By Kyle Coppola
Tavares High Freshman Cheyenne Thomas Named All-American Runner
Congratulations to Tavares High School’s Cheyenne Thomas, who was named a National High School All-American. Thomas achieved the award for her performance in the 1600m run, also known as the Mile Run, in the FHSAA State Championships.
The award is from the National High School Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association. This is a huge deal for Tavares High School and Lake County to have a runner awarded at the national level.
Thomas is the first Florida NHSTFCCA All-American in the 1600m race. She is coming off a highly successful freshman year. She has posted times that most Division 1 colleges would be highly impressed with. While she has three more years before college, Thomas is already catching the eyes of many across Florida and the USA with her amazing performances.
Thomas finished 2nd in the 1600m race at the state championships along with 4th in the 800m race. Thomas also had an impressive Cross-Country season where she finished the season running at the state championships as well.
Thomas is a product of Coach Von Maxey and the Tavares Patriots middle school program. That particular program has produced incredible talent in the past few years, including Division 1 talent.
As an All-American Athlete, Thomas is destined for greatness. For her upcoming sophomore year, she will no doubt continue to turn heads. “She is so dedicated to her craft. She’s just so strong mentally for her age. She has a great opportunity to continue her uphill trajectory, and we are so happy to have her at Tavares High,” says Coach Charisa Watson.
Coach Watson, along with Coach Brandon Curl, has built a solid program at Tavares High. The two of them have contributed much to the athletics department at Tavares High, and Thomas is a product of the positive system that Tavares has in place for their runners.
Congratulations to Cheyenne Thomas on this significant accomplishment! We look forward to her sophomore year of competition!
Photos – Tavares High, Nicole Hamel, NHSTFXCCA
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.
