- December 23, 2024
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Lucy Noble saved her best for last.
The Flagler Palm Coast senior completed her high school swimming career with two top-10 finishes at the Class 4A state championships on Nov. 5.
Noble finished first in the B final and ninth overall in the 100-yard backstroke with a personal-record time of 58.08. Her time was faster than the eighth-place finisher in the A Final and about two-tenths of a second faster than her prelim time.
She also placed 10th in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.27. Noble had hoped to break 24 seconds in her signature event, but after finishing 11th in prelims, she moved up a spot to 10th with a second-place finish in the B final.
"Definitely the best results I've had out of my four years," she said. "My results from the 50 free weren't exactly what I was hoping for, but I was really happy with my 100 back."
Her time in the 100 back qualified her for the 100-meter backstroke event at USA Swimming's Futures Championship July 27-30 in Cary, North Carolina.
Noble, who will attend the event with the Hydro4 Swim Club out of the Ormond Beach YMCA, had already qualified for Futures in the 50-meter freestyle. She will also get to compete in two bonus swims at Futures.
"I can pretty much guarantee I'll be in the 100 freestyle, and then whatever stroke is feeling good to me at the time," she said. "If I had to guess I'd say probably the 100 breast, because for some reason, in long course meters I can pull together a pretty good (100 breaststroke)."
Noble is adept at all of the strokes, but her strength is sprint events — 50 and 100 yards and meters — so she is hesitant to swim in the 200 individual medley in college.
"I can do each stroke separately. I just can't seem to put it together," she said. "The 200 is just something that I'm not really the best at, but I'm definitely willing to work on it. I mean my club coaches and I have been working on it for years, and I've improved but just not nearly fast enough to swim it in college."
Noble will continue her academic and swimming career at Eastern Michigan University next year. While she might not be ready for the 200 IM, she expects to swim the freestyle sprints and will try to continue to develop her 100 backstroke, which is a relatively new event for her.
In the meantime, she'll continue to swim with Hydro4.
"Everyday is club practice," Noble said. "I'll swim up through the summer, and then once it's time for me to go to college, I'll say goodbye until next summer, and then I'm sure I'll be back swimming with them in the summertime."
Mikhail Zysek stepped from the football field onto the soccer pitch.
Two days after Flagler Palm Coast was eliminated from the football playoffs, Zysek, the Bulldogs' leading receiver this season, rejoined the soccer team and scored the only goal of the game as FPC defeated St. Augustine 1-0 on Nov. 14. Grayson Ronk assisted on the goal as the Bulldogs improved to 2-0 with the home victory.
The Flagler Bulldogs 8U team shut out the South Florida Bengals 24-0 to win the Mid-Florida Football and Cheer Conference Super Bowl on Saturday, Nov. 11.
Tysin Willacy scored two touchdowns for the Bulldogs. He opened the scoring with a 78-yard catch-and-run touchdown from quarterback Janobi Fennell. Majour Eitheridge scored on a 17-yard run, and Cameron Perkins scored the Bulldogs' final touchdown. Fennell also had a goal-line stop.
The players on the Bulldogs' 8U team included Kaiden Smith, Majour Ethridge, Tajai Edwards, Kobe McCall, Davion Johnson, Julisia Green, Markell Spearmon, Jean Rodriguez, Dylan Woods, Janobi Fennell, Kayson Santiago, Kent Coleman, La’Vadre Brock, Ja’on Bennett, Tysin Willacy, Haidyn Nelson and Cameron Perkins. The coaches were Marquis Murphy, Sayvion Murphy, Guy Burkley Sr. and Guy Burkley Jr.
The Bulldogs' 12U team also advanced to the Super Bowl but lost 32-12. Xzayvier Johnson had a touchdown catch for Flagler.
The North Flagler Wildcats 14U football team finished the season with an 11-0 record and is headed to the regional tournament Sunday, Nov. 19 in Ocala.
The Wildcats, who are 8-0 since the spring, will be competing against other teams in the Southeast Region, which consists of Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Mississippi.
Daytona State College is the top seed at the NJCAA Division I Men's National Soccer Tournament, which began Nov. 13 in Melbourne, Florida, with the title game set for Saturday, Nov. 19.
DSC (15-2-1) won its first game in pool play, 3-1 over Montgomery College of Rockville, Maryland, on Nov. 13. The pool winners advance to the semifinals on Thursday, Nov. 17. The NJCAA Network is streaming the tournament live.
Daytona State College's men's basketball team has jumped three spots to No. 4 in the NJCAA Region 8 coach's poll. The Falcons improved to 5-0 with a 96-67 road win over Miami Dade College on Nov. 12. Their closest margin of victory so far this season has been 10 points. They host DME Academy on Nov. 23.
Send results and story ideas to Brent Woronoff at [email protected]