Plant City High School soccer forward Eric Ugarte was recently named the Swope Rodante Vanguard Student-Athlete of the Month winner for April. The award is given monthly to Hillsborough County high school students who perform well in the classroom, on the playing field and in the community, and a $1,000 contribution is made to each school’s athletic department on the player’s behalf.
The Class 4A-Region 2 track and field championships are set to kick off at 8 a.m. today at George Jenkins High School. Events will be held all day from 8 a.m. until 6:40 p.m. and team awards will be given out at 7 p.m. Check plantcityobserver.com for meet results.
Plant City Raiders star Matt Simpson is taking his talents to Temple Terrace. Simpson, a senior guard for the school's basketball team, signed his letter of intent to play at Florida College in the fall on Thursday at the school's media center. The signing came less than a week after he announced his commitment to play for the Falcons on his Twitter account. In his final season, Simpson was awarded Tampa Bay Basketball Coaches Association Player of the Year and Hillsborough County Public Schools Mac McGahagin Academic Athletic Basketball honors and made the FACA South Boys All-Star team. He also played in the Hillsborough County vs. Pinellas County All-Star Game on March 22.
Plant City High School’s junior varsity baseball team capped off an undefeated season by winning at the season-end JV tournament at Lennard High School, held April 21 and 22. It was the first undefeated season in program history.
The 8A-4 and 8A-6 district baseball tournaments will kick off next week at Wharton and Durant high schools, respectively. The hosting Cougars and Plant City Raiders’ 8A-6 tournament starts first, with the first round starting at 6 p.m. April 30, and the Chargers’ 8A-4 bracket action will start at 4 p.m. May 1. Both championship games are scheduled for 7 p.m. May 3.
