Jeon high school won the title. Jeon won the National Sports Festival held at Jinhae Public Baseball Stadium in South Gyeongsang Province by beating Gyeongnam High School, a strong team in Busan, 4-0. It was the moment when junior high school seniors who graduated from Jeonju High School fully expressed their resentment. It is the first time for the high school to win three gold medals.
Jeon High School has never won a national competition other than winning the Golden Lion with Park Sung-ki’s outstanding performance in 1985 and winning the 87th National Sports Festival (2006). Players who were called legends in the professional world, such as Park Kyung-wan and Kim Won-hyung, who were selected in the 1991 draft, Park Jung-kwon, who was selected in the professional world in 2000, and Choi Hyung-woo, who was selected in 2002, also failed to win the championship because they did not have a strong team history when they were in high school.
After these players, they were effectively humiliated. There were not many professional designated players, and even after being nominated, there were not many players who stood out in the professional world.
However, Jeonju High School exploded in 2024. It won three competitions. Excellent resources such as Seo Young-joon from Gwangju and Um Jun-hyun and Jung Woo-joo from Seoul transferred to schools, and internal resources such as Lee Han-rim, Park Han-gyeol, and Lee Ho-min were nurtured to build strong power.
Jeonju High School struggled in both the prestigious high school baseball and Shinsegae E-Mart Cup, failing to overcome the barrier of Deoksu High School. However, while Deoksu High School won two championships and became a bit loose, Jeonju High School fought back.
Jeon won the Blue Dragon Open by beating Masan Yongmago in the final thanks to the stellar performances of Lee Ho-min, Jung Woo-ju, Lee Han-rim, and Seo Young-jun. Lee Han-rim became the Blue Dragon Open MVP with two home runs, while Jung Woo-ju led the team with one earned run and three wins in 14.1 innings. Lee Ho-min also gave a boost and proudly joined the youth team.
While Jung Woo-joo and Lee Ho-min were absent, Lee Han-rim, Seo Young-joon, Um Jun-hyun, and Choi Yoon-seok worked hard. During the final match, Seo Young-joon was very active, hitting three RBIs and hitting three hits in four at-bats. He proudly won the MVP with two home runs and 20 hits in 24 at-bats at Bonghwangdae, and enjoyed being nominated by the LG Twins in the third round.
National Sports Festival varies widely among schools. It is up to individuals whether they participate in or not. Therefore, schools cannot force athletes to participate, and the will of athletes is the most important.
This is especially true for professional athletes. Except for Lee Ho-min, however, all five athletes from Jeonju High School participated in the National Sports Festival.
They had no choice but to be relatively stronger. In the end, the team won by a landslide without losing a single game. This season, the team achieved tremendous power with only three losses in five official national championships and the weekend league.
That’s not the only thing. A whopping six people have been nominated for professional baseball this season. Among them, Jung Woo-joo was named No. 2 overall, the best ranking ever for Jeonju, and received a down payment of W500 million, the highest ever. Lee received the second highest order among catchers, following Lee Yul-ye.
“He is a player that our team really saw well. He is a player who can do both offense and defense, and he is second to none when it comes to leisure. Without Jung Woo-joo and Lee Ho-min, it was absolutely because of Lee Han-rim that Jeon High School was able to win the Phoenix Reckless.” In addition, Choi Yoon-seok, who was nominated for SSG, Seo Young-joon, who was nominated for LG, and Um Jun-hyun, who was nominated for KIA, are also drawing attention from the team.
Jeon High School is not just good at baseball because of its good lineup. After winning so many games, there is now a system in which players play baseball on their own.
“Jeongo won the Bonghwangdae without Lee Ho-min and Jung Woo-ju,” a scout from a metropolitan area said. “Jeongo has won the title without Lee Ho-min and Jung Woo-ju. We have only lost three games this season and are winning all games. Now, we have transformed into a team where players play baseball on their own even without a coach giving us instructions.” This is why Jeon was a strong candidate for the title in this year’s event.
They are strong just by themselves, but it is not unreasonable to win the title because 500 million Jung Woo-joo played on the mound.
Jeon High School is expected to maintain its strong team’s appearance next season as there are many good resources such as right-hander Park Ji-hoon, left-hander Seo Joo-an, and infielder Park Hang-yeol.
Ju Chang-hoon, the coach of Jeon High School, said, “Players are so good this year that I can’t guarantee that they will be able to do this well next year. But I will do my best. 스포츠토토“
