s revenge from last year. They got us good last year,” Nature Coast head coach Ian Wald said. “Two, it’s on our field so we defended our home turf. And then three, I like this tournament because it gets us ready for districts.”
A scoreless tie was broken in the 61st minute on a header by Gil Delgado, off a throw-in from Kyle Reckner. “This is just another game to us. Yeah, it’s the county cup. We’re not going to dwell on this win because we’ve still got districts,” Delgado said. “It feels good, it feels really good finishing off strong, carrying my team at the last minute, try to get a header. Like I told these boys, whenever it comes down to it, I’m not going to let them down.”
Weeki Wachee (8-5-3), which beat the Sharks in last year’s final, had beaten Springstead in Wednesday’s semifinals, 1-0. “We didn’t play to the best of our ability,” Weeki Wachee head coach Shane Tarbox said. “It wasn’t our best performance the first half and we didn’t pick it up the second half. We knew sooner or later if we kept giving up those long throw-ins that eventually one of those was going to find its way in the back of the net, unfortunately.”
On Friday and Saturday, Springstead held its annual wrestling tournament, rebranded the Corey Hill Memorial Invitational after the former Eagle state champion who passed away last year.
Host Springstead, with 162.5 points, took first place ahead of Weeki Wachee (142) and Hernando in third (104). Nature Coast finished ninth (70.5).
Champions for the Eagles included Tommy Barker (106 pounds), Xzavier Ramos (120), Kevin Rivera (132) and Brandon Burgess (182).
Hernando’s Codey Maniates (145), Weeki Wachee’s Nathaniel DeJesus (152) and Nature Coast’s Anthony Contegiacomo (220) rounded out the county winners.
In boys basketball, Nature Coast went 2-0 with a win over Citrus on Tuesday, 60-53, and Crystal River on Friday, 59-48. The Sharks now stand 13-5 overall, and remain unbeaten in 5A-7 at 9-0.
On Thursday, the Nature Coast girls defeated Hernando, 51-27. The Springstead girls lost a 6A-8 contest to Sunlake on Friday, 54-47, falling to 11-5 overall and 2-2 in the district.
Hernando Christian Academy (10-3 overall, 5-0 2A-4) notched a 54-31 win over First Academy-Leesburg on Thursday, but lost to Weeki Wachee (10-8) on Friday, 43-35.
As for girls soccer, the final week of the regular season saw Central beat Dunnellon on Tuesday, 8-0, and Mount Dora on Friday, 5-1, to sit at 13-2-3 overall. Nature Coast (10-9-1) lost to Wiregrass Ranch on Wednesday, 6-0.
The Associated Press released its all-state football selections for 5A, and as expected the nation’s leading rusher and scorer, Nature Coast senior running back DeShawn Smith, was picked for the first team offense.
One of his blockers, senior offensive lineman Hunter Rhineberger, made all-state as an honorable mention, as did Central running back De’Vonta Smith, a junior who rushed for 2,193 yards and 19 touchdowns.