FHSAA Academic Champions

The Jesuit High School athletic program's State Championships weren't limited to the field of play in 2018-19.

Tiger athletes, under the leadership of athletic director Terry Rupp '84, once again excelled in the classroom. They were led by the swimming (head coach Bill Shaffer) and soccer (head coach Eric Sims '95) teams, which both placed first in their respective classifications in the FHSAA's Academic Team Champion (ATC) standings to earn academic State Championships.

In addition, three Jesuit sports programs finished as academic State runners-up this school year: basketball (head coach Neal Goldman, 2nd in Class 6A), football (head coach Matt Thompson, 2nd in 5A), and tennis (head coach Joe Curtis, 2nd in 2A). 

Also placing very highly in the ATC rankings were baseball (head coach Miguel Menendez, 4th in 6A), cross country (head coach Jim Ranieri, 5th in 3A), and track & field (head coach Andy Wood '92, 5th in 3A).

For swimming, the academic State title comes on the heels of the team's back-to-back State Championships in the pool. Soccer, which reached the State Semifinal this winter before succumbing on penalty kicks, finished No. 1 academically for the third straight year.

Football and basketball both achieved Top 2 rankings in the ATC standings for the third straight year, with both having finished No. 1 the previous two years. This spring, tennis reached the State Final on the court, and Tiger tennis also finished 2nd in the Class 2A academic standings.

The FHSAA calculates ATC using the cumulative grade point average of each sports team. The team GPA is then ranked against the other programs in the same classification in that sport. First place merits 10 points, 2nd place is worth 9, 3rd place 8, and so on down to 1 point for 10th.

Overall among boys programs in Florida, Jesuit athletics placed second academically in Class 6A, close behind Southwest Ranches Archbishop McCarthy in the ATC scoring system, 76 to 68. However, Archbishop McCarthy has two more FHSAA-sanctioned sports than Jesuit - volleyball and weightlifting - which scored a combined 11 points to move Archbishop McCarthy into first place. Jesuit athletics had been the overall ATC champion among 6A boys programs the previous three years (2016-18).

Among the 12 Jesuit sports teams, cross country was No. 1 with an unweighted GPA of 3.771, edging out soccer (3.708), swimming (3.695), tennis (3.688), and basketball (3.555).

Jesuit annually finishes among the very best boys sports programs both academically and athletically, ranking at the top of the FHSAA's ATC standings and All-Sports Award standings. In 2015-16, Jesuit finished 1st in its class in both the ATC and All-Sports Award rankings, and the Tigers annually rank 1st or 2nd in both the ATC and All-Sports Award results. For many years, Jesuit has been No. 1 among all local schools in the FHSAA's All-Sports Standings, and in 2013-14 Jesuit ranked No. 1 among all schools in Florida in all classifications. The All-Sports Award rankings for 2018-19 are expected to be released later this month.