SIDELINES: Matanzas discus thrower Bradyn Cox signs a letter of intent

Josh Petro, an assistant track and field coach at West Virginia Wesleyan College, was very familiar with Matanzas discus thrower Bradyn Cox.

As the former throws coach at the Villages Charter School, Petro had seen Cox in action. That familiarity led to Cox signing a letter of intent with the Division II track program.

"I'm excited," Cox said after a signing ceremony Jan. 25 in the Pirates' gym lobby. "I've been in contact with Coach Petro since last year, over the summer. He has seen me at a few track meets, and that's how he recruited me."

Cox plans to major in nursing and throw discus, hammer and weight for Wesleyan.

He started throwing discus in middle school because his father had done it.

"He had a record of 150 feet when he was in middle school," Bradyn said of Terry Cox Jr. "So I thought I'd try it, and I liked it a lot. I started getting serious in the summer after seventh grade. I started seeing the coach every weekend, and I got a lot better."

Bradyn won a state championship as an eighth grader at Indian Trails Middle School. He was an AAU All-American as a freshman. With his father coaching the throwers at Matanzas, Bradyn qualified for the Class 2A state meet as a junior last spring with a throw of 45.54 meters, which is just short of 150 feet. He finished 11th at the meet.

"It's sad I only got three years (of high school track) because of Covid (which canceled the 2020 season)," Cox said. "But hopefully I can make it back to state (this season)and bring home a medal this time."

Cox said he was attracted to West Virginia Wesleyan because it is a small school with personalized coaching.

"The facilities are very very much up to standard, I think, with Division I schools," he said. "But it's less demanding than a Division I (track program). They have the major I want to do, I get to travel a little bit and I get to compete at the next level."

State cheerleading

Seabreeze, Flagler Palm Coast and Matanzas will be competing at the competitive cheerleading state championships Feb. 3-4 at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville.

Seabreeze finished second at regionals to advance directly to the finals in the Class 1A small varsity division. The Sandcrabs are scheduled to perform at 3:24 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 3. 

Seabreeze will have a sendoff for the team in the cafeteria from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2. Megan Lambert is the Sandcrabs' coach. Lambert is also the head coach of the Cheer Force All Stars competitive cheerleading program.

Matanzas and FPC will compete in the small non-tumbling competition at the Class 2A state meet on Saturday, Feb. 4. Matanzas, which finished fifth at regionals, is scheduled to perform at 5:08 p.m.

FPC, which finished eighth at regionals, is scheduled to perform at 3:08 p.m.

Girls basketball

FPC's girls basketball team was scheduled to open district tournament play on Jan. 31 against Sandalwood. The Bulldogs (13-11) closed the regular season with five straight victories, including a 67-45 win at Matanzas on Jan. 24 in a game that was rescheduled after three FPC players were injured in a crash on Jan. 13 on Belle Terre Parkway.

Senior Hannah Clark led the Bulldogs in scoring during the regular season with 11.4 point per game.

Seabreeze (7-10) was scheduled to meet Deltona in a District 4-5A quarterfinal on Jan. 31. The winner was slated to face top seed Mainland (14-8) on Feb. 1. Sarah Randolph leads the Sandcrabs in scoring with 14.2 points per game.

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