Add another individual state championship to Alachua County’s list of accomplishments over the past two weeks.
Our Pavlik Orthodontics Athlete of the Week for the week of Nov. 6 is Ava Fuller of the GHS girls swimming team, who won an individual state title at last week’s FHSAA Class 3A Swimming & Diving state championships in Ocala.
“Ava is a determined swimmer, focused and just goes about her business,” said Gainesville coach Leonard Kraus.
Fuller took home the gold in the Class 3A 200-yard Freestyle with an Automatic All American (AA-C) time of 1 minute, 49.10 seconds.
“In the race, the key was that she controlled the race early and made the others try to swim her race,” Kraus said.
The junior also finished fourth in the 500-yard freestyle, helping lead the Lady Hurricanes to a 13th-place finish overall.
“Our girls have grown so much over the past year, they were a wonderful squad to coach,” Kraus said. “We are proud of that 13th place.”
Fuller becomes the 12th athlete to be selected for the weekly award.
Last week’s winner was Lillie Nesty of the P.K. Yonge girls swim team.
Nesty, who signed with the University of Texas last week, repeated as state champion in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:44.86, which was good for fifth all-time behind Isabel Ivey of Buchholz (1:44.68 in 2017). She also competed in the 500 free for the first time at state and won a state title with a time of 4:43.12, which placed her in the top 15 all-time.
Other winners include Santa Fe (Alachua) volleyball player Jordan Czaplewski, Williston running back Jace McDonald, Nash Lantinen of the St. Francis Catholic Academy football team, Oak Hall setter/right side hitter Cassidy McDonald, Oak Hall quarterback Dakota Brower, GHS quarterback Kane Smith, Buchholz football player Myles Graham, Hawthorne wide receiver Alvon Isaac, Chiefland running back Osten Jones, and Newberry volleyball player Hailey Tharp.
Coaches can email their nominations each week, along with stats, no later than Sunday night to mike.ridaught@mainstreetdailynews.com.