- March 2, 2025
June 24: Seabreeze High School rising junior Casey Jensen-Gainey runs barrels with her horse Pie at the Pellicer Community Park arena. Photo by Michele Meyers
Jan. 4: Mainland's Aniyah Ray flies high at the Bulldog Cheerleading Invitational at Flagler Palm Coast. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Jan. 4: Flagler Palm Coast's Karina Marcelus competes in the group jump-off at the end of the Bulldog Cheerleading Invitational. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Jan. 27: The referee raises Ethan Laupepa's arm after the Flagler Palm Coast senior won the 215-pound championship match at the 38th annual Flagler Rotary Tournament. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Jan. 27: Flagler Palm Coast freshman Trey Twilley gets an advantage against Liberty County's Keaton Ellis in the 126-pound third-place match at the Flagler Rotary Tournament. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Feb. 1: The Seabreeze small co-ed cheerleeding squad competes at the state Region 2 meet at Hagerty High School in Oviedo. Photo by Michele Meyers
Feb. 21: Seabreeze's Charlie Deininger kicks the ball past Horizon's Hannah Hidle in the Region 2-5A girls soccer final. Photo by Michele Meyers
Feb. 23: Mainland boys basketball coach Joe Giddens has the last cut of the net after the Bucs defeated Tallahassee Rickards in the Region 1-5A championship to advance to the Final Four for the second year in a row. Photo by Michele Meyers
March 2: Flagler Palm Coast's Christina Borgmann raises her arms in victory after pinning Lahela Turquist to win the 125-pound girls state wrestling championship in Kissimmee. Photo by Abe and Rachel Mills
March 6: Mainland's Nathan Kirk watches to see if his layup goes in as Tampa Blake's Joshua Lewis defends during a Class 5A state semifinal boys basketball game at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland. Photo by Michele Meyers
March 6: Mainland's Olivia Olson races down the court in a Class 5A girls basketball state semifinal vs. River Ridge at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland. Photo by Michele Meyers
March 14: Flagler Palm Coast reliever Isaiah Munoz threw submarine pitches in the seventh inning in a baseball game against Matanzas. Photo by Brent Woronoff
March 28: Flagler Palm Coast's Lily Puritis dives to make a save in a beach volleyball match against Matanzas at Wadsworth Park in Flagler Beach. Photo by Brent Woronoff
April 4: Three-year-old mutton bustin' cowboy Alston Boyd is rescued by a belt loop at the 67th annual Flagler County Cracker Day rodeo at the Flagler County Fairgrounds. Photo by Michele Meyers.
April 11: Mainland quarterback Brielle Jackson, who transferred from Seabreeze, holds up the trophy after the Bucs defeated her former team to win the flag football district championship. Photo by Brent Woronoff
April 26: Mainland's Emmanuel Yisrael steamrolls his way to first in the boys 110-meter hurdles at the District 6-3A track and field meet at East River High School in Orlando. Photo by Michele Meyers
May 2: Matanzas pitcher Leah Stevens and Deltona batter Payton Woerner keep their eye on the ball during the District 4-5A softball championship at Daytona State College. Photo by Brent Woronoff
May 17: Mainland's Marquis McCants takes his first attempt in the long jump at the Class 3A state track and field championships at the University of North Florida. Photo by Michele Meyers
June 1: Peyton Crave, 7, catches a wave in the future division at the Her Turn Surf Festival in Flagler Beach. Photo by Jake Montgomery
June 8: Ocean puts the toes to the nose at the third annual Hang 8 Dog Surfing Extravaganza on Flagler Beach. Photo by Jake Montgomery
June 13: Matanzas incoming freshman Jamel Guerrero drives around an airborne Jake Anderson (30) of Seabreeze in a summer league basketball game at Mainland High School. Photo by Michele Meyers
July 13: 12- and 13-year-old girls compete in the run-swim-run event at the Junior Lifeguard Championships in Daytona Beach. Photo by Michele Meyers
July 20: Royal Palms Soccer Club player Ivy Chen (center) fights a Polk United Football Club player to get off a shot on goal in a United Premier Soccer League game. Photo by Michele Meyers
Aug. 16: Flagler Palm Coast’s Roman Caliendo (81) scores on a 48-yard touchdown reception against Deltona in a kickoff classic. Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh
Aug. 23: Matanzas quarterback Caden Burchfield runs for 8 yards on first down in the Pirates' season opener against Bishop Kenny. Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh
Sept. 6: Mainland running back Edward Williams runs down the right sideline on a muddy Flagler Palm Coast High School Field. FPC won the game 7-2. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Oct. 18: Seabreeze linebacker Tristan Miller wraps up Mount Dora running back Tymir Gaines (9) during the Sandcrabs' Homecoming game at Daytona Stadium. Photo by Michele Meyers
Nov. 7: Seabreeze quarterback Dylan Tocci avoids a tackle by Deltona's Tayvion Dixon. Photo by Michele Meyers
Out of thousands of sports photos that the Observer published online and in print editions this year we picked 28 as our best photos of the year.
Selecting the best wasn't easy, especially with award-winning photojournalist Michele Meyers covering events for us weekly.
Our top photos covered several school sports as well as human and canine surfing, barrel racing, rodeo and a junior lifeguard competition.
We know we missed a lot of great photos that ran in print and on our website. Let us know if you notice a glaring omission.
brent@observerlocalnews-com
