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Trey Burdick

Fall prep football primer

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Better late than never, and something better than nothing.

In typical years, Florida’s high school football season kicks off sometime in August with a preseason game followed by a 10-game regular season schedule.

This year isn’t like any other, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) weeks ago gave the OK to begin fall sport tryouts on Aug. 24, with competition beginning Sept. 4, though many programs have elected to take the gridiron on Sept. 11 with a contracted eight-game slate.

Locally, prospects are high for some teams, while others hope to use this season as a learning experience for ensuing years.

Without further ado, here is a look, a primer, of all the Hillsborough County and Pasco County prep teams in The Laker/Lutz News coverage are.

Hillsborough County

Carrollwood Day School Patriots
Coach: Mark Jones (fifth year)

Following a winless 2019 campaign, Carrollwood Day School is poised for a major turnaround thanks to a trio of Seffner Christian Academy transfers in senior tight end Michael Trigg, junior defensive tackle Brandon Cleveland and offensive tackle Clay Wedin, plus the addition of defensive tackle Desmond Mamudi, a Steinbrenner High School transfer. All of those players are viewed as high-level Division I talents — most notably Trigg, widely regarded as one of the nation’s top five tight end prospects for the 2021 recruiting class. Meanwhile, Cleveland is a Miami commit; Mamudi, a USF commit; and, Wedin boasts nearly two dozen scholarship offers from the likes of Alabama, Auburn, Ohio State, among others.

Size alone should provide a mismatch in the small-school 2A ranks. Trigg is 6-foot-4, 230 pound; Cleveland is 6-foot-4, 250 pounds; Mamudi is 6-foot-3, 310 pounds; and, Wedin is 6-foot-6, 280 pounds.

Freedom High School Patriots
Coach: Christopher Short (second year)

Freedom felt significant struggles offensively last year under new head coach Christopher Short, being shutout in half of their contests. Perhaps a roster with 16 seniors and a seemingly manageable schedule will yield more victories this time around.

The Gaither Cowboys are projected again to be one of the state’s top football teams following a Class 6A state semifinals appearance last season. (File)

Gaither High School Cowboys
Coach: Kirk Karsen (fourth year)

Gaither looks to reach the playoffs for a fourth straight year and build off its most successful season in school history —  a 12-2 mark and reaching the Class 6A state semifinals.

Despite the graduation of stat-stuffing quarterback Tony Bartalo (3,194 passing yards, 50 total touchdowns) and some other standouts, the Cowboys remain loaded with more than a handful of Division I talents. That includes quarterback Kiael Kelly (Ball State commit), lineman Andrew Kilfoyl (USF commit), cornerback Jordan Oladokun (Iowa commit), tailback Ricky Parks (Utah commit), and cornerback Jordan Young (Florida commit), among others. National high school sports website MaxPreps.com tabbed Gaither as the state’s No. 10 team regardless of classification in its 2020 preseason rankings.

The Steinbrenner Warriors are coming off its best season in program history, but will have to develop a new starting quarterback and an otherwise talent-laden senior class. (Courtesy of Steinbrenner High School athletics department)

Steinbrenner High School Warriors
Coach: Andres Perez (ninth year)

Like Gaither, Steinbrenner, too, is coming off its most prolific campaign in program history — going 12-2 and reaching the Class 8A state semifinals.

Also like Gaither, the Warriors must pivot its passing game with the graduation of uber-productive quarterback Hunter Carlson (2,582 passing yards, 35 total touchdowns) and top two wideouts Dean Patterson (58 receptions, 837 yards, 11 touchdowns) and Aidan Bitter (54 receptions, 807 yards, 13 touchdowns).

With that, expect the Warriors to rely heavily on a running game paced by Iowa State commit Dean Silas, a 5-foot-7, 170-pound senior who tallied 985 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns on 113 carries (8.7 yards per carry) last season.

Also of note, the Warriors feature one of the nation’s top-ranked prep long snappers and punters in junior Griffin Wiltse. He averaged 37.9 yards per punt last season.

Pasco County 

Academy at the Lakes Wildcats
Coach: Shawn Brown (sixth year)

Academy at the Lakes is seeking its third eight-man state title in four years. After winning back-to-back eight-man state crowns in 2017 and 2018, the Wildcats last season went 6-2 and were eliminated in the first round of the Sunshine State Athletic Conference playoffs.

Keeping senior quarterback Jalen Brown — the team’s starter since eighth grade — healthy all season is paramount to another deep run. Same goes for fellow seniors and team captains Adrian Leverette, Sean Saccomanno and Dwight Downing, plus others.

Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School Hurricanes
Coach: Ken Stills (first year)

New head coach Ken Stills takes over a Bishop McLaughlin program that woefully went 1-7 and was outscored by a 274-91 margin.

The Hurricanes, of course, hope for a turnaround under Stills, who brings quite the gridiron pedigree, having played for the Green Bay Packers (1985-1989) and Minnesota Vikings (1990) following a decorated college career at Wisconsin.

Stills most recently served as a running backs coach at IMG Academy in Bradenton and also is a former head coach for the River City Rage of the United Indoor Football, and former running backs coach of the XFL’s Los Angeles Xtreme.

He’s also the father of former University of Oklahoma and current Houston Texans’ wide receiver Kenny Stills, who’s embarking on his eighth NFL season.

The Cypress Creek Coyotes hope to build off the first winning season in program history. (Courtesy of Cypress Creek High School athletics department)

Cypress Creek High School Coyotes
Coach: Mike Johnson (fourth year)

Cypress Creek enjoyed its first winning season and first playoff berth since the Wesley Chapel-based school opened in 2017.

Replacing the talented twin duo of Jalen and Jehlani Warren will be tough, but the Coyotes look to have a quarterback to build around in junior Owen Walls, who entrenched himself as the team’s starter midway through last season.

Land O’ Lakes High School Gators
Coach: Trac Baughn (first year)

After a disappointing 2-8 mark last season, Land O’ Lakes turns to a football coaching lifer who hopes to steer the program back to winning seasons and playoff berths.

In new head coach Trac Baughn, the Gators get someone with more than 30 years combined experience at the college and prep level, mostly throughout the state of Mississippi.

His two seasons as head coach at Kosciusko High School in central Mississippi may serve most relevant to the Gator programs.

Baughn guided that team to 10-3 mark in both 2015 and 2016, reaching the third round of Mississippi 4A playoffs both years. He was twice named “Area Coach of the Year” as those teams finished ranked in the Mississippi Associated Press’ 4A Top 5.

Baughn in interviews has said he operates a system predicated on running the football and being fundamentally sound on defense.

While the team will trot out more than a dozen seniors, the Gators have an unfavorable schedule against the likes of Mitchell, Tampa Catholic, Gaither, Wiregrass Ranch, Fivay and Calvary Christian high schools, among others.

Pasco High School Pirates
Coach: Jason Stokes (second year)

Pasco finished 4-6 last year, but proved competitive in several of their defeats — losing four games by seven points or fewer. The Pirates return more experience compared to last season, but also have a challenging schedule that features Auburndale, Hollins, River Ridge — each of which tallied at least eight victories last season.

The Pirates should continue to be one of the county’s better defensive teams with the return of First-Team All-Conference linebacker Amir Burgess and linebacker Gabriel Barnes, the team’s top two tacklers from 2019.

Sunlake High School Seahawks
Coach: Trey Burdick (second year)

Sunlake may still be in a bit of transition mode under second-year head coach Trey Burdick, who took over from area coaching legend Bill Browning — the man who built Sunlake from scratch in 2007, guided it to seven straight winning seasons and retired as one of the winningest coaches in Pasco and Hernando counties.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks must find a way to replace the impact left behind by several All-Conference performers, such as tailback Zach Spicer, linemen Hunter Feiden and Cayman Wiseman, linebacker Damian Riewold, and athlete Jacob Schwarz, among others.

Returning junior quarterback Kevin Spillane, however, provides some stability offensively and turned in a respectable 2019 campaign, completing 63.3% of his throws for 921 passing yards and seven touchdowns and six picks, and adding another 130 yards on the ground.

Wesley Chapel High School Wildcats
Coach: Tony Egan (fifth year)

The Wildcats haven’t suffered a losing season with head coach Tony Egan at the helm. A somewhat manageable schedule, which includes matchups against Anclote, Gulf and Tarpon Springs — programs that went a combined 4-26 last season — should help keep that deed intact. Finding consistent and reliable quarterback play will be critical, plus the needed emergence of some playmakers to help replace of two-way standout Jelani Vassell (graduated) and defensive back J.T. Anderson, a Division I prospect who transferred to Chamberlain High. Meantime, the Wildcats have boosted its coaching staff with notable program alums Kenny Roberts and Ellrie Allen.

The Wiregrass Ranch Bulls seek a fifth-straight winning season behind strong quarterback play. (Courtesy of Wiregrass Ranch athletics department)

Wiregrass Ranch High School Bulls
Coach: Mark Kantor (sixth year)

Wiregrass Ranch is seeking its fifth-straight winning season, but it won’t be easy replacing the production of nine All-Conference seniors from 2019. That includes the reigning Sunshine Athletic Conference Eastside Offensive Player of the Year (wideout Keith Walker) and Defensive Player of the Year (linebacker Dylan Ridolph, the county’s all-time career sacks leader with 48.)

Luckily, the Bulls do benefit returning arguably the county’s top quarterback in junior Rocco Becht, who completed 52.1% of his throws last season for 1,985 yards, 21 touchdowns and eight interceptions. The son of 12-year NFL tight end and ESPN college football analyst Anthony Becht, the pro-style signal-caller is a consensus three-star recruit with already a half-dozen scholarship offers from Division I FBS programs (FIU, Iowa State, Southern Miss, Toledo, Wake Forest, West Virginia).

Another bonus: The team boasts one of the nation’s top-ranked kickers in Adam Mihalek, who last season registered 31 touchbacks, averaged 56.1 yards per kickoff, was successful on 36 of 39 point-after touchdown attempts, and made three of seven field goals, including a long of 39 yards.

Zephyrhills Christian Academy Warriors:
Coach: Mike Smith (sixth year)

Zephyrhills Christian has enjoyed four-straight winning seasons and corresponding playoff appearances, but will have a colossal void to fill with the graduation of two-way lineman Malik Jones — arguably the most decorated athlete to ever come through the program.

The 6-foot-2, 296-pound Jones — now a freshman on scholarship at Division I FBS Florida Atlantic — registered a single-season county record in sacks (26) in 2019, to go along with 113 total tackles. A two-time state wrestling champion, his strength and push on both lines of scrimmage will be missed dearly.

Offensively, the 2A school must replace the production of tailback Tyler Davis, who rushed for 1,274 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior last season.

The Zephyrhills Bulldogs look to become feared again following a pedestrian 5-5 record in 2019. (Courtesy of Zephyrhills High athletics department)

Zephyrhills High School Bulldogs
Coach: Nick Carroll (fifth year)

Zephyrhills last season experienced its first minor setback in the Nick Carroll coaching era — finishing with a pedestrian 5-5 mark.

By comparison, in the previous three seasons, the Bulldogs under Carroll went a combined 29-6 en route to two district titles and another runner-up.

Expect the Bulldogs to be feared again this season, with a more experienced roster, plus a slew of returning All-Conference performers in tailback Zyre Roundtree, defensive back Tre Gallimore, offensive lineman Jarrin Galyan and defensive end Maguire Neal.

A full year of experience under the belt for incumbent dual-threat quarterback Timothy Jackson should lead to a leap in production and decision-making for the rising junior. Last season he completed 50% of his passes for 924 yards, seven touchdowns and 13 interceptions, and added 371 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground.

THE TEAMS

Hillsborough County schools in Laker/Lutz News coverage area (and their 2019 records)

  • Carrollwood Day School Patriots (2A) (0-9)
  • Freedom High School Patriots (6A) (2-8)
  • Gaither High School Cowboys (6A) (12-2)
  • Steinbrenner High School Warriors (8A) (12-2)

Pasco County schools in Laker/Lutz News coverage area (and their 2019 records)

  • Academy at the Lakes Wildcats (eight-man) (6-2)
  • Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School Hurricanes (Independent) (1-7)
  • Cypress Creek High School Coyotes (4A) (6-5)
  • Land O’ Lakes High School Gators (6A) (2-8)
  • Pasco High School Pirates (6A) (4-6)
  • Sunlake High School Seahawks (7A) (4-6)
  • Wesley Chapel High School Wildcats (5A) (5-5)
  • Wiregrass Ranch High School Bulls (7A) (7-4)
  • Zephyrhills Christian Academy Warriors (2A) (6-5)
  • Zephyrhills High School Bulldogs (5A) (5-5)

Published September 09, 2020

Prep football midseason review

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The 2019 Florida high school football regular season has reached the midway point. Here’s a closer look at how teams and players are faring from The Laker/Lutz News coverage area.

The Gaither Cowboys are off to a blistering 5-0 start and are ranked among the state’s top 10 teams in Class 6A.
(Courtesy of Gaither Athletics)

Perfect performers
At the midway mark, there are three programs sporting undefeated records — Academy at the Lakes, Gaither and Steinbrenner. What do each have in common? Potent offenses backed by efficient, veteran quarterback play.

  • Academy at the Lakes is averaging over 39 points per game. Junior quarterback Jalen Brown, a fourth-year starter, has completed 55% of throws for 785 yards, 14 touchdowns and three interceptions. He’s also the team’s leading rusher (445 rush yards, six touchdowns).
  • Gaither is averaging over 38 points per game. Senior quarterback Tony Bartalo, a two-year starter, has completed 63% of throws for 1,320 yards, 19 touchdowns and three interceptions. He currently boasts multiple Division I offers.
  • Steinbrenner is averaging over 48 points per game. Senior quarterback Haden Carlson, a three-year starter, has completed 64% of throws for 783 yards, 12 touchdowns and one interception. He is a FIU (Florida International University) verbal commit.

Also notable: Wiregrass Ranch (5-1) has received stellar quarterback play from sophomore Rocco Becht, who’s posted a 56% completion rate, 936 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and two interceptions.

The Land O’ Lakes Gators went 7-3 last year, but have struggled much of this season with a 1-5 mark thus far. (File)

Surprising struggles
Entering the 2019 season, Land O’ Lakes and Zephyrhills were expected to build off winning seasons and compete for a playoff spot in their respective classifications. But early season struggles has all dampened those hopes for both teams.

  • The Gators finished 7-3 last season — its first winning campaign since 2013. But, they’ve hobbled to a 0-5 start before finally securing a 44-0 win over Freedom last week. A team thin on seniors and an anemic running game has magnified the struggles.
  • One of the most consistent and dominant programs in Pasco County in recent years, the Bulldogs haven’t lost four or more games since 2012 and haven’t missed the postseason since 2013. But after losing 22 seniors from last year’s 11-1 squad, the Bulldogs have shown less bark this season. They lost their first three games, but have begun to show life with recent road wins against Wesley Chapel and Tarpon Springs, respectively.

New coaches finding their way

  • Sunlake has jumped to a respectable 3-3 mark under first-year head coach Trey Burdick, holding his own in assuming the role previously held by one of the county’s winningest coaches in Bill Browning. Under Burdick, the team is on pace to surpass the 4-6 mark the program has had each of the past two seasons. Better yet, Burdick, a longtime assistant under Browning, steered the Seahawks to a 34-23 victory over crosstown rival Land O’ Lakes in the annual ‘Butter Bowl’ showdown.
  • New Pasco head coach Jason Stokes already has led the struggling program to as many wins as it did all of last season. And while the 2-4 mark doesn’t seem all that great, the Pirates have battled hard in one possession losses to Sunlake and Springstead, respectively. With that, this year’s “9-Mile War” rivalry game against Zephyrhills should provide some more intrigue; Zephyrhills has won the past four contests. Stokes is no stranger to being a head coach in the Tampa Bay area — he steered Gaither to three playoff appearances between 2011 to 2016, and also had stints at Bloomingdale and Middleton, respectively.

Stat stuffers
Here’s a look at a top statistical performer from each high school in The Laker/Lutz News coverage area:

Hillsborough County

  • Reggie Johnson II, Carrollwood Day, junior defensive end: 15 tackles, three sacks
  • Hussein Hafiz, Freedom, senior linebacker: 12 tackles (five for loss), three sacks
  • Deveon Knighton, Gaither, senior receiver: 28 receptions, 431 yards, six touchdowns
  • Deon Silas, Steinbrenner, junior tailback: 828 all-purpose yards, 11 touchdowns

Pasco County

  • Adrian Leverette, Academy at the Lakes, junior tailback: 379 scrimmage yards, five touchdowns
  • Jack Miller, Bishop McLaughlin, freshman receiver: 19 receptions, 502 yards, three touchdowns
  • Jehlani Warren, Cypress Creek, senior quarterback: 57% completions, 515 passing yards, five touchdowns, three interceptions
  • Ethan Forrester, Land O’ Lakes, senior quarterback, 39% completions, 790 passing yards, seven touchdowns, four interceptions; 336 rushing touchdowns, five touchdowns
  • Gabriel Barnes, Pasco, junior linebacker: 49 tackles, 20 hurries, three sacks
  • Mark Anderson, Sunlake, junior receiver: 475 all-purpose yards, three touchdowns
  • Brenden Maddox, Wesley Chapel, senior fullback/linebacker: 269 rush yards, four touchdowns; 45 tackles (six for loss)
  • Keith Walker, Wiregrass Ranch, senior receiver: 735 all-purpose yards, 10 touchdowns
  • Tyler Davis, Zephyrhills Christian, senior tailback: 616 rush yards, six touchdowns
  • Zyree Roundtree, junior tailback: 483 rush yards, four touchdowns

Schools in Laker/Lutz News coverage area (and their current 2019 records)

Hillsborough County:

  • Carrollwood Day School Patriots (0-5 overall)
  • Freedom High School Patriots (1-4)
  • Gaither High School Cowboys (5-0)
  • Steinbrenner High School Warriors (5-0)

Pasco County:

  • Academy at the Lakes Wildcats (eight-man) (4-0 overall)
  • Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School Hurricanes (1-5)
  • Cypress Creek Middle High School Coyotes (2-3)
  • Land O’ Lakes High School Gators (1-5)
  • Pasco High School Pirates (2-4)
  • Sunlake High School Seahawks (3-3)
  • Wesley Chapel High School Wildcats (2-3)
  • Wiregrass Ranch High School Bulls (5-1)
  • Zephyrhills Christian Academy Warriors (3-2)
  • Zephyrhills High School Bulldogs (2-3)

Published October 2, 2019

Pasco High gets new football coach

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Pasco High School will have a new head football coach roaming the sidelines, for the first time in more than a decade.

The school recently announced its next head coach is Jason Stokes — a coaching mainstay in the Tampa Bay area, most notably at Gaither High School.

Jason Stokes has been named Pasco High School’s football coach. (File)

Stokes, 43, replaces longtime Pasco coach Tom McHugh, who was relieved of his coaching duties following four consecutive losing seasons, including a 2-8 mark this past year.

Stokes most recently coached at Lake Region High School, in Polk County. The perennially struggling program went winless in his lone season there.

Stokes has achieved coaching success elsewhere, however.

In 2017, he served a season as offensive coordinator at Indian Rocks Christian High School, which went 9-3 and reached the 2A regional finals.

He’s best known for his time at Gaither, from 2011 to 2016 — steering that program to playoff appearances in each of his first three seasons. (He later resigned in the middle of the 2016 season after reports surfaced about using ineligible players, which led to three games forfeited that year.)

Before that, Stokes was the head football coach at Bloomingdale (7-5 in 2008) and Middleton (10-10 combined record in 2009-10) high schools.

In taking over for McHugh, Stokes undoubtedly has big shoes to fill.

McHugh compiled an 86-50 mark in 12 seasons, winning six district titles (2007-12) and two regional titles (2008, 2011).

He is the county’s fifth winningest coach in public schools, behind John Benedetto (195 wins at Land O’ Lakes), Tom Fisher (124 wins at Zephyrhills), John Castelamare (103 wins at River Ridge, Mitchell) and Scott Schmitz (94 wins at River Ridge, Mitchell).

McHugh also coached a trio of Pasco players who would go on to the NFL— Josh Johnson, a former San Diego Charger and Jacksonville Jaguar cornerback who now plays for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League; Janarion Grant, a wide receiver currently on the Baltimore Ravens practice squad; and, Joey Ivie, a defensive tackle currently on the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad.

Yet, the Pirates have struggled in recent years under McHugh, going a combined 10-30 the past four years. Moreover, the program suffered four straight defeats to crosstown foe Zephyrhills High School in the annual 9-Mile War rivalry game, losing those games by an average margin of nearly 40 points.

Despite the difficulties of late, the Pirates do have a young roster stocked with promising players.

That includes linebacker Gabriel Barnes, tailback Malcolm Gibbs, receiver Darrion Robinson and lineman Savion Spaights, who will all be juniors next season, as well as rising seniors in quarterback Desmin Green, defensive back Jordan Mclaughlin and offensive/defensive tackle Cody Rand, among others.

New Sunlake football coach Trey Burdick, left, pictured with former Sunlake all-star linebacker Adam Jarvis. (Courtesy of Trey Burdick)

Meanwhile, Pasco isn’t the only local school to undergo a coaching change this offseason.

In early December, Sunlake High School named assistant Trey Burdick as its next head coach, to replace the now-retired Bill Browning, the only head varsity football coach in the school’s history.

Burdick, 36, has been an assistant at Sunlake since 2008, where he’s coached linebackers, tight ends, special teams, and served as the team’s recruiting coordinator; he’s also been the school’s head track coach for six years, a role he’ll continue as head football coach.

Prior to Sunlake, Burdick was an assistant for two years at Tallahassee Godby High School, working under Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Famer Shelton Crews. He also played football for Tallahassee Lincoln High School, where he was a member of the 1999 6A state championship team.

Sunlake is coming off back-to-back 4-6 marks. Before that, from 2010 to 2016, the Seahawks strung together seven consecutive winning seasons and four playoff appearances.

Published January 16, 2019

Track and field standout leaps into nationals

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It didn’t take long for Keymo Pearson to realize Arielle Boone oozed potential when she joined his AAU track club last spring.

“Day 1, when I saw her…I said, ‘Hey, if this girl stays with the team, she’s going to be great.’ My exact words were, ‘She has the chance to be one of the best jumpers in Pasco County history,’” said Pearson, an assistant track coach at the Wesley Chapel-based Speed Starz Track Club.

Turns out the coach’s assessment is pretty spot on.

Sunlake High School senior Arielle Boone will compete at New Balance Indoor Nationals at the Armory Track and Field Center in New York City, from March 9 to March 11. She will take part in the triple jump and high jump events. (Courtesy of Speed Starz Track Club)

Boone will compete this weekend in both the high jump and triple jump events in New Balance Indoor Nationals at the Armory Track and Field Center in New York City.

A senior at Sunlake High School, Boone will join more than 3,500 of the country’s best track and field student-athletes, from more than 40 states and Canadian provinces — each looking to run, hurdle, jump, throw and walk their way to titles and All-American honors in 48 boys’ and girls’ championship events.

The event runs from March 9 through March 11.

Boone qualified for the prestigious competition after posting elite qualifying marks in triple jump (39’ 2.5) and long jump (18’ 2.5) at recent AAU meets in Orlando and Birmingham, Alabama.

She is believed to be just the second track and field athlete from Pasco County to ever compete in the national event. The other is former Pasco High star Alfreda Steele, who qualified in 2014. Steele now is a sprinter and jumper at the University of Miami.

Boone isn’t nervous about the big stage, despite squaring up alongside countless future Division I track starts and possibly some Olympians-in-the-making.

Instead, she’s poised to hold her own — especially after going toe-to-toe with such athletes at AAU meets throughout the summer and fall.

“I’m not worried about it. I’m just there to compete and to get my marks,” said Boone, who acknowledged she used to be intimidated, when she first began training for AAU meets in the spring and summer.

A former gymnast, Boone joined her high school track team as a freshman at the behest of former Sunlake track coach Nick Carroll, now the head football coach at Zephyrhills High School.

“Coach was like, ‘If you’re one of my fastest girls, you have to run for me, OK?’ Like, he really pursued me. He wanted me to run track. And, I was like, ‘You know what? My dad’s been telling me that for years, so I’ll try it,’ and I ended up being pretty decent, so I stuck with it,” Boone explained.

Early on in her high school career, Boone mainly competed in sprints, such as the 100-meter and 200-meter dash, and the 4×100 relay.

It wasn’t until last season she took field events seriously.

The leap into those events — especially the triple jump — was bred out of pure curiosity.

Said Boone, “Triple jump seemed so complicated and just difficult, which it is. It’s the hardest event track puts on your body. I just wanted to see how it works; I had no idea.”

Sunlake girls track coach Trey Burdick said Boone’s jumping numbers really took off toward the end the 2017 season.

“Something clicked at districts last year,” Burdick said.

All of sudden, Boone started hitting personal records of 2 feet, then 4 feet in the triple jump, and that’s something you don’t usually see, Burdick added.

Boone firmly solidified herself at the Class 3A state championships as one of the state’s top jumpers after securing a ninth-place finish in the triple jump (then a 36’ 11.25), just one spot away from podium honors.

She was also named named the Sunshine Athletic Conference’s Girls Field Athlete of the Year.

“I was just like, ‘Wow, I have been doing this event for not even six months, and I got this close. Next year I’m going to wreck it. That’s what I really want to do,’” Boone said.

After the season Boone joined Speed Starz to work one-on-one with Pearson, himself a former college track and field standout at Kansas-based Friends University and Independence Community College. He serves as an assistant with BB Roberts, who founded the AAU club in 2013.

Pearson trained Boone on core strength, plyometric movements, and shoring up her bounding technique to make her an even better jumper.

“I saw that she was very explosive, and that was really what drew my attention,” Pearson said.

“Just seeing the talent that she had without an offseason training, it just was like, ‘Wow, I know the drills that I’m going to give her is going to make her that much better as an athlete.’”

“I had to bound my way into becoming a really good triple-jumper,” Boone said. It’s a lot of training involved. It’s an event that you can’t play with it. You have to do a lot.”

After the national competition, Boone will go back to focusing on her final high school season.

In addition to Sunlake High records in the triple jump (38’ 9.5) and high jump (17’ 9.75), Boone also claims school records in the 200 meters (26.32 seconds) — which she’s owned since her freshman year — and as a leg on the 4×100 relay (49.55 seconds).

Burdick noted Boone could soon own the school record in the 100 meters, once she gets the chance to run the event. High school track athletes are allowed to compete in a maximum of four events per meet.

“She’s probably the reason why we’re the favorite to win conference this year,” Burdick said.

“She’s one of those athletes that if I could put her in six (events) I’d put her in six. She’s a guaranteed first place in at least three of her events every meet, and most of the times it’s four.”

Boone’s recent emergence, meanwhile, has the caught the eyes of multiple Division I college track programs statewide.

She’s picked up scholarship offers from South Florida, Central Florida, Florida Atlantic and Florida International universities.

Boone said she plans to spend the next month visiting colleges before making a decision by the time the spring singing period begins on April 11.

Whichever program Boone chooses, those coaches will be getting a dedicated and focused athlete.

“She catches on really fast — that’s what’s great about her. She listens, she’s disciplined, and she actually works on those things on her own so it makes it that much easier,” Pearson explained.

“Motivation’s never been an issue for her,” Burdick said. “She’s always came to practice everyday and is just like strictly business, ‘This is what we need to get done today’ and boom that’s what she’s doing.’”

“She knows (the) drills, she picks up on them, and she knows how to go out there and do it without me telling her,” he added.

Published March 7, 2018