May 17, 2024
Mount Dora High Seniors Skip Graduation To Compete in Track & Field State Championships
By Kyle Coppola
Mount Dora High Seniors Skip Graduation To Compete in Track & Field State Championships
For most of the Mount Dora Seniors, they had an easy decision to attend the school’s high school graduation on Thursday, May 16th, 2024. However, two students had to make a very difficult decision to miss a ceremony they have worked their entire lives for up until this point.
Those students were seniors Noelle Vu and Zachary Cho-Sam who elected to attend the FHSAA Track & Field State Championships in hopes of winning a medal instead of attending graduation. It was a difficult decision, I am sure, however, it turned out to be the right one for both of them.
(Zachary Cho-Sam who is a senior proudly took the stage with his Full Graduation Cap & Gown to celebrate his medal that he would win in the Boys 400M Hurdles.)
For Noelle Vu, she made Lake County Proud by finishing 4th in the Girls 800M race. She wore her medal proudly. Vu is an amazing student-athlete. She intends to become a doctor one day, and you can read all about her in a recent article we did here.
As far as Zachary Cho-Sam, he would wind up finishing 7th in the Boys 400M Hurdles but it was good enough for a medal and some points. Before stepping onto the podium to accept his medal, Zachary Cho-Sam took out his Graduation Cap & Gown and wore it on the podium in one of the coolest moments of the evening.
(Noelle Vu ends her career with Mount Dora having broke records and set the tone for the program moving forward. She also missed her graduation but finished 4th in the Girls 800M Race.)
We want to congratulate both these seniors for all the hard work. I can’t begin to think about how hard of a decision it was not to attend graduation, but at least both of them went up and won a medal that they will be able to take with them their entire lives.
(An amazing sight. Zachary Cho-Sam in full graduation cap and gown celebrating his medal that he won at States. It was amazing to see.)
Congratulations to coach Cody Adkinson on another successful season with his Mount Dora High athletes. The next time we will see the Mount Dora runners in competitive action will be in the fall when Cross-Country season starts back up again.
(Kris Kupinski finished 5th in Boys Pole Vault. He was impressive and fought hard in the competition. 5th Place in one of the toughest competitions in the field was big. Lots to build upon for next year for this young man!)
What an amazing day and congrats to the other Mount Dora High winners Kris Kupinski for finishing 5th in Boys Pole Vault and Kate Guthrie who finished 6th in Girls Pole Vault. Also, a shoutout to Eustis High’s Skyler Carter who finished 6th in Girls Long Jump and to The Villages 4X800 Boys team who finished 5th overall.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
