The Tribune

BAHAMIAN baseball standout Ashton Butler is adding more accolades to his already impressive record. This past weekend at the University of North Florida Invite, the Bolles School sophomore set a new high school record in the triple jump with a personal best (PB) of 14.48M to win the event. Butler is one of the top-ranked triple jumpers in the state of Florida and has been getting a lot of attention from the top Division 1 universities in the North Florida area including Florida State and University of Florida. This was Butler's second meet of the season and his coach is confident that he will jump even further and possibly win the state title. On the diamond, Ashton has had limited playing time but has been used frequently as a base runner. The Bolles Bulldogs baseball team has an impressive 7-1 record and is looking to make it back to the state championship game. According to Bolles coach Mike Boswell, Butler is one of the most talented athletes on the team. He is hopeful that as the season progresses and Ashton increases his knowledge of the game, he will get more playing time. The Florida high school's regular season encompasses approximately 30 games and then baseball players play another 80-plus games during the summer. This will be Butler's first summer playing summer league baseball and he expects to get even more looks from Division 1 baseball coaches and MLB scouts. North Florida has some of the top baseball prospects in the United States. The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida, is one of the top 10 athletic schools in the entire US. At home, Butler was one of the Bahamas' premier athletes. He led the St Andrew's Hurricanes to two consecutive junior boys' softball titles (2008 and 2009) and was the national under-15 long and triple jump champion prior to heading off to the US to further his high school education. As a freshman last year, Ashton played JV baseball for the 2009 and 2010 back to back Florida state baseball champions. He is ranked No.3 nationally. In 2011, after they lost their coach, they fell to a 15-11 record. Since then, Butler said his goal was to make the varsity team which is stacked with talent. There are presently two players from the US U16 squad on the team, two Under Armour All America team members and one perfect game USA All-Star team member. This 2012 season, Ashton is expected to switch between shortstop and second base.