The Fluco winter sports season ended with state runs from three different sports teams. Indoor track, wrestling, and swim and dive all sent athletes to compete at the state level.
Indoor Track and Field
The boys’ indoor track team competed on March 2-3 at Liberty University, finishing as the State Runner-Up out of 33 schools.
Junior Garrett Jordan was named the Overall Meet MVP after competing in the Triple Jump, Long Jump, and the 55-meter dash. Jordan had an outstanding meet, becoming the Triple Jump State Champion, Long Jump State Runner-Up, placing 3rd in the 55m Dash, and winning the 300m State Championship. He also set a meet record in the 300m with a time of 33.99 seconds.
“I put that team on my back and carried them to the state runner-up,” said Jordan.
Senior Jack Jeffries also had a strong performance, placing 6th in the 1600m and 7th in the 1000m. On the field side, sophomore Jayden Wrigley finished as the State Runner-Up in Shot Put, while junior Ethan McPherson placed 6th in Pole Vault.
“I feel like I did pretty well overall, PRing at States and getting second in my event, but the whole team did amazing. Everyone pulled their weight in their events, leading to a great meet,” said Wrigley.
Wrestling
The wrestling team had a strong season overall, sending multiple athletes to Regionals and three wrestlers to the state tournament. Senior Jonathan Gretz, Freshman Evan Greene, and Junior Mathew Bishop all competed at States this year. Greene finished 0-2, Bishop finished 1-2, and Gretz finished 2-2. Gretz also served as a team captain during the season and had a remarkable year, with only three losses all season, two of which happened at States.
“I think I did good, but I can always improve and work harder. The team did well. It’s motivating seeing such a new team, and next year we could really do something,” said Bishop.
Swim and Dive
At the state meet, the boys’ team finished 20th, and the girls’ team finished 12th overall. Individually, sophomore Abby Caruso placed 8th in the 50 Free, while senior Sophie Pace finished 3rd in the 50 Free. The girls also performed well in these relay events:
8th place in the 200 Free Relay (sophomores Annika Potter and Abby Caruso, and seniors Reese Yowell and Sophie Pace)
8th place in the 400 Free Relay (Potter, Caruso, Pace, and junior Madison Clark)
13th place in the 200 Medley Relay (freshman Riley Eubanks, junior Josie Caruso, Pace, and Yowell
On dive, junior Brandon “Cash” Johnson placed 2nd, junior Kayleigh Herring finished 3rd, and senior James Johnson took 4th place.
“States went well, but I could have done better. However, as a team, I believe that we did incredibly well considering that the two guys we sent managed to elevate our boys’ swim and dive team to 20th out of the 54 teams,” said Johnson.
