2016 Year In Review: This local athlete did something extraordinary today….

Fleming Island’s Valesha Watson did something quite remarkable today. A feat not many if not anyone has accomplished before. Valesha is a member of the Fleming Island track & field team. The team competed at Lake Minneola High School in Clermont Florida ( near Orlando) today , where Watson participated in the District 4A Girl’s discus throw competion. After six attempts, Watson tossed an impressive 114-07 in the finals besting the closest competitor who threw a 111-08. Watson’s throw was good enough to win the State Regional Finals, and advance her to the state finals.

If that wasn’t impressive enough for you, Valesha and her mother then hopped in their car and drove from Clermont to Jacksonville Florida an approximate two and a half hour drive, in an attempt to allow Watson the opportunity to join her flag football team that was competing in the district 2A-1 flag football tournament at Mandarin. Her Fleming Island team edged Mandarin in their first round matchup by the slimmest of margins, while Valesha was still on the road traveling back from Clermont. Yet she was able to arrive in time to play in the district championship game against Lee in the second contest. Not only did she play, but Watson caught a touchdown pass in the game as well. The score topped off a very impressive day for the Senior Naval Academy commit, who became the first athlete (that I know of at least ) to thow a regional finals best in the discus and catch a touchdown pass in the same day 155 miles apart. It would seem like an almost impossible feat, seeing how most athletes chose to participate in only one sporting event at a time. I’ll check with some prominent sports analyst to verify if this has happened before. Regardless if it has, Valesha is still in the elite company of people like Deion Sanders, who hit a home run and scored a touchdown in the same week. Truly an an extraordinary feat for Watson.