- September 6, 2024
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For schools in the East County area, the 2023-2024 school year was a time of triumph, with several programs and athletes reaching their state-level events and some even winning them.
It was also a great year for stories: of success, of perseverance, of emotion and of humor.
Here's a rundown of some of the best moments — not the teams and athletes that were the most successful, necessarily, but the ones that showcased humanity.
The most enthusiasm for a sport and a team that I heard all year came from the Braden River girls weightlifting team. That would not have been my prediction at the start of the year. A lot of athletes take weightlifting to stay in shape for other sports. At Braden River, Head Coach Jordan Borges has made it his mission to get his athletes enthusiastic about the sport.
It's working. After the girls team won its district title meet in January, they smashed a cake in Borges' face, covering him with Pirates-red icing. Braden River would also win its regional title. Borges has created an environment where the lifters are pushing each other to be great and giving each other equal amounts of support and constructive critique.
But Borges gets in on the action, too — sophomore Ashlyn Henry said Borges will lose his voice at meets from loudly cheering for his athletes.
That's the kind of high school spirit I like to see.
If the Pirates weightlifters represent physical strength, two players on the Pirates junior varsity boys soccer team represent mental strength. Freshman Landen Chandler and sophomore Nicolas Dieter have both dealt with forms of cancer, Chandler with Langerhans cell histiocytosis and Dieter with leukemia.
Both initially took some time off from soccer, but returned play the 2023 season despite still undergoing their treatments.
"Soccer is my life," Chandler said. "I love it so much. As long as I'm out here playing, I'm happy."
Chandler and Dieter have become like brothers, leaning on each other when things get tough. To stay as upbeat as Chandler and Dieter are, and to have the determination to keep playing, is impressive.
While telling those kinds of stories is important, there's room on the beat for fun, too. In November, I asked wrestlers at Lakewood Ranch High about their Thanksgiving plans. Senior Tommy Bisordi was honest about his, which amounted to "not much."
Bisordi was trying to cut weight, dropping from 185 pounds to 175 pounds by December. That would typically not be a big deal to Bisordi, who had been wrestling since eighth grade, but in this instance, it meant resisting most of his family's Thanksgiving treats: Honey-baked ham, turkey, stuffing, various desserts.
Bisordi had to be reasonable about it all — with one delicious exception.
"I'll have a small slice of pecan pie or something," Bisordi said. "I have to cheat a little bit, you know?"
Sometimes, the most impressive athletes are impressive not because of their athletic ability, but because of their preparedness for the future. Abigail Hite and Denis Jones were seniors at Southeast High in 2023, though both were zoned to attend Lakewood Ranch High.
The reason for the change in schools? Hite and Jones, best friends since childhood, wanted to enroll in Southeast's International Baccalaureate Program, designed to encourage critical thinking and promote an international perspective. Both Hite and Jones are focused on engineering.
The IB program made also holding a typical high school-level swimming schedule difficult. Hite and Jones had nine practices a week, some lasting as long as 2.5 hours. left the pair with little time for much else. It was a lot of work, but the work paid off: not only did they get the education they wanted, but they found success in the pool. Hite finished second in the girls 100-yard breaststroke (1:04.90) and fifth in the girls 100-yard freestyle (52.25 seconds) at the FHSAA Class 3A meet in Ocala in November, while Jones finished sixth in the boys 500-yard freestyle (4:41.70).
The biggest breakthrough of the year happened at Parrish Community High, where the football team earned the first playoff berth in program history. The Bulls went 7-3 in the 2023 regular season; in its first three seasons of play, the team went 7-16.
It was a group of East County players that led the postseason charge, including senior quarterback Jackson Volz, senior tight end Lane Tomlinson, senior offensive lineman Carter Dietz, senior offensive lineman Jimie Roden, senior linebacker Holten Graham, senior defensive end Dustin Springfield, junior defensive end Ashton Springfield, junior linebacker Sean Crowley and junior cornerback Bryson Bender. Those players came up the ranks together, starring for the East Manatee Bulldogs youth football program before joining the Bulls.
A 35-28 victory over Braden River High, a budding local rival, in October proved to the players that they were good enough for the playoffs. Though Parrish would lost 42-0 to Naples High (10-3) in the first round, getting to the postseason was a massive step, one that the East County contingent hopes leads to more success in the future.
"This feeling is amazing," Tomlinson said after the team's regular-season finale against George Jenkins High. "Setting history for the school, after the struggles we went through, this is awesome."
Here's to more awesome moments when the 2024-2025 high school sports season begins in August.
