Elijah Thompson charges hard at a rolling tackle dummy and drills it. Seeing the scene unfold makes one feel sorry for the pain he’s poised to unleash on a real opponent this fall.
Navarre’s boys soccer team is all in with an intense game of futsal inside the Gulf Pointe Latin gymnasium on a Tuesday in late July.
Back and forth. Hard shots on goal. Big saves. This is the kind of thing head coach James Baccarini wanted to see from his team during its month of summer workouts.
Medals clanking has become a familiar sound for the Navarre Xpress. The sound grew a little louder this year.
The local track club had its best AAU season yet in its short history, particularly at the regional meet in Jacksonville earlier this summer when 19 qualified and 17 punched a ticket to nationals.
Reigning Gulf South Conference co-champion University of West Florida football is picked to finish in the preseason conference football poll this year.
The Argos received two first-place votes and 56 points in all in the poll, second only to GSC favorite Delta State, which earned six first-place votes and tallied 61 points. West Georgia checks in at No. 3 and got one first-place vote.
Austin Reed was on fire. Not literally, of course, but in sports terms.
He threw one touchdown pass. And then another. And another. And one more for good measure. Four in all to go along with a New Orleans Bowl-record 497 passing yards as he guided Western Kentucky to a 44-23 win over South Alabama on mid-December night in the Caesars Superdome.
Michael Sandle continues to play well for the Asheville Tourists in his third season as a pro while Matt Cronin remains out of action for the Rochester Red Wings. Both are alums of Navarre.
Sandle is batting .218 through 55 games for the Tourists, the High-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. He has racked up 44 hits and driven in 19 runs while scoring 22 runs.
From the gym to the football field. A few moments in between to catch his breath. That’s the kind of schedule Darius Cunningham Jr. is rolling with this summer.
Jelina Bly heads into the Team Florida Gym off Pace Boulevard in Pensacola for another night of working out.
A little over two years ago, Bly was helping the Raiders win another state championship while earning recognition as the top lifter in the state.
Katie Kauth loves that the University of West Florida is in the area and has a women’s soccer program she is quite familiar with.
The rising senior for the Navarre Raiders has been to games on the campus in Pensacola. Her brother attends school there.
It’s been a successful summer for the Navarre volleyball team. The Raiders went unbeaten at a tournament at UWF and have made big jumps from a skill standpoint as they put in work in preparation for the 2023 season.
