It was an interesting offseason for Navarre’s football team. A few players who would have been starters transferred out of the program.

But the players who are still here have been unified this summer in their workouts and are ready to push forward into the 2023 season, hopeful they can contend for a District 1-4S championship once again.

Santa Rosa County swim teams got some preseason work in on Tuesday in a preseason relay meet at the Pullum YMCA in Navarre.

Navarre, Pace and Milton all competed at the meet on a hot and humid afternoon. Gulf Breeze was there as well.

It’s hot here on a practice field just outside of Pen Air Field on an early August afternoon. The kind of hot that requires multiple water breaks over the course of two hours and popsicles at the end of practice.

And yet, the University of West Florida football team pushes through the brutal summer heat and stifling humidity.

Devin Wright attacks a defensive drill with all-out effort on a sweltering August morning on the University of West Florida campus.

This is year two in college football for Wright, but the first where he hopes to get on the field and showcase his ability after a redshirt season in 2022.

Adreahna Busch dribbles the soccer ball during a one-on-one drill in practice on one of those early August mornings that makes you feel like you are standing in the center of a camp fire.

She uses her skill to get past a defender, which isn’t a surprise as her coach at Pensacola State, Mark Yepshin, says the former Navarre Raider is ‘really, really nifty with her feet.’