FLEMING ISLAND - Winning a high school state title in any state is kind of big. Winning a high school state title in Florida is pretty difficult. Winning back-to-back state titles, in Florida, is quite the feat. Winning back-to-back-to-back-to-back (that's four in a row) is monumental.
For Emma Heck, Clay High super weightlifter, four in a row; three in one weight class, the fourth in a new weight class is astounding.
For Heck, known well before her high school career began for her weightlifting prowess in state wide AAU and National lifting, being the best of what should be the best for a long time with her fourth straight title in her senior season gives Heck the Clay Today Female Sports Performance of the Year selection.

Fleming Island High junior golfer Tyler Mawhinney made the best of his statements in preseason golf that winning the team title was more important to him than repeating his own state title. Mawhinney, second in the state, delivered his team to a second state title in 2025.

For the boys, Fleming Island junior golfer Tyler Mawhinney, after a raucous state title run in his sophomore season that saw him and coach Bruce Cloud orchestrate a nearly upended state title run, took the rewards of a tough region finish on a tough regionl course to bank on 'winning on the big stage' with the first state team title in 2023 with Mawhinney smoking the state tournament field for his first state title as well as leading his Golden Eagles team to the first team golf state title in Clay County.
Fast forward to the 2024 season with Mawhinney and his golf team a highly regarded returning team that, with the returning individual champion; Mawhinney, and with nearly the entire state champion team returning, was to banter for an unprecedented two in a row on both fronts.
For Mawhinney, though, his thoughts iterated about the second run was that winning the team was his primary objective, not concerning himself with individual accolades, but happy if it happened.
Mawhinney and his compadres ran the table of a great return season with a focus on the depth of the team with the younger golfers stepping up during key moments of the season, rallying to put the Golden Eagles in the high atmosphere of a successful defending champion.
Mawhinney, in his prophetic seasonal proclamations about team over individual, was second by four strokes with the team winning by 38 strokes over runnerup American Heritage Palm Beach.
For his unselfish goal of team over self, Mawhinney did get his second straight team state title and still has a chance at a second gold and thus is named the Clay Today Male Sports Performance of the Year 2024-25.

In the fall season of sports, other top performances that shared the spotlight in Clay County included Brooke Forkum, Middleburg volleyball top hitter, who drove her Lady Broncos, coached by mom Meredith Forkum in her sophomore season after a stellar 2023 rookie season that got a first time state title for Middleburg, got the Broncos to 22-5 season attempting a double state title. Forkum, though heroic in her region semifinal battle above the net with Beachside High, ultimately finished in that region semifinal with a loss despite her 22 Kills.
Fleming Island senior diver Ava Brinkman got her second gold medal as well to finish off a celebrated four years that saw her overcome a season ending injury in her freshman season, then return with a flurry for gold, silver and gold.
Oakleaf High junior quarterback Jack McKissock, a transfer from a 1A school in Orlando to a 6A program in football tough Clay County and north Florida, who came in, learned the process under coach Chris Foy and delivered not only a region final finish, but an earth-shaking final pass; an 80 yard scoring strike in the final minutes of the region championship against Buchholz that nearly put the Knights into a first time Final Four selection.
McKissock wracked up massive numbers under the Knights schematic with a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator (Bubba Horne) and a new set of teammates and will be returning with all that knowledge under his belt to try a second shot at the Final Four.
Orange Park sprint freestyle swimmer Sebastian Lopez scorched the pool all season with his splits for the 50 and 100 progressively faster and faster under coach Susan Johnson before Lopez was part of a 50 free final with every swimmer under 22 seconds; 21.13 for Lopez in fourth and 20.89 for champion Jack Mainville of Nease. Lopez doubled back with a seventh in the 100 free in an equally astounding split of 46.38.
Outstanding seasons in football came from Fleming Island quarterback Cibastian Broughton, who finished off four years of varsity play with a region playoff berth, Oakleaf's sophomore wide receiver Michael Conner, almost the hero of the day with his 80 yard touchdown catch in the final moments of the region final, Middleburg defensive end B.J. Carter who was dominating at his spot to get a third region berth for the Broncos and Clay defensive end Aaron Stacy being one of the smallest defensive linemen in the county with the biggest engine being one of the leading tacklers in the county.
In cross country, Fleming Island's Andrew Boyer had the breakout race in November with a 16:05 18th place finish at the Class 3A championships. For the girls, Fleming Island's Ava Hendryx was 16th in 19:03.5 as top area finisher at the state meet.
In Class 1A, St. Johns Country Day School senior Rebecca Stratton finished her illustrious career as top finisher for the Spartans with a 42nd place finish with eighth grader Kate Staten right behind her ready to pick up the mantle.
In winter sports, Heck was the showstopper for Clay County, but the story of St. Johns Country Day School's girls soccer team may have been a close second as coach Mike Pickett used a freshman defender to face off against the nation's most prolific scorer to get his 15th state title back in Orange Park after his 11 title streak was snapped three years ago. Pickett's leadership; Reygan Ropero, Victoria Sarka, Alyvia Bishop, was team wide with senior CeCe Nowicki getting a Florida Dairy Farmer's nod, but the Lady Spartans proved balanced across the board while taking on the best teams statewide every week.
Weightlifting also proved impressive for Clay County with the Middleburg and Fleming Island girls both bringing home team state titles with Fleming Island getting Bradi Johnson home with individual state titles.
For wrestling, Middleburg's two time state champion Cheyenne Cruce, just four losses, showed the heart of a lion by flipping a controversial semifinal loss into a third place finish in her quest for a third state title. Cruce's focus on a medal was a testament to her poise and dedication to be the best she could be in the moment.
Oakleaf's Kailani Barrientos rifled through her season in the top three rankings before finishing third with just three losses in her weight division.
For Fleming Island senior Laird Duhaylungsod, the absence of his brother Shane on the mat with him for nearly a decade, and a controversial coaching debacle that took focus away from wrestling, could have played into a white flag season, but Duhaylungsod kept his eye on the prize and battled to a second place finish at his 150 pound weight class.
Clay and Middleburg boys wrestling got to the region finals of the duals championship bracket with Clay moving into the state semifinal. Both programs had eye opening seasons with handfuls of wrestlers making giant steps toward a strong individual season led by Duhaylungsod for Fleming Island, Jacob Bucci for Clay and Nathan Harvey for Middleburg.
On the basketball court, Ridgeview's girls team had the strongest finish in the region semifinal led by senior Nacoya Blocton and Emma Rayes with Orange Park freshman Ella Crowe the story of next year with a district title upset of the Panthers. St. Johns Country Day School's Kendall Proffitt, just a freshman, was one of the top scorers state wide with a 28.7 points per game with a region playoff berth.
For boys basketball, Oakleaf and Fleming Island were the two big guns of the county, maybe Orange Park in the mix, with Jelani Wright the Knights leader, sophomore Carson Crawford leading the Golden Eagles and Quayshon Blot leading the Raiders in the paint.
In the spring, track was the big winner with Fleming Island junior triple jumper Mikayla Shavers getting her elusive gold medal after two years of second place with Orange Park long jumper Nethan Verger, with a nation's best 25 foot jump in regular season, taking second at the state meet.
Also impressive was the baseball season which featured a return to the state championship from St. Johns Country Day School behind pitcher Brayden Harris, a region final finish for Clay behind a series of walk off home run wins; JC Rosette and LJ Martin, and Keystone Heights getting a district title and region berth.
The impact trackster of the year was Fleming Island sprinter Sebastian Cruz who kind of quietly took on the fastest guys in Class 3A and stood his ground impressively.
Oakleaf sprinter Rayna Lawson took a third in the 100 by a whisker in the very tough and fast Class 4A ranks.
Fleming Island sophomore tennis ace Zach Hyatt tried to get back to the state final after a runnerup freshman finish, got to state, but did not advance.
In boys weightlifting, Oakleaf's Noah Shevchook, in Class 3A, and Keystone Heights Elijah Mize, in Class 1A, both won punch for punch battles for state titles with Mize winning by body weight and Shevchook overtaking the guy who beat him for a region Olympics title. Shevchook was behind Milton's Bryce Brown for two of the three disciplines before overtaking him in Bench Press to win his Traditional title.
In flag football, Clay High nearly ran the table to the state Final Four behind the inspirational return of quarterback Teaghan Moses, who suffered a season ending knee injury last year, but returned to get the Blue Devils an undefeated regular season and a region final finish. Fleming Island, 12-4 in Class 3A, lost a one point region semifinal to eventual state runnerup Chiles, got their behind 85 catches and eight interceptions from sophomore Emily Poucher.
In softball, Middleburg took on the best pitcher in the state and held court behind senior Lily Bennett and outstanding defense; Isabel Pifer at shortstop, behind her before falling in extra innings 2-1 in their region semifinal. Oakleaf turned a topsy turvy season into a region semifinal finish as well behind pitcher Charlotte Maddox and clutch play from Jaydyn Beall and Ava Tolbert in the field and at bat.