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Sharks develop thick skin, and good squad

The magnet school's players tune out their former teammates.

By EMILY NIPPS
Published February 2, 2005

BROOKSVILLE - They've gotten used to the cold shoulders, the severed ties with their former teammates.

They're so over the accusations and the rumors about how they were recruited.

If you're a Nature Coast Tech player, you have to tune out that stuff. "That's just part of the territory," senior forward Mallory Freeman said.

When the county's only magnet school opened two years ago, Springstead, Central and Hernando lost some of their athletes to the fresh start that was offered at Nature Coast. This may have contributed to the somewhat hostile rivalry between Central and Nature Coast football teams and some annoyance with the Sharks' much-improved volleyball squad.

Naturally, as the top team in the county and Class 3A, District 6 after only two seasons, the Sharks basketball squad has raised some eyebrows as well. It's 21-2, about 25 points better than any other area team, and NCT appears headed for a repeat trip to the regional playoffs.

The Sharks insist, there's nothing unfair or unethical about it. "We didn't even know who the coach was when we came here," said senior guard Cara Cagan, who attended Springstead before transferring to Nature Coast her junior year. "It's not like he called us and asked us to come here."

Yet, the Sharks always will have their nay-sayers, and that's fine with them. As the regular season comes to an end and the district tournament grows closer, Nature Coast has one concern only: To win a state championship.

The Sharks will play host to the 3A-6 tournament next week, and coach Jason Montgomery carefully planned NCT's schedule so his players would get their toughest competition right before the playoffs.

The Sharks will meet Ridgewood tonight and South Lake (one of the two teams Nature Coast lost to) on Thursday. After that, things will start to get a lot tougher. The Sharks won't rule out anyone in their district, especially not Pasco, which beat them in all three meetings last season.

If they didn't feel the pressure all season, they'll most likely start feeling it next week. There are a lot of players and coaches out there who want to see the Sharks go down.

"It's unfortunate because we work hard and we take a lot of pride in what we do," Montgomery said. "We don't view it as an us-against-them kind of thing."

Even if they did, though, it's not going to matter once that first tip-off of the playoffs happens. The Sharks don't see themselves as any better or worse than anyone else, Freeman said, and there's only one thing they'll be focusing on next week. "Hard work," she said. "It all kind of starts over when districts start."

[Last modified February 2, 2005, 00:32:17]