Sports Archive

Ayanna Kelker has been playing high school basketball since her eighth grade year at West Florida Baptist Academy.

Along the way she’s scored more than 2,000 points, carving out a place as one of the best athletes in the area while also earning the opportunity to play hoops at the next level.

Aidan Bryan will soon live out his dream of attending the United States Naval Academy, and the Pace standout will do it, thanks in part, to his athletic ability as a wrestler.

Bryan signed a national letter of intent with the academy earlier this month, but he once thought his sport of choice at the college level would be gymnastics.

Emotion swept over Ty Wise after his final lift of the day at the 3A state weightlifting meet in Port St. Joe.

Finally, after adversity had served as a road block for him in the past, the Pace senior was a state champion.

Ty Wise is among the cast of Pace’s qualifiers for Thursday’s 3A state weightlifting meet in Port St. Joe.

Wise is the top seed in the 238-pound weight class for traditional (bench press and clean and jerk) with a 695-pound total.

Six athletes are headed to this week’s 2A state boys weightlifting meet for the Milton Panthers, with five set to compete in both the traditional and snatch events Friday in Port St. Joe.

The Panthers are coming off a top five finish in both at the regional meet last week in Suwanee.

Cara Willis is following in the footsteps of her mom as she has landed an opportunity to play
college softball.

An integral part of Pace’s run to the state final four a year ago, Willis signed a national letter of intent last week to continue her athletic career at nearby Pensacola State.

Ava Wheaton steps in front of a pass and snags the ball, setting up what turns out to be an interception return for a touchdown as Pace begins to pour on the points against Navarre in a game last Wednesday night at Bennett C. Russell Stadium.

It’s one of three touchdowns Wheaton scores as the Patriots roll to a 32-6 win, their 12th of the year as well as the 10th time they have scored 30 or more.

Rivalries always mean a little more, and for the Milton Panthers, their rivalry battle with Pace on the first Friday of April had a little more meaning to it. Not just for the players, but for the coach as well.

Kirstyn Joiner, after all, played her high school softball at Pace. She’s now the head coach at Milton.

Jayden Heavener is closing in on a perfect game as well as her second no-hitter in a span of seven days.

She gets to the seventh inning of rivalry game against Milton on a Friday night in early April needing just three more outs to put the exclamation on the accomplishment.

Milton’s boys weightlifting team made school history last week, winning a district championship for the first time in program history.

The Panthers, who finished last at the meet a year ago, claimed the title by edging Gulf Breeze by two points Friday afternoon at Choctaw.