Florida Sports Wire

  Clay Today staff PARIS — Clay High’s Caeleb Dressel anchored the United States men’s gold medal-winning 400-yard freestyle relay in the final event of the first night of the Summer Olympics at La Defense Arena Saturday. The team’s most decorated swimmer earned his eighth gold medal in three Olympic Games and will compete in three more events – the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly and 400-meter medley relay. Dressel was joined by Chris Guiliano, Jack Alexy, and Hunter Armstrong on the gold medal podium in Paris on Saturday. Their gold medal was the first for Team USA and the 10 in the 400-meter relay for USA in the last 13 Summer Games. The U.S. swimmers finished in 3:10.28, beating Australia by more than a second (3:10.35). Italy won the bronze (3:10.7). Caeleb's wife, Meghan, cheered from the VIP section. International superstar Snoop Dogg joined her. Dressel’s next events will be the 50 free heats and semifinals on Aug. 1, the 50 free finals and 100 Butterfly heats on A

  NORFOLK, Va.  –  Troy Johnston launched a two-run home runs with two outs in the ninth inning, but the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp’s late rally fell short in their 5-4 loss to the Norfolk Tides Sunday afternoon.   After Jacksonville (49-52, 14-12) grabbed the lead in the top of the third on an RBI single from Deyvison De Los Santos, Norfolk (49-52, 13-13) answered back with a three-spot in the bottom of the inning. Coby Mayo and Kyle Stowers smacked consecutive singles. Two batters later, Terrin Vavra drove them in with a two-run triple. Leading 2-1, Daniel Johnson drove in Vavra with a sac fly pushing the Tides’ lead to 3-1.   The Tides kept the offensive momentum going in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs, Mayo singled and went to third on a base knock from Stowers. Billy Cook continued his hot hitting with a two-run triple, his fifth extra-base hit of the series, which put Norfolk up 5-1.   The Jumbo Shrimp slowly chipped off the deficit starting in the top of the sixth. Jhonn

J ACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville Icemen announced that Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations Nick Luukko has accepted an assistant coach position with the American Hockey League’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. “We are so proud and extremely happy for Nick’s new opportunity in the AHL, and we want to thank him for his commitment, effort and service to the team,” said Icemen & Zawyer Sports CEO Andy Kaufmann. “Nick elevated Icemen Hockey to new heights, bringing a culture to the team that resulted in three consecutive seasons of at least 40 wins, while propelling Jacksonville as a destination place for players in the ECHL.  We look forward to seeing Nick find success at the next level and beyond.”  During his time with the Icemen, Luukko led the team to three consecutive 40+ win seasons, while compiling a 126-73-17 record, including a club record 44-win season in 2022-23.  Under Luukko’s leadership, the Icemen received the ECHL’s  Hockey Operations Department of the Year  Aw

W est Ham United Football Club announced a tour partnership with Visit Jacksonville that will highlight the vibrant and authentic values of Jacksonville, affectionately known as “The Flip Side of Florida," during the 2024/25 Sunshine State tour. As part of the collaboration, Visit Jacksonville, which attracts over 22 million visitors per year will be integrated into various aspects of our tour, showcasing the city’s attractions and rich history. The team itself will be visiting Jacksonville for our match against Wolverhampton Wanderers at EverBank Stadium on 27 July.   Visit Jacksonville will feature on the LED advertising boards at both tour matches, providing exposure to both a US and global audience. The partnership will also create opportunities to collaboratively develop content that captures the essence of this great city.   In the ‘Flip Side of Florida Quiz,’ West Ham United first team players Vladimir Coufal, Lucasz Fabianski and Konstantinos Mavropanos were tested on thei

Special to Florida Sports Wire JACKSONVILLE -   The Sharks closed out their inaugural season in the IFL with a win and a crazy win at that.  As Quad city lined up for a game winning field goal with 4 second left on the clock, the fans in the tank got rowdy.  The kick went up and … wide right, a miss.  Sharks RB TyLer King caught the ball and started to return it, he made the 1st two players miss then found the Sharks blocking wall and ended up in the end zone for a touchdown!  The final score 43-37 Sharks. What a finish! In the first quarter, Jacksonville started on offense, with Tyler King gaining a first down, and then he carried the ball to the five yard line putting the  Sharks in scoring position. A false start brought the ball back to the 10 yard line, but the sharks recovered with a touchdown catch by #10, Jaedon Stoshak . The extra point is good and the score is 7-0 at the end of the first quarter.  DJ Stubbs scored a touchdown to open the second quarter. The Stormwheelers QB

  COLUMBUS, OHIO  – In a back-and-forth contest that came down to the final kick, the LIGA MX All-Stars defeated the MLS All-Stars in the  2024 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday night at Lower.com Field. With the final kick of the competition, Cruz Azul defender  Gonzalo Piovi  struck the crossbar for the Victory Shot to give LIGA MX the win. Additionally, Crown Legacy FC’s  Chituru Odunze  took home the MLS NEXT Pro Goalie Wars belt after winning 1-0 in sudden death against Michael Collodi from North Texas SC ( Watch Here   ). Crown Legacy FC has won back-to-back MLS NEXT Pro Goalie Wars titles after Isaac Walker brought home the honor in 2023. MLS All-Star Shooting Challenge presented by AT&T LIGA MX opened with a strong start as Club América midfielder and former MLS All-Star  Jonathan dos Santos  led the way with a 67-point performance, which was the most by a player in the past three editions of the challenge. LIGA MX All-Stars  J