Izzy Zach didn’t make it to the podium at the 3A state weightlifting meet a year ago. But oh what a difference a year makes for one of Navarre’s standout lifters.

Zach sat on the floor of the RP Funding Center in Lakeland Friday during the awards ceremony, wearing a medal around her neck and a smile on her face, savoring the thrill of being a state champion for the first time.

Here’s a look at what some of the former Navarre Raiders are doing at the next level.

Nothing against the American Flag, but Santa Rosa County needs to throw the idea of the largest flag in the state idea as some kind of tourist attraction right out the window and forget that the thought even entered its brain in the first place.

Alyssa Grant didn’t spend her Super Bowl Sunday at a party. She was actually at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas earlier this month.

A Navarre grad and recreation management major at Florida State, Grant was able to see what life was like working a major sporting event.

Navarre’s girls weightlifting team stuck around for the team championship trophy presentation Friday night, watching rival Pace claim both the 3A Olympic and traditional titles at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.

While this marked the second consecutive year that the Raiders fell short of adding an eighth state championship in program history, the end of the season was still something worth noting.

Navarre head coach Kirk Whited talked last week a few hours before a preseason game against rival Gulf Breeze about seeing what his Raider baseball team can do when it’s on the field and the lights are on.

Turns out, a good first impression was made as the Raiders rolled past Gulf Breeze 17-8 after falling behind 5-0 early.

Heartbreak enveloped Navarre’s girls soccer team late Tuesday night. Its dream of moving on in the Region 1-1A tournament dashed after a chaotic ending to a 2-1 double overtime loss to Nease on a chilly February evening at Bennett C. Russell Stadium.

A new era begins for Navarre’s softball team. Chelsi Kania enters the 2024 campaign as the head coach and takes over a team with a promising cast of talent.

It’s a Navarre team that finished as the district runner-up a year ago and advanced to the regional semifinal.

It happens every year. Student athletes and their family and friends fill cafeterias, gymnasiums, media centers, and sometimes even offsite locations, to sign national letters of intent.

It happened again last Wednesday, here in Santa Rosa County, throughout the state and across the country.

A total of 23 recruits were added to the University of West Florida football team on national signing day Feb. 7.

That group includes Navarre’s own Tyrell Marshall, a standout defensive back for the Raiders