St. Johns Spotlight: St. Augustine quarterback Locklan Hewlett reopens recruitment

The recruiting market is back open for Locklan Hewlett.

The St. Augustine junior quarterback announced his plans Sunday to de-commit from Wake Forest in a statement on social media. Hewlett had been committed to the Demon Deacons since June.

"I want to thank Wake Forest, Coach [Dave] Clawson, Coach [Warren] Ruggerio, and the whole staff for everything they did for me. But after careful consideration with my family I am decommitting from Wake Forest University and will be reopening my recruitment," he said in a post to X, formerly Twitter.

Hewlett numbers around 20 other Football Bowl Subdivision offers, and within hours, he announced new offers from Pittsburgh and East Carolina. He helped the Yellow Jackets to the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 3S final last year, where they lost on a last-second field goal to Daytona Beach Mainland.

Rated as a three-star prospect and a top-50 quarterback in the 2025 class, Hewlett completed 63.4 percent of his passes for 2,712 yards, 23 touchdowns and five interceptions despite missing three games due to injury.

Hewlett is among several Yellow Jackets in the recruiting spotlight, with receivers Carl Jenkins Jr., Trenton Jones and Somourian Wingo all receiving numerous FBS offers.

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Bartram Trail lacrosse sets new milestones

Saturday was milestone day for Bartram Trail girls lacrosse.

The 17-8 victory against county rival Ponte Vedra was only part of the reason for celebration in Bear country at the two-day Rivalry on the River lacrosse tournament at Bolles.

Count up those milestones:

• Senior Ryann Frechette scored her 400th goal and secured her 500th draw control, further extending her all-time totals to near-unbeatable marks for Northeast Florida.

• Senior attacker Emily Barnette hit the century mark for her career during the first quarter.

• Goalie Maddie Stevens also achieved the 400th save of her Bears career, which includes back-to-back FHSAA titles in 2022 and 2023.

Amid all the big numbers, one of the newest Bears, freshman Esa Brenneman, jump-started a 6-0 first-quarter run with a series of successful draw controls to pull away rapidly.

"It's something the girls have done really, really well this season, those first five minutes setting the tone and making sure we play our game," head coach Megan O'Grady said.

Entering Tuesday's game against Colorado Academy, the Bears (7-3) face a battle to defend their state trophy. Lake Mary, Ocala Forest and rival Creekside are all within striking distance for the top seed in Florida High School Athletic Association Region 1-2A, but after their Rivalry on the River success, they're building momentum in a winning direction.

"They do a really good job of working together and keeping that energy up," O'Grady said.

Coach to the rescue for Nease lacrosse

If the Florida State Lacrosse Coaches Association ever institutes a Lifeguard of the Year award, Max Gurowski belongs at the top of the list.

Gurowski never planned to spend March in the spotlight, but after a dramatic, caught-on-video rescue in which he plunged into a retention pond two weeks ago to help bring the driver of a crashed truck to safety, Nease's boys lacrosse coach is earning attention for more than just sports.

Nease was supposed to begin a standard pre-spring break two-day lacrosse trip on March 8, a drive down Interstate 95 to take on West Palm Beach Oxbridge Academy and Boca Raton Spanish River. It turned into something different.

"Our driver saw a U-Haul-type truck go off the road and we looked up, and we just saw a big splash in a retention pond," Gurowski said.

Moments later, the driver pulled over the bus, and Gurowski — a former Jacksonville University athlete who lined up during the Dolphins' lacrosse launch from 2010-12 and still ranks fifth all-time at JU with 39 assists — sprang into action and into the pond, pulling the truck driver to safety.

That was just the start. Pretty soon, video found its way to Jacksonville television station WFOX, and the road trip rescue became the talk of Florida lacrosse.

Gurowski said he doesn't want to take the spotlight away from his team's achievements, but he hopes the experience reinforces a lesson.

"We just try to leave it better than we found it, like we always tell the boys," he said.

Even beyond the rescue, that trip might have become a turning point in the Panthers' season. After losing the first game of the trip to Oxbridge Academy, they've won their last four to climb to 8-4, most recently Saturday's 15-6 win over Tallahassee Maclay at the Rivalry on the River tournament.

Gurowski said Nease is particularly riding the contributions of senior face-off specialist Conner Kunce, committed to Detroit, with solid play in the net from goalie Austin Azotea. The freshman is the latest first-year goalie to shine recently for the Panthers as he follows in the path of Gavin Koors, now a sophomore on the roster of NCAA Division II Chowan.

"They're gritty, they never give up," Gurowski said. "We've had a couple big fourth-quarter comebacks where you can tell they care about each other.

White, Johnson top state in Tallahassee

Ponte Vedra's Lindy White is now the fastest in Florida over the track's longest distance, and Creekside's Alyson Johnson is on top of the state in the next-longest.

While weather shook up plans for Saturday's Booker Hill Relays in Jacksonville, dozens of Northeast Florida's top athletes still made the drive to Tallahassee for the FSU Relays at the Mike Long Track.

Sharks senior White ran a patient race to capture the girls 3,200-meter run in 10:41.11, which not only set a new season best but set a new season mark for Florida high school runners in 2024.

Creekside sophomore Johnson also added an FSU Relays title to her career resume, winning the girls 1,600 in 4:56.84. The time is the fastest in Florida this year, although she ran faster last season at the RunningLane Championships in Alabama.

A busy week on the track includes the weekend's Florida Relays in Gainesville, as well as the Adrain Mann Wolfpack Classic at Wolfson, the Don Hall Invitational at Orange Park and the Chandra Cheeseborough Invitational at Ribault.

Around St. Johns County

Former Ponte Vedra guard Ross Candelino is entering the transfer portal from Wisconsin men's basketball. … Menendez attacker Cassidy VanderMark set the Falcons' new girls lacrosse career record with her 143rd goal. … St. Augustine boys lacrosse coach David Ott earned his 100th career win. ... Boys weightlifting district championships begin Wednesday, with Ponte Vedra in action in District 4-2A at Yulee; Beachside, Menendez and host St. Augustine in District 5-2A; and Bartram Trail, Creekside, Nease and Tocoi Creek in District 3-3A at Flagler Palm Coast.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Locklan Hewlett: St. Augustine QB de-commits from Wake Forest