Sickles High School
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Walter L. Sickles High School is a secondary school located in Tampa, Florida, USA.[1] Their mascot is the Gryphon. The school colors are green, grey and white.
History
Sickles High School opened its doors in August of 1997. It is one of the two "A" high schools in the county. The Gryphons are led by Mr. Jake Russell.[2]
Today, Sickles contains over 2800 students; the class of 2007 being the largest class to ever graduate at Sickles to date. The class of 2008 is the largest in Hillsborough County.
Sports
The Walter L. Sickles High School sports program is a comprehensive extra-curricular model that includes all major sports played in Hillsborough County.
Basketball
In 2006 the Boy's Basketball team posted a 24-4 record, won the district 6A-7 Championship, and hosted their first ever FHSAA state regional quarterfinal game against Lakeland High. In 2007, they repeated this trend as district 6A-7 champs. Beating Sarasota High at home they won their first state tournament in 7 years. They then played Dr. Phillips High (Orlando) and finished with a record of 19-8. The current head coach is Renaldo Garcia and the assistant coaches are Sam Jones, Milford Chavous, Sean Sims, and Jim Monroe.
Cross Country
The team won the Boy's 2006 district and regional titles in class 4A, placing 7th at state level.
Softball
The team has won the state title 6A championship once.
Ice Hockey
In 2006, the Hockey Team won the Florida State High School Ice Hockey Championship held at the St. Pete Times Forum (Home of the Tampa Bay Lightning). They played their regular seasons for a few years at the Brandon Ice Rink but this year (2007) moved over to a more competitive league at the TBSA rink in Oldsmar.
In 2007, the Combined Gaither/Sickles Ice Hockey Team won the SAHOF Combined State Hockey Tournament at the St. Pete Times Forum. The Gaither/Sickles team defeated Hernando's Springstead High School 2-0. Evan Spriggs opened the scoring for the Gaither/Sickles team, connecting for a goal at 3:31 in the third period. To seal the victory, Jason Almcrantz added an open net goal assisted by William Moenart at 11:30 in the third period. Tournament players included Jason Almcrantz, Austin Bubley, Matthew Dolly, Christopher Gacsy, Tyler Garst, Greg Gotting, Nils Hamel, Denny Umphreys, Brad McBride, William Moenart, Patrick O'Neil, Gregory Pyle, Daniel Reinhold, Brian Samson, Evan Spriggs, and Jake Zimmerman. The team was coached by Dan Bubley, Bill Moenart and Chuck Pyle.
Track & Field
In 2007, the Girl's Track and Field team won their fourth straight district title and the boys team placed third overall.
Notable Incidents
In 2004, a student achieved the much coveted 1600 on his SATs, a first ever for a Sickles student.
Trivia
American Idol Season 5 contestant Melissa McGhee graduated from Sickles in 2003. While she was not the winner, her appearance on national television and honorable 12th seat in the contest sent cheers all throughout Tampa, with most from Sickles students.