St. Ed’s sophomore Kendra Mathes put a stylish exclamation point on the end of the winter sports season with her performance at the state weightlifting tournament at Kissimmee on Saturday.
“Weighing in at 99.5 lbs. and lifting in the 101 lb. weight class, Kendra became the first girl in the history of St. Ed’s weightlifting to claim a medal with her fourth-place finish at the state tournament,” Head Coach Les Rogers said. “She established new personal records with 120 lbs. in the bench, 130 lbs. in the clean & jerk, and 250 lbs. for a total. She was successful in all six of her lifts and received 18 ‘white lights’ from the three judges.”
A white light means a lift was judged to be technically correct. Kendra thus accomplished her season-long goal to medal at states.
The end of the varsity boys basketball season was close to a foregone conclusion. Florida Air Academy defeated St. Ed’s 77-43 in a district semifinal match on Friday. The Pirates (16-10) reached the semifinal by overcoming a halftime deficit to defeat Benjamin for their first district playoff victory in a decade.
The season was extended long enough for senior Bobby Barker to surpass 1,000 points in his three-year career at St. Ed’s. He scored 23 against Benjamin and 16 against Florida Air Academy in the final week.
With winter sports now relegated to the yearbook, a quick glance at St. Ed’s athletic calendar for the spring of 2015 reveals this to be a particularly busy and transitional time as every varsity team closed down training camp and got down to real business.
The boys and girls tennis teams were scheduled to occupy all ten courts at Riverside Park for a neighborly showdown Tuesday against Vero Beach High although afternoon sprinkles interrupt spring sports like baseball and tennis much more often than soccer or football.
This past Saturday the rowing team arose early and headed off to the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne for the 8 a.m. start of the Southern Erg Sprints, a dry run before the first competitive race on water scheduled for Feb. 28 in Orlando.
Lacrosse also went into full mode when the boys opened with a multi-team jamboree at South County Park on Saturday. Their regular season schedule started on the road Tuesday before Benjamin arrives this Friday for the Pirates home opener.
The girls lacrosse team got tossed right into the jaws of nine-time defending state champ Vero Beach High to open its campaign on Tuesday. They are off for seven days before getting John Carroll at home next Tuesday.
Weightlifting medalist Kendra Mathes will make a quick athletic shift and join the lacrosse team just in time for the opening match with VBHS.
Brevard Heat hosted St. Ed’s varsity baseball team to start the season this week. The Pirates will return the favor next week when they open at home. In between is an away game at Covenant Christian School.
The boys weightlifting team also opened with a match at home on Wednesday. That would be the only meet currently scheduled at St. Ed’s for this year. Four away meets precede the district tournament on April 1.
For coach Rogers it was also a quick turnaround. The girls and boys seasons came close to overlapping due to the historic performance of Kendra Mathes. The boys may look to Kendra’s medal for inspiration as they prepare for competition this season.
The varsity girls basketball season ended at 3-6 back in January. Freshman Maya Jenkins took team scoring honors by averaging 11.2 ppg. Senior Nicole Alden was a close second at 11 ppg. Unlike Kendra, Maya at least had an opportunity to practice with the lacrosse team before the first game.
Both varsity basketball teams won’t have to look very far to gain reinforcements for next year. A few junior varsity players will move up, but if the records of middle school teams mean anything, help is definitely on the way.
The JV boys basketball team defeated Glades Day School 49-30 in the late January finale at home to climb within one game of .500 at 9-10. James McGuire led all scorers with 14 points, Brandon Succes had 11 and KC Barry added 8.
The seventh/eighth grade boys basketball team (13-2) defeated Saint Anastasia School 29-26 to claim the 2015 Treasure Coast Athletic Conference Championship. Shea Spencer led a balanced attack with 8 points, including two long-range threes. The rest of the scoring was provided by Anand Chundi with 7, TJ Kenney had 6, Tyler Newbrough 5, Grayson Long 2 and PJ Scott 1.
Eighth grader Madison Miller did all she could for the middle school girls basketball team (9-3) by scoring 16 points in a 30-23 loss to Community Christian in the TCAC championship final. Madison averaged 11.5 ppg with a season high of 21. The Pirates were TCAC champs in each of the previous two seasons.