Palmetto’s Nicolas Quintairos, Jenna Martino-DiFede are Dade Lacrosse Coaches of Year

Palmetto has transformed both its lacrosse teams in the last two years by hiring new coaches and letting them reshape the programs.

This year, they’re both the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade County Lacrosse Coaches of the Year.

In his first year as the coach in Pinecrest, Nicolas Quintairos took the Panthers to the Florida High School Athletic Association tournament for the first time since 2015 and is now the Miami-Dade County Boys’ Lacrosse Coach of the Year.

A year ago, Jenna Martino-DiFede ended a similar sort of drought at Palmetto, getting the Panthers to region playoffs for the first time since 2013, and she followed it up by leading Palmetto to its first district title to repeat as the Miami-Dade County Girls’ Lacrosse Coach of the Year.

Martino-DiFede’s Panthers, who won District 16-1A, were the only Miami-Dade girls’ lacrosse team to reach the postseason. Palmetto is now established as the top team in Dade County.

Quintairos’ Panthers were coming off a losing season and quickly turned around to win nine games in the first-year coach’s debut campaign. Four of Palmetto’s six losses also came to Belen Jesuit and Columbus — the two premier, most established programs in Miami.

Quintairos, who was a star for the Explorers as a player, tested his Panthers with a grueling schedule and they got to the playoffs, anyway.

Palmetto was the only public school from across Miami-Dade and Broward counties to have both its lacrosse teams reach the FHSAA playoffs.

The Panthers are on the rise after the last two seasons and poised to keep building into the future. Quintairos will bring back a pair of second-team all-county midfielders for next year, and Martino-DiFede will return four players who made first- or second-team all-county, including midfielder Emma Weinberg, who was the Miami-Dade County Girls’ Lacrosse Player of the Year for the second straight season.

This story was originally published May 25, 2023 at 7:00 AM.