Hard work has paid off for five Navarre High School student-athletes.

Soccer players Mariah McKinney, Kayla Folse, Gianna Bly and Cat Baccarini, along with volleyball standout Shelby Freese, signed national letters of intent Wednesday afternoon.

Sometimes a batter keeps swinging and the hits don’t come. The ball instead falls into the glove of an outfielder or smacks into the mitt of the catcher as the hitter swings and misses on strike three.

Everyone has a reason for trying out something new. Khiara Newton’s reason for attempting to pole vault during her freshman season at Navarre is a pretty simple one.

The Raiders have played in seven games this season decided by a run. In five of those games they came out on the wrong side of the ledger. Two of those one-run games were played last week, with Navarre edging West Florida 5-4 before falling 1-0 to Bishop Kenny out of Jacksonville.

Brent Short walked around the Navarre High gymnasium Friday afternoon at the 2A-Region 1 meet with a look of determination that was simply too hard to miss.