FLEMING ISLAND - With a bevy of outstanding athletic performances in the 2025-26 school year, Fleming Island High's top performers could very well be a Who's Who of state champions.

Shoesmith, Shavers and Ward were the top nominees. But not to be forgotten were second-place state finishers, including golfer Tyler Mawhinney and the boys basketball team led by center Carson Crawford.

For William Shoesmith, a junior swimmer, he won gold in the Class 3A 500 meters freestyle, and he was the pinnacle of precision of a surgeon with his 500 time of four minutes, 25.41 seconds coming during adverse surprises, like a cramp, a bad turn, bad pre-race meal and mental blips.

But Shoesmith took care of business in all three postseason swim meets that belied his quiet demeanor versus his calculated competitiveness.

"When you get to swim in a facility like this, you know the best in the state are going to show up," said Shoesmith, who pulled away near the midway point of his specialty finish nearly two seconds ahead of runner-up Lincoln Driesse of Nease. "I always trust my training and race strategy to put me in a good position to control my race."

Shoesmith opened with a 50.42-second burst in the first 100 and 53.40 in the second 100 to open a gap on Driesse, who fought back with better splits in final 200. "He was coming, but I just did not panic and knew if I had to, I had more in the tank."

Shoesmith, who hit his personal best 4:22.17 in December 2025, will return to move into a next level stratosphere following a summer of training and competition. Shoesmith, who made a verbal commit to University of Virginia, also finished fourth in the 200 individual medley.

On the girls side, track triple jumper Mikayla Shavers and girls weightlifter Kathryn Ward both created fuel their senior seasons after finishing as the top of their class.

Shavers shook the state as the defending Class 3A triple jump champion, after winning two consecutive silver medals in her freshman and sophomore seasons.

In her second jump at the University of North Florida track, Shavers flew down the runway, hit her takeoff precisely and seemed to just float before she landed with a state record of 42-feet-11.5 to break the 21-year-old record of 42-8.75 set in 2005 by Tiara Swanagan of Ed White.

"It was beautiful," said Fleming Island jump coach Konner Achors. "Everything she did was perfect, and that record will stand forever. She hit the board perfect because on the 42-4 jump, awful, she was a foot off the board."

The national high school record stands at 44-11 3/4 by Brittany Daniels of Merrill West, California, in 2005.

Shavers, who heads to University of South Florida in the fall, opened her triple jump session after a second-place finish in the long jump by just six inches with a 19-4 jump before setting her mindset on the more complex triple jump.

"I wanted to get the long jump gold, too, but the triple jump is my event," said Shavers, who also anchored the Fleming Island 4 x 100 relay squad to an eighth-place finish in 48.05 seconds. "When I hit the first jump and got a 42-4, I wasn't even on the board, and I knew I could go further."

In boys track, the 4 x 800 relay team of Luke Janke, JP Strombeck, Andrew Lou and Marcos Serrano took third with a 7:53.14 split behind powerhouse Belen Jesuit and Dillard, which had times of 7:51.30 and 7:52.90, respectively.

In girls track, hurdler Meadow Schubert landed two Top 10 finishes in the 100 and 400 hurdles, with 400 meter specialist Halle Steeves finishing 10th. Schubert and Shavers also teamed with Jayla Mixon and Juliannah Santana for an eighth-place finish in the 4 x 100 relay.

In girls weightlifting, Ward was rock solid in her endeavor to improve her second-place finish in 2024 to the gold standard. Coach Sean Coultis' main objective, as with almost every weightlifting coach, was to land three lifts in all three disciplines.

"We knew going in that it would come down to the technique of both girls to execute," said Coultis, as he watched Ward at the Class 2A state meet beat the second-place finisher. "Kathryn has been rock solid in nailing all her lifts (nine a competition, three in each discipline), and that is to her advantage. The Arnold girl [Kennedy McAuliffe], I think, and I don't know why, made a tactical error in attempting a lift much higher than what she needed to win."

In the Olympics competition in her 139-pound weight class, the mano-a-mano battle with McAuliffe was a crowd pleaser for the RP Funding Center crowd as two of the best in the building were shoulder to shoulder for the gold.

"It was nerve wracking because the girl from Arnold had two chances to beat me," said Ward, now the 139 Olympics Class 2A champion and the runner-up in the Traditional scoring. "I had built a good cushion from the Olympic Snatch, but she had two lifts after I finished by Clean and Jerk."

In the dramatic showdown with McAuliffe, Ward built a 15-pound cushion in the Olympic Snatch with a final lift of 155 to McAuliffe's 140.

"She came here to win a state title and she did," Coultis said. "She has been looking at the wall in our weight room and wondering where her photo is going to be."

The girls weightlifting team won both district and region titles along with way with a wheel barrel-full of individual champions. Coultis got Top 10 finishes from Kyla Marshall, Zahaviah Sanders, Alyssa Gordon, Loreanis Maysonet, Kayley Elkins and Marina Barger.

In equally dramatic finishes that garnered state silver medals, the boys basketball team lit up North Florida with a second-place finish in Class 5A behind a crushing season from junior center Crawford.

In golf, senior Mawhinney finished second by just one shot for individual honors in Class 2A. The team also finished second.

Mawhinney, who is headed to Vanderbilt University, was the focal point of coach Bruce Cloud's attempt to wrestle a third consecutive title before retiring after senior Ryan Houck reversed a near-disastrous 38 on the front nine to a 34 on the back close the 11-stroke final round gap to finish tied for fourth.

In girls golf, freshman Sophia Moody played to expectations, while senior Shayla Abbas soldiered through an injury to get to state.

The Golden Eagles boys basketball team rattled off eight wins in a row to get to the Class 5A championship game. After a red-hot Class 5A state semifinal with three players scoring in double figures with a slew of 3-pointers, Fleming Island got stymied in the state championship game, 52-48, against top-seeded Pembroke Pines Charter at a packed house at the University of North Florida.

"We had a great run," said Fleming Island coach Traavis Chandler, who finished at 23-9 and the first state finals appearance in school history. "My hats off to these guys; they played their hearts out. But we didn't get the rebounds and 3s we needed to get it done. That's a great program with like four state titles."

In fall cross country, the distance program again featured a busload of athletes to a seventh-place finish behind a strong run from Janke at state.

Janke, who had a subpar race at regions a week prior, emerged as a strong turnaround finisher for the Golden Eagles.

"I just run to get the maximum points for the team," Janke said. "I thought about how I almost cost the team the region title last week, but our team is strong and if one guy had a bad race, the others pick up for him."

The Fleming Island girls squad, senior multisport athlete (cross country, swimming and track) Brooke Reynolds was a top finisher and she led the team to a 17th-place finish, with Chiles and Ponte Vedra battling for the top team spot.

Reynolds was a unique state meet qualifier in all three of her sports.

Volleyball finished with a solid 19-8 season, with a return win over Santa Fe in mid-season, and then three wins to get to the district finals against rival Middleburg, which earned a region playoff berth.

Coach Amy Yoder will have her three powerhouse hitters returning - seniors Lauren Brosky and Kaylee Clark and junior Lillie Eason - with a combined 747 kills. Top blockers Hazel Williams and Saniya Robinson graduated, but Ava Zayakosky will return following another summer session of national play.

Girls swimming rode the strength of top-tier relay teams and senior Elizabeth Loehr, who had Top 10 finishes in the 200 and 500 free events, a fourth in the 200 free relay and a fifth in the 400 free relay with teammates Katelyn Moore, Summer Van Wagenen, Reynolds and Kinsey Yarbrough.

Girls basketball finished 16-12 behind sophomore lead scorer Gianna Crawford's 16.4 points a game.

The football team finished 6-4 with a coaching shuffle to start the season before Tom Macpherson was appointed. He got the team within a game of getting a region playoff berth.

Seniors Sebastian Cruz and Jarius Rodgers are the top players with scholarships to Rutgers and Syracuse, respectively, with offensive lineman Corbett Yarbrough headed to FAMU.

In soccer, both girls and boys teams made region runs with the boys finishing 10-4-3 with a first round region loss to Gulf Breeze, 3-2, and the girls going 7-9-2 with an overtime loss in district to rival Clay. Coach Taylor had a tough schedule, but he did get the Golden Eagles to a region berth.

One highlight in a rebuilding season for wrestling was a state championship finish for senior Leilah Carter for the girls team.

In spring sports, both diamond sports had winning seasons, with baseball coach Mike Martino having one of his best seasons, saying he had "a fun group of guys to coach."

Led by senior hurler Colton Swartz, who was lethal on the mound with a 1.94 EARand in the batter's box with a .297 batting average. Connor Massey, who returns for his senior season, was the most dependable hitter with a .300 batting average, 19 runs batted in with nine doubles. Martino finished at 16-9 with a district runner-up finish after a tough 6-19 season last year.

In softball, the girls' bats will return nearly an entire team of returning .300 hitters like Victoria Vazquez, Emily Williams, Jolee Rich, Addison Pleiss, Bailee Wadley, Paige Courson, Ashlyn Madine and Emmie Lobdell, along with freshmen Abby Maass at .292, Katelyn Collins at .271 and Penelope Gasbarro at .268 to give the Golden Eagles plenty of enthusiasm for next spring.

Williams pushed her team to a 14-9 record with a district title against Orange Park and a region playoff berth - a 3-0 loss to 5A runner-up Niceville. She was the workhorse on the mound with 60Ks.

Tennis got district titles from Zach Hyatt in boys and Stephanie Axne in girls. Hyatt and doubles partner Kesl Cumpstone made the Class 3A quarterfinals after a Round 1 win, while Axne and Hyatt both finished in singles first round play. Axne and doubles partner Alexis Henninger made the quarterfinals, as well.

In Lacrosse, first year coach Isabella Marx opened with seven straight wins with two playoff losses to Bolles to finish at 11-8. The good news is that leading scorer Meredith Giebeig will return to add to her 68 goals scored last year (and 131 in her career), while Brylee Thomas is returning after 46 goals behind Giebeig.

Boys lacrosse finished 7-7 after starting with four wins in five games, with leading scorer Caden Lopez returning with his 34 goals.

In boys weightlifting, Austin Davis punched up a seventh-place state finish in Traditional at 139 pounds, with Brady Digman qualifying at 183.

Flag football had a five-game winning streak at the end of season that was halted at Clay, with the Golden Eagles losing to Ponte Vedra in district play to end their season. Ponte Vedra wound up as the state runner-up, losing 19-1 to Chiles. Seven Gourdet and Daisy Fletcher, a senior, were top scorers, with Fletcher being recognized nationally as a flag puller on defense with 155 snags. Fleming Island will return freshman quarterback Tara Adams, who finished with 15 touchdown passes.