Bartram Trail volleyball readies for Arizona

When the news first came, Bartram Trail volleyball coach Lainey Kekic didn't expect the team's proposed cross-country trip would receive approval.

Now, Kekic and her team are ready to pack their bags for the Valley of the Sun.

"We're looking forward to seeing teams that we'd never get to see, hoping to get out and do something special with the girls," she said.

The Bears play from Thursday to Saturday at the 96-team Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix, where they'll compete with many of the nation's leading programs, from California to Georgia to Washington.

"We're seeing different styles and adjusting our play as well to compete with them," senior setter Alex Murphy said.

The Bears are among 10 Florida participants, a list that includes schools like St. Thomas Aquinas and nationally-ranked Oviedo. Bartram Trail, which entered the week at 7-0 before Tuesday's loss to Fleming Island, stands sixth in the MaxPreps rankings for Florida and 83rd in the nation.

Whether they win or lose on their Arizona trip, the Bears expect the experience will help them down the road.

"If we see these really good teams in Arizona," Kekic said, "nothing is going to surprise us in Florida in the playoffs."

Creekside endures 68-point monster set

There are long volleyball matches, and then there's the kind of match Creekside had to fight through to overcome Oakleaf in Thursday's battle of the Knights.

In the words of Creekside coach Megan Bowers: "intense, exciting, nerve-racking, insanely stressful."

Bowers' Creekside squad clawed back from two sets down to win 16-25, 22-25, 35-33, 25-22, 15-11.

That's right, 35-33.

"You're thinking once it gets to 24-24, in the next four or five points, it's going to be over," Bowers said. "And it just kept going and going."

Creekside staved off half a dozen match points, while Bowers estimates the set itself around 45 minutes. Jaden McBride recorded 21 kills and Kaitlyn Helinsky tallied 47 assists for the match, career highs for both sophomores.

Just how rare is 35-33? For some perspective, the Florida High School Athletic Association's compilation of playoff results — more than 2,800 matches dating back to 2003, the first season of 25-point-per-set scoring — includes no postseason set going beyond 33-31.

At least one prior Florida regular-season contest has included a 35-33 score, the first set of Lake Highland Prep's victory over Orlando First Academy on Oct. 14, 2016.

Still, both sets of Knights would have had to keep playing for a whole lot longer to take down the world record. In 2013, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) reported a true marathon third set in South Korea's V-League: Incheon Korean Air Jumbos 56, Rush & Cash Vespid 54.

Swimmers head academic honor roll

Cogitation and chlorine do mix: Nearly 5 percent of the area's candidates for a major national academic honor are winners not just in the classroom, but the pool as well.

Three of Northeast Florida's swimming champions were among about 16,000 high school seniors nationally and 68 in the Jacksonville area selected last week as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists.

The group includes Shannon Campbell of Creekside, a state freestyle finalist who helped the Knights to the 2017 Class 3A girls title; Lilly McCabe of Bartram Trail, former state champion in the 100-yard breaststroke and a key member of the Bears' Class 3A championship team in 2016; and Jack Wessell of Bolles, Class 1A individual medley finalist and a two-time swimmer on the Bulldogs' perennial championship roster.

Bolles' Kamren Khan (cross country), Fernandina Beach's Brooke Long (soccer), Stanton's Max Zhang (tennis), Ponte Vedra's Gabby Keller (volleyball) and Riley Dimberg (cross country), and the Episcopal duo of Nathaniel King (tennis) and Connor Murphy (cross country) were also among the National Merit Scholarship semifinalists who have represented their schools at the FHSAA regional level or beyond.

Bolles swim coach to exit

After nearly two decades at Florida's swimming powerhouse, Bolles head coach Jon Sakovich will step down from his role in December, the school has announced.

Sakovich, 48, has served on the Bolles staff since 2000 and took over as head coach from Sergio Lopez Miro in February 2015. Swimmers at Bolles during his time at the school include Olympic champions Ryan Murphy and Joseph Schooling.

The most successful high school program in Sunshine State history, Bolles has won a national-record 30 consecutive boys state titles as well as the last 27 FHSAA girls championships.

Independent Spartans face football playoff ban

On paper, the news looked devastating. In reality? Maybe not so much.

St. Johns Country Day is among three schools statewide facing a potential three-year playoff ban in football, a penalty that was first reported Thursday by Joshua Wilson of FloridaHSFootball.

The ruling stems from the Spartans' forfeit of their scheduled Aug. 31 game against Deltona Trinity Christian. In response, the FHSAA invoked Administrative Procedure 4.7.1.1.4: "A school that fails to play a contracted game as scheduled shall forfeit the game and shall become ineligible to participate in the Florida High School State Championship Series that season or a future season and may also face financial penalties."

For now, that ban has little real impact because St. Johns Country Day football plays an independent schedule and cannot reach the postseason in any case. Such a penalty would only take effect if the program subsequently elected to return to district play, something it hasn't done since 2011.

Generals' clash with Maryland foe canceled

Lee's scheduled Thursday home football blockbuster against Baltimore superpower St. Frances Academy won't be happening after all.

Generals head coach O.J. Small said Tuesday that the Maryland school, ranked fourth in the nation by MaxPreps, withdrew from the scheduled game Monday. Lee athletic director Rosalyn Bloxom-Johnson said St. Frances cited severe weather from Hurricane Florence in the Baltimore area.

The cancellation leaves Lee with a bye this week and a nine-game schedule.

Severe flooding from Florence would have complicated the journey for St. Frances. Because of the closure of sections of Interstate 95, the North Carolina Department of Transportation is redirecting southbound drivers around the flooded region via U.S. Highway 64 and Interstates 40 and 85, hundreds of miles to the west.

Golden Eagles, Blue Devils shine at JJVA

Fleming Island and Stanton emerged as the big winners at the annual River City Classic tournament, held Friday and Saturday at the Jacksonville Juniors Volleyball Association.

The Golden Eagles' feat was especially impressive: They topped undefeated state champion Ponte Vedra twice in two days while also downing Providence, formerly-unbeaten New Smyrna Beach and Sneads. After the River City Classic, Fleming Island went on to hand Bartram Trail its first loss Tuesday.

Stanton rolled through Bolles, Effingham County, Clay, Orange Park and Trinity Christian, dropping only one set along the way.

Ridgeview adds third Thompson as head coach

Get ready: Clay County's first coaching family of the diamond is spreading out even farther.

Casey Thompson takes over this spring as softball head coach at Ridgeview, following in his family's well-worn path to the dugout.

Just like his sister, Christina Thompson, the head softball coach at nationally-ranked Oakleaf.

Or father Rob Thompson, who works alongside his daughter with Oakleaf softball and formerly directed Clay's baseball team for a quarter-century.

Casey Thompson takes over a Panthers team that went 16-7 last year, advancing to the regional semifinals in Class 6A. With Oakleaf two categories away from Ridgeview in Class 8A, there's no chance the siblings will go head-to-head in the postseason games that matter — at least for now.

Around the area

Mandarin graduate Kensey McMahon made a perfect start to her University of Alabama swimming career, winning the women's 500 and 1,000-yard freestyle races at her first college meet. ... Episcopal senior Jack Barksdale, Fernandina Beach senior Brooke Long and Bolles senior Chris Sanders were selected to the 16-member FHSAA student-athlete advisory committee. ... Creekside swimmer Ian Cooper won the boys 50 free in a school-record 21.15 at Saturday's Byron Plapp Invitational, a time that would have won the 2017 state title. ... Bishop Snyder senior Gianna Forte was voted the MileSplit performer of the week for girls cross country in Florida. ... Former Creekside volleyball standout Alie Smith, now a sophomore at USC-Aiken, won Peach Belt Conference player of the week honors. ... In baseball, Christ's Church junior Ben Shaffer and Episcopal freshman Jared Matey have been selected to compete at the World Power Showcase from Dec. 27-31 at Marlins Park in Miami. ... The FHSAA board of directors is scheduled to meet Monday, potentially the next step in the fate of the association's proposal that would install power rankings in place of enrollment size as the basis for classification in seven sports.