By Kyle LoJacono
Jordan See makes the grade
Gaither senior Jordan See is not just a leader for the Cowboys on the soccer field, he is also a standout in the classroom.
See, the team captain, has a 6.7 weighted grade point average and is in the top 1 percent of his graduating class. On the soccer field he is second for Gaither with 15 scores plus nine assists.
“I think preparing on the field and in the classroom is all about support,” See said. “Academically, I have the support of my family and friends. They say the right things when I’m too tired to study. The work ethic is the same. It’s fighting that urge to play video games and not drinking soda and eating bad. It’s the little things that make the difference.”
A normal day after school for See starts with practice, which ends at about 5 p.m. He then goes running for about five miles, heads to the gym and finishes back on the practice field for his club team Hillsborough County United. He does not get home until 10 or 11 p.m.
“After practice I go home and do homework and study, but a lot of the time I have to do it during lunch or whenever I have time,” See said. “It’s a lot of time management.”
See, who wants to be a doctor, has been awarded a presidential scholarship from the University of South Florida and has applied with Harvard University, Duke University, the University of North Carolina and the University of Pennsylvania.
Wheeler tops Gaither in scoring
Last season, Gaither senior Zach Wheeler had six goals and 10 assists, but has increased his scoring by nearly four times as many times this year, putting up 24 goals while adding 15 assists.
“I guess I just grew older as a player,” said Wheeler, who first started playing at age 6. “I just got more comfortable playing.”
Wheeler said he gained a lot of confidence when he scored three goals — a hat trick — in Gaither’s second game, a 5-1 win against Freedom High.
Additionally, last year’s leading scorer Jordan See had a pulled hamstring for more than a month and Wheeler said he felt he needed to score more to make up for that.
“See was basically our offense last year and when he hurt his leg I knew I’d need to fill that hole,” Wheeler said. “It’s been an amazing year for me. If you told me it would happen before the year, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
Coaching up the Cowboys
Coach Eric Sims has guided Gaither to the regional tournament nine of the 10 with the program.
“It’s a testament to the program and the players we’ve had,” Sims said. “It just seems like when playoff time comes, Gaither teams show up. We’ve had teams that weren’t the most talented that made regionals and I think a lot of it is expectations. The players expect to make regionals. To be a part of a program that has had a lot of success is something to be proud of, but we’d like to win some more state titles.”
The program has been to regionals 15 times in the school’s 26-year history, has made the state tournament five times and brought home the Class 4A state title in 2000 under former coach Adrian Bush.
Sims, a Jesuit High graduate and a goalkeeper, was playing professionally in Nashville when Bush called him about a new club team called Hillsborough County United. Bush left Gaither after the 2000-01 high school season and Sims agreed to take a job with the club team and also got the coaching gig with the Cowboys.
Sims has many fond memories of coaching with Gaither, but a few stand out.
“Until this year the best moment was getting to the final four in 2004,” Sims said. “I think the win in the regional finals at East Lake this year was up there as well. It’s as far as we’ve been since I’ve been here.”
