Here’s how Manatee County high school teams, athletes did in winter sports
The 2024-2025 winter high school sports season is in the rearview.
Manatee County athletes competed for state championships in individual sports, while one team advanced to the Final Four in girls soccer.
Here’s a look at how the season shaped up for local athletes:
Manatee student wins Florida weightlifting title
Manatee High’s Sherrickia King brought a state championship medal back to the county. She lifted a combined 380 pounds to claim the Class 3A girls weightlifting unlimited weight class title in the Olympic division.
Traditional is bench press and clean and jerk, while Olympic replaces the bench component with the snatch.
Here’s a list of how others fared:
Olympic (Name, school, weight class, placing)
- Zoey Morelli, Parrish, 110-pound weight class, second in the Class 3A state meet
- Alexis Rissler, Lakewood Ranch, 183-pound weight class, second in 3A
- Payton Mangay-Ayam, Braden River, 154-pound weight class, second in 2A
- Priscilla Webley, Saint Stephen’s, 154-pound weight class, second in 1A
- Annesley Flint, Saint Stephen’s, unlimited weight class, third in 1A
- Brooke Consentino, Saint Stephen’s, 119-pound weight class, third in 1A
- Keleah Peters, Palmetto, 169-pound weight class, fourth in 3A
- Ellen Lehman, Braden River, 119-pound weight class, fifth in 2A
- La’juria Thomas, Southeast, 169-pound weight class, sixth in 2A
- Chloe Pogoda, Braden River, 183-pound weight class, seventh in 2A
- Isabella Ducharme, Lakewood Ranch, 119-pound weight class, eighth in 3A
- Alexis Richardson, Palmetto, 129-pound weight class, eighth in 3A
- Taylor Ford (Braden River, 139-pound weight class) lifts 290 to finish 9th in 2A state
- Baylee Hinkle (Braden River, 199-pound weight class) lifts 285 to finish 9th in 2A state
- Kylie Foster, Palmetto, 154-pound weight class, 10th in 3A
Traditional (Name, school, weight class, placing)
- Priscilla Webley, Saint Stephen’s, 154-pound weight class, second in the Class 1A state meet
- Annesley Flint, Saint Stephen’s, unlimited weight class, second in 1A
- Payton Mangay-Ayam, Braden River, 154-pound weight class, fourth in 2A
- Brooke Consentino, Saint Stephen’s, 119-pound weight class, fourth in 1A
- Ke’Avia Ware, Bayshore, unlimited weight class, sixth in 2A
- Isabella Ducharme, Lakewood Ranch, 119-pound weight class, seventh in 3A
- Keleah Peters, Palmetto, 169-pound weight class, seventh in 3A
- La’juria Thomas, Southeast, 169-pound weight class, eighth in 2A
- Zoey Morelli, Parrish, 110-pound weight class, ninth in 3A
Girls soccer
Lakewood Ranch advanced to the Class 6A girls soccer state semifinals, but fell to Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas 2-0. The Mustangs finished the season 15-5-2. Senior forward Olivia Hadad led the team with 36 goals and 11 assists.
Parrish Community also qualified for the 6A playoffs, losing in the first round Tarpon Springs East Lake.
In 5A, Braden River reached the regional final. The Pirates’ season ended with a 2-1 loss to North Fort Myers.
In 1A, Bradenton Christian was bounced in the region quarterfinals, and Out-of-Door Academy was eliminated in the second round.
Boys soccer
Lakewood Ranch lost to New Port Richey 1-0 in the Class 6A-Region 3 final. The Mustangs defeated Cape Coral 2-0 in the regional quarterfinals and Parrish Community 1-0 in the regional semifinals.
The Bulls advanced to the second round of the 6A playoffs following a penalty shootout win over Punta Gorda Charlotte in the quarters.
Braden River advanced to the Class 5A-Region 3 semifinals, losing 6-0 to Tampa Jesuit.
ODA reached the Class 1A-Region 3 final, losing to Fort Myers Canterbury 2-1. Canterbury also eliminated Saint Stephen’s by the same scoreline in the 1A regional semifinal.
Wrestling
Palmetto and Braden River made it to the third round of the state dual-team wrestling tournament. The Tigers competed in Class 3A. The Pirates wrestled in 2A, where they knocked off Manatee in the second round.
Individual state tournament finishes were as follows: Palmetto senior Jason Carbajal (132 pounds, third in Class 3A); Palmetto senior Jake Wyatt (138, third in 3A); Bayshore sophomore Broc Dahlin (126, third in 1A); Braden River senior Matthew Ireland (120, fourth in 2A); Manatee senior Luke Arthur (132, fourth in 2A); Bradenton Christian senior Carter Wright (138, sixth in 1A); Parrish senior Dominic Benjamin (126, sixth in 2A); Braden River sophomore Freedom McDaniel (215, seventh in 2A); Bayshore senior Jayden Shannon (285, eighth in 1A).
Others that competed, but did not place were: Braden River’s Israel Clark; Braden River’s Scott Cook; Manatee’s Riley Craig; Manatee’s Porter Daniels; Braden River’s Jacob Fuentes; Palmetto’s Sean Herlihy; Braden River’s Evan Rowe; Braden River’s Jayden Russell; Lakewood Ranch’s Aiden Sanders; Palmetto’s Michael Schlegel and Parrish’s Ashton Springfield.
Braden River’s Karliana Artega, Lakewood Ranch’s Francesca Bisordi, Parrish’s Kaja Williams and Palmetto’s Delaney Faulkner and Ashlie Schlegel competed in the girls wrestling state tournament.
Boys basketball
In boys basketball, Palmetto lost in a Class 6A-Region 3 quarterfinal and Southeast lost in a Class 5A-Region 3 quarterfinal.
Girls basketball
In girls basketball, Lakewood Ranch lost in a Class 6A-Region 3 quarterfinal, Bradenton Christian lost in a Class 2A-Region 3 quarterfinal and the GULF Coast HEAT lost in a Class 1A-Region 3 quarterfinal.
