Female sports set up for big success at Carolina Academy

Female sports set up for big success at Carolina Academy

By David Shelton

Senior Writer

Lake City – While the focus of Carolina Academy athletic director David Rankin is making sure all sports are competitive, he says the biggest opportunity for success at the school in the short term is with female sports.

Many of the female athletic teams were loaded with underclassmen last school year and many rosters will be full of underclassmen in 2025-26. Carolina Academy won state championships last school year in softball and girls tennis.

The softball team did not have a senior on the roster and has an impressive group of younger players matriculating through the program.

The girls tennis team won a title with only one senior and should be a strong contender this fall.



“At a small school it often goes in cycles and right now the cycle is a lot of really talented young female athletes coming through,” said Rankin, who also is the head football coach and head baseball coach at the school. “Some of the boys teams had a good many seniors but there will be a new crop coming along that will have a chance to be successful.”

The girls basketball team, coached by veteran Perry Stokes, who won more than 500 games as a public school coach, did not have a senior or junior on his 2024-25 squad. The roster also had just one sophomore and much of the playing time came from freshmen and eighth-graders.

Rankin reports that every varsity sport made the state playoffs last year.

“We’re headed in a good direction across the board,” he said.

After posting just nine wins over a three-year stretch, Rankin’s football team managed five wins in his first season. The coach has a proven record as a team-builder, guiding both Williamsburg Academy and Lee Academy (three) to state titles. He also has been state runner-up eight times with 14 region titles and 26 playoff appearances.

Rankin’s teams are known for being physical and play with great effort. Getting a strong effort has never been an issue at Carolina, regardless of the coach.

“This is a good group physically,” he said of the 2025 team. “We’re a lot stronger this year. If we can put it together mentally I think we will be improved.”

Rankin reports one change among varsity coaches for the coming year. Trey Parker will assume duties as head volleyball coach.

Cameron Sebuck returns as the girls tennis coach while Patrick Hunt will coach the girls golf team. Rhett Long coaches the boys golf team.

Robert Phillips returns as the boys basketball coach and Scotty Phillips is the softball coach. Head of school Stevie Phillips heads up the track and field program.