Despite ending their season short with a loss against Bayside in the second round of the district playoffs, the boys’ bowling team was recently received the Academic Team Champion Award from the Florida High School Athletic Association.

Given to the school with the highest collective grade-point average per sport, this distinction recognizes the boys’ cumulative 3.822 GPA over all the Florida schools in the Class 1A division.

“I wasn’t at all surprised by this,” sophomore Chris Hinshaw said. “We have a group of smart guys with some of us taking multiple AP classes, dual-enrolling at EFSC and even taking part in science fairs.”

These are just a few of what a majority of the student-athletes on campus partake in on a daily basis. The boys’ bowling team, however, has shown it can balance the stress of school-work with time-consuming practices and games.

“Us winning this award just goes to show how hard each one of us worked,” Hinshaw said. “This season without a doubt has been one of the best, and this recognition just makes it better.”

Sophomore John Luu had a similar take on the accolade, claiming that it was not an easy task.

“Obviously balancing both [school and bowling] can be hard,” he said. “AP classes makes procrastination not an option and bowling takes up a large portion of my free time, but I’m willing to sacrifice my own sleep and stay up late so I can do the things I enjoy.”

Other notable placements by sports teams include the boys’ cross-country team getting second in the Class 3A division with a cumulative GPA of 3.803, the girls’ volleyball team getting third with a cumulative GPA of 3.736 in the Class 5A division and the boys’ golf team getting fifth with a cumulative GPA of 3.663.

By Julien Wakim