University High School placed three wrestlers at the state tournament over the weekend in Lakeland, though each fell short of returning home with an individual title as they were turned away by eventual state champions.

Jonathon Littlejohn’s senior year of football didn’t turn out the way he envisioned it at Colonial High School, but his all-out effort on both sides of the ball paid off. Last week, on national signing day, Littlejohn signed a letter of intent to play football at Lehigh University, where he’ll major in engineering.

Fresh off a physically and emotionally draining loss in the district finals, the girls soccer team at Timber Creek is looking to replace that memory with its first-ever win in the regional quarterfinals. All that head coach Dawn Feeney can hope for is the same kind of intensity from her team shown in their 2-1 loss to Winter Park in the District 4 title game.

It’s tough to gauge the hours of exertion required to be a successful high school wrestler this time of year. With the Metro Conference Tournament taking place this weekend at Olympia High School, and districts beginning soon after, the time is now to get the most out of a grueling regimen that helped get each competitor to this point.

When the girls Section 7 weightlifting state qualifier ended near 11 p.m. last week at Timber Creek High School, eight local competitors remained in the running for a chance to win state titles on Feb. 9 at River Ridge High School in New Port Richey.