Hunter Merola won a district championship and placed fourth at the FHSAA Track and Field State Championships.

LIVE OAK — What a year it was for Suwannee High athletics. There were district championships, regional titles and individual success stories.

A look back at the top 10 stories and moments from the 2018-19 school year for the Bulldogs.  

10. Tennis hardware 

Josh Braun, Seth Land, Brent Long and Loren Anderson helped the Bulldogs claim a district tennis title. Braun and Land qualified for the state tournament. For the SHS girls, No. 5 player Lily Lamb won a district championship.

9. Vaulting to the top  

Pole vaulters Hunter Merola and Brianna Mays won individual district titles. They also made it to the state championships with Merola taking fourth and Mays placing eighth. Underclassmen Mon’tayasia Jones (first in regional high jump) and Dariniya Martin also earned points in the state championships in high jump.

8. Upset win

A young Suwannee softball team earned some big wins in 2019. In a game at Baker County on March 29, SHS jumped out to a 9-0 lead and held on for a 9-8 win. Maci Brown hit a grand slam while Kaiya Hurst, Mackenzie Taylor and Natalie Robinson contributed two hits apiece.     

7. Record setter 

Softball standout Carson Frier also showed her skills on the soccer field. Frier switched from goalie to forward early in the season and ended up setting a SHS single-season record with 40 goals.   

6. Dominating on the diamond 

Before their magical playoff run, the Suwannee baseball team wiped out Tallahassee schools in the regular season. Suwannee went 6-0 against those bigger schools, including three wins against Class 8A Lincoln. 

5. Medaling at state 

Wrestler Terrell Williams had a season to remember. After winning a region title, Williams went 4-1 at the state championships to take third place in the 152-pound division. 

4. Suwannee strong 

The SHS boys and girls weightlifting teams were district and regional champions.  Aislinn Henry, Ashley Robinson, Matti Marsee, Skylar Fritz and Antonio White won individual region titles. White had a second-place finish at state. 

3. Next level 

There were baseball (EJ Alvarez, Bo Bonds, Wyatt Morrill, Kolby Pickles, Trett Wadford and Josh Wharton), basketball (Jarrett Gardner, Brant Ulmer), football (Carlton Hall) and soccer (Baylor Burch) signings as 10 Bulldogs inked with colleges. 

2. Back in the playoffs 

After a tough start to the season, the Suwannee football team showed some resiliency to break a two-year playoff drought. The night Suwannee clinched a playoff spot was pretty special with a 33-7 thrashing of longtime rival Taylor County. Carlton Hall scored three rushing touchdowns in the game to push SHS into the postseason.     

1. Battle of the Bulldogs 

On the road to Fort Myers and the Final Four, the Suwannee baseball team knocked off perennial power Bolles in a regional semifinal. Bo Bonds pitched a complete-game in the 3-1 victory. The Bulldogs went on to win the next game and advance to a state semifinal for the first time since 1967.