SEBRING –– On March 1, public access should be restored, on a limited basis, to popular Lake Denton. The special seven-member Lake Denton Citizens Advisory Committee voted unanimously Wednesday night to send that recommendation to the Highlands County commissioners. Commissioners appointed the committee in mid-September after voting 3-2 to close public access to this lake –– widely considered one of the best scuba diving lakes in the state –– for up to a year. Problems cited by commissioners in closing the county boat ramp, the only public access to this exceptionally clear, 65-acre lake, included: Potentially dangerous overcrowding by scuba divers, swimmers and boaters; illegal parking that sometimes clogged or blocked road access to lakefront homes; and occasional crude, lewd, rude and rowdy behavior by some lake users. ...more

December 7, 2007

SEBRING –– Public access could be restored to Lake Denton as soon as January, under a plan tentatively adopted by a special seven-member citizens committee. Highlands County commissioners may receive the proposal in December. It calls for restricting access through limited parking, weekend user's fees, and closing the county boat ramp at 4 p.m. daily. During summer weekends, dozens of vehicles carrying scuba divers, swimmers, sunbathers and a few boaters often overflowed the county's parking lot at the lake. Committee members are recommending that parking be limited to only eight spaces. Vehicles parked outside of the designated spaces could be ticketed or towed. ...more

November 16, 2007

Andy Potts said he felt, "out of sorts in the water," and Mirinda Carfrae said she, "froze on the bike and the run," which goes to show some folks aren't as bad off as they sound. ...more

November 10, 2007

ORLANDO — Megan Wolfe took seventh place in the finals of the 50-yard freestyle on Friday evening at the Class 2A state swim championships at the Central Florida YMCA. ...more

November 4, 2007

SEBRING — The pool was more quiet than usual this week as the state-qualifying members of the Sebring swim team got their last laps in before the Class 2A state finals, which begin this morning at 9 a.m. Three individuals — junior Megan Wolfe in the 50 free, junior Bryan Kirsch in the 100-breaststroke and senior Shanaan Spiegel in the 100-backstroke — join the Wolfe-anchored 200-free relay team at the Central Florida YMCA Aquatic center in Orlando. That's a total of six Streaks representing Sebring at state, two more than coach Pat Caton had hoped for heading into regionals. ...more

November 2, 2007

For the first time in a long time, a local swimmer not named Tommy Wyher or Chelsea Nauta had a chance to claim the spotlight at the Class 1A state swimming championships. Calvary Christian senior Jose Crescimbeni took advantage of the opportunity. ...more

November 2, 2007

Different school, same result for Sunlake junior Brad Morrison. Morrison qualified for the FHSAA state swimming and diving championships Friday by winning the 100-yard backstroke at the Class 2A-Region 2 championships at Indian River Community College. His second-place finish in the 200 freestyle (1:48.14) makes him a likely state participant in that event, too. ...more

October 29, 2007

Land O'Lakes girls coach Robin Hilgenberg, as wet as she was, had little else to be unhappy about. ...more

October 29, 2007

Just five years ago, Newsome girls swimming coach Joanne Grogan said the program had only 23 swimmers. ...more

October 25, 2007

The Land O' Lakes boys swim team had just wrapped up another Sunshine Athletic Conference title at the New Port Richey Aquatic Complex, though a tinge of dismay was in Coach Barbara Hayes' voice. ...more

October 24, 2007