We are not even a third of the way into the 2016-17 high school sports season, and one local school has likely already clinched the Gateway Conference Best Athletic Program award.
Through the completion of the fall standings, Fletcher dominated the Gateway Conference All-Sports standings, winning six of the nine sports titles.
One person not completely surprised by this is longtime Fletcher Athletic Director Joe Reynolds, who is in his 26th year.
“Traditionally we have always done really well in the Gateway Conference All-Sports Standings,” Reynolds said. “Over the years it’s always come down to Mandarin, Fletcher, Sandalwood, and sometimes Stanton for the title. Although since Mandarin opened (in 1990), we haven’t won the overall title.”
A big reason why the Senators have done so well in the overall award is the success of the fall sports programs.
“We have really done well in the fall too,” Reynolds said. “It helps us to have strong swimming, golf, cross country, and volleyball programs as well.”
Reynolds was quite humble of the Senators’ success and was quick to point out why they’re so successful.
“This is really all about the student-athletes,” Reynolds said. “There really is no secret formula. It’s just about the kids working really hard and our coaches working hard as well.”
Being so close to the beach is a huge advantage for the majority of Fletcher’s sports programs. Many teams even use the beach to run and condition their athletes year round.
“Absolutely it’s an advantage for us,” Reynolds said. “Several of our teams use the beach to train.”
Reynolds mentioned several former Senators, himself included, coming back to the school to coach as another advantage.
“Our boys swim coach, Bob Anderson, swam at Fletcher; our girls cross country coach, Dan Holloway, ran track and cross country here; and Kevin Brown, our football coach, was a three-sport all-conference athlete here in football, track, and soccer,” Reynolds said.
The conference is comprised of 17 public schools within the city limits of Jacksonville, including Atlantic Coast, Baldwin, Ed White, Englewood, First Coast, Fletcher, Jackson, Lee, Mandarin, Paxon, Raines, Ribault, Sandalwood, Stanton, Terry Parker, Westside, and Wolfson.
Schools compete in 22 sports in the conference including boys golf, girls golf, boys swimming, girls swimming, boys cross country, girls cross country, girls volleyball, boys football, and girls bowling in the fall.
It has been a banner year so far for Senators sports programs, winning conference titles in girls swimming, boys swimming, girls cross country, girls bowling, girls volleyball, and boys golf.
Boys and girls golf conference tournaments officially kicked off the season on Oct. 3-4 at Blue Sky golf course. Fletcher won the boys title and finished second in the girls, scoring even behind Stanton.
Swimming championships were held on Oct. 8 at Cecil Field Aquatics Center. Fletcher dominated both meets, beating Mandarin and Atlantic Coast, which finished second and third, respectively, in both meets.
The Gateway Conference volleyball tournament was held Oct. 10-14 at various locations across the city before concluding at Fletcher. With home court advantage, the Senators knocked off nemesis Mandarin to win the title, while Stanton and Atlantic Coast tied for third.
The cross-country championships were held Oct. 12 at Patton Park with Fletcher taking the girls title over Mandarin and Mandarin taking the boys title over Stanton and Fletcher.
The fall season wrapped up Oct. 20 at Bowl America Southside, where the Senators claimed their sixth conference title, holding off Sandalwood and Mandarin.
While football doesn’t compete in a season-ending tournament, the regular season ended with three teams having a chance to win the outright title by winning their last game; however, Raines, Mandarin, and Baldwin all lost their final games.
The result was an eight-way tie for first between Lee (6-1), Fletcher (5-1), Westside (4-1), Raines (3-1, Mandarin (3-1), Sandalwood (3-1), Ribault (3-1) and Baldwin (2-1). As of press time, a conference champion had yet to be declared.
Both Fletcher and Mandarin will benefit from strong football seasons as well to boost their title hopes going into the winter.
Heading into the winter, conference championships will be held Dec. 8 at Mandarin for girls weightlifting, Jan. 9-13 at various sites for boys and girls soccer, Jan. 10-13 at various sites for girls basketball, Jan. 20-21 at Sandalwood for wrestling, and Jan. 17-11 for boys basketball.
Usually the overall award comes down to just a few points separating Fletcher from Mandarin or Sandalwood.
“We’re fortunate to do really well in wrestling and boys and girls soccer in the winter, but it really comes down to how we do in baseball or softball,” Reynolds said. “Both of those are up and down, and if we can win either of those titles, we can win the overall title as well. It will probably come down to Mandarin and Fletcher again.”
Gateway Conference Standings
Boys
Fletcher 49
Mandarin 48
Stanton 45
Paxon 40
Atlantic Coast 37
Sandalwood 33
First Coast 31.5
Lee 30
Parker 30
Baldwin 24
Wolson 20
Ed White 11
Raines 7.5
Englewood 5
Jackson 3
Ribault 1.5
Westside 1.5
Girls
- Fletcher 84
- Mandarin 78
- Paxon 69.5
- Stanton 66.5
- Atlantic Coast 60
- Lee 56.5
- Sandalwood 56
- First Coast 49
- Ed White 41
- Baldwin 39.5
- Parker 39
- Englewood 30.5
- Wolfson 30
- Westside 20.5
- Raines 17.5
- Jackson 15.5
- Ribault 10
Overall
- Fletcher 133
- Mandarin 126
- Stanton 111
- Paxon 109.5.5
- Atlantic Coast 97
- Sandalwood 89
- Lee 86.5
- First Coast 80.5
- Parker 69
- Baldwin 63.5
- Ed White 52
- Wolfson 50
- Englewood 35.5
- Raines 25
- Westside 21.5
- Jackson 18.5
- Ribault 11.5
Fletcher Dominates Gateway Fall Standings
Written by: Corey Davis
