The South Carolina State Track and Field Championships took place from May 7-8 at Spring Valley High School in Columbia. The 3A/4A portion of the meet started on Friday and concluded early Saturday afternoon. A and 2A action took place on Saturday afternoon and evening.
Spring Valley's (4A) girls 3200-meter relay team of Leah Doster, Megan Fulks, Shalyn McMichael and Kate Niehaus set a new record by almost 12 seconds (9:30.34). Giving Dreher 20-points in day one of the 3A portion of the meet was Brittney James and Liza Todd. James won by almost a two foot margin with an 18 foot, 6.5 inch long jump. Todd won the pole vault by more than a foot (10-06.00). Ridge View held the old 3200 relay record (9:42.10) since 1999. Northwestern finished second in the event, 1.85 seconds behind Spring Valley. Northwestern and third place finisher Spartanburg also surpassed the old record.
Stratford's (4A) mens 3200-relay squad set a new record of 7:55.14. Spring Valley held the old record of 8:03.22 since last seasons meet. This year Spring Valley's squad finished second in 7:55.91, also eclipsing the record. Ridgeview (third) and Dorman (fourth) also broke the 3200-relay record.
Ryan Jank and Dorman teammate Kevin Dejonckeere finished first and third, respectively in the 3200 4A event. Northwestern's Angelina Blackmon surpassed Carre Joyce's (Summerville, Class of 2000) 1600-meter record (5:02.81) with a individual champion time of 5:02.65. Niehaus finished second in the 1600. Candice Johnson (Byrnes), looking to run sub 2:20 in the 800-meter run all season, captured the 800-meter title in 4A action with a finishing time of 2:16.84. Johnson ran a 2:20 at last year's state championship. The 2:16 is Johnson's fastest 800 of all time. Niehaus led the way in the 3200-meter run with a 10:56.53 finishing time, breaking the two-year old record of 10:59.75, set by Northwestern's Angelina Blackmon. Blackmon finished second in this years 3200 run with Dorman's Stephanie Buffo rounded out the top three in the event. Buffo captured wins in the 1600 and 3200 at the Spartanburg County Track and Field Championships earlier this season, eclipsing both meet records.
In the 4A boys triple jump Dominick Bailey (Ridge View) captured the win. Westside's Brandon Brown finished second in the triple jump, 3/4 of-an inch behind Bailey. In the long jump Brown out-distanced Bailey by one inch, 23-7 to 23-6.
Jeremy Longshore (3A, Broome) vaulted the second best vault of the meet with a first place height of 15-06.00. Longshore's closest opponent was Thomas Wright (Lugoff-Elgin). Wright cleared 13-4 in the vault. In the 4A boy's vault Northwestern senior Mitch Greeley surpassed his old meet record by one inch (16-9). Greeley's closest 4A competitor was Irmo's Brian Gathers (14-06.00). Greeley will continue his academic and track and field career at Clemson next fall. Wren's 3200-meter relay squad of Steven Craig, Daniel Eils, Brad Orr and Andy Walls finished first in the event with a 8:14.26 finishing time, 7.35 seconds ahead of Wade Hampton (second).
Following day one Ridge View led the 4A boys meet with 34 points. Westside was in second with 18 points. Spring Valley rounded out the 4A boys top threw with 12 points. Beaufort led in 4A girls standings with 19 points. Sumter tallied 11 points, placing second after day one and Gaffney, Spring Valley and Summerville were tied for third after day one with each team tallying 10 points.
Seneca boys led the 3A team standings after day one with 22 points. Broome, Greenville and Lake City were tied for second with 16 points. In 3A girls standings Daniel led after day one with 31 points. Dreher was in second with 20 points. Brookland-Cayce rounded out the top three with 17 points.
Coming off an injury plaqued year Blue Ridge's (2A) Septima Glenn won the 200-meter dash. Glenn finished second to Carolina's Carmissa Morris in the 100-meter run. Morris fell just before the finish in the 200, leading Glenn to her third consecutive state title in the 200. Glenn also captured a win in the 400-meter run. Both Glenn and Morris will return for their senior season in 2005.
Freshman Blue Ridge high jumper Kayla Carlisle jumped a 5-2 best, capturing the 2A high jump title. Carlisle finished fourth in the triple jump. Sally Stephenson, a junior at Christ Church won the A 3200-meter run in 12:28.56.
Wren's senior distance duo of Eils and Orr captured victories in the 800 (1:59.66) and 1600 (4:30.33) events , respectively. Eils finished second in the 1600 event with a 4:30.55 finishing time. Wren's Derek Pressley (48-9.5), also a senior, won the triple jump, giving Wren 30 points on Saturday. Wren captured the team title in 3A boys competition. Wren tallied 77 points and Broome was second with 52.5. Wade Hampton rounded out the top three with 48. Wren's team title win was the school first boys championship title in over 50 years.
Greer girls took first in the 400-meter and 3200-relay events. Eastside girls finished first in the 1600-meter relay.
Mauldin's Chris Abercrombie was Greenville County's only individual champion. Abercrombie placed first in the 4A discus event. The senior Maverick threw a best of 162-00.
Westside's girls dominated the 4A 400 hurdles with Nyoka Norman taking home the win in 1:02.29. Teammates Polly Hardy and Holly Hardy finished third and sixth, respectively in the 400 hurdles.
Ashley Good (Jonesville) sealed wins in the 100-meter and 100-meter hurdle events. Felisha Jacobs (Lamar) sealed a win in the 400-meter hurdles. Lamar also finished first in the girls A 1600-meter relay. Claire Young sealed a win in the A girls pole vault, clearing 10-10.00. Good also sealed a win the long jump. Elizabeth Maxwell, a senior at Johnsonville sealed wins in the shot put and discus events.
In boys A action Calesio Newman (Green-Sea Floyds) doubled in the 100 and 200 events. Latron Jackson (Lamar) finished first in the 400, second in the 100 and third in the 200 event. In boys 2A action Sayquan Jordan doubled in the 100 and 200 events. Sophomore Ryan Turner (Columbia) finished first in the 2A boys 400 and second in the 200. Turner finished in the 400 with a 49.69, 18-hundreths ahead of Allendale-Fairfield's Chavis Robinson. Up and coming runner Alex Kingsley (Pelion freshman) dominated the 3200 field with a 10:23.95 finishing time. Kandrick Cooper, a senior at Andrews High School doubled in the 2A boys hurdle events. As a team Andrews finished first in the 1600 relay event with 3:26.87 finishing time. Derrick Cumbee dominated the long jump (23-00.50) and triple jump (45-06.50) events.
Charles Proctor (Richland Northeast) led the in the 4A boys 100 with a 10.78 winning time. Westside's Brandon Ellis finished five-hundreths of a second ahead of Charles Smith (Gaffney) to take home the win in the 200. Proctor finished third in the 200. Seven of the eight runners in the 4A 800 ran sub two minutes. Marshawn Martin of Richland Northeast ran the fastest time of 1:54.94. Martin's closest competitor was Spring Valley's Darian Hodges (1:56.50). Spring Valley's distance leaders Reid Wilson (junior) and Brian Raymond (senior) finished one and two in the 1600 event. Wilson and Raymond finished fourth and fifth, respectively in the 4A 3200 run.
Westside boys took one, two and three in the 110 meter hurdles event. Brandon Brown (14.29), Dennis Martin (14.31) and Martez Brown (14.45) were the Westside finishers. Martin of Westside sealed the 400 hurdles win in 53.26 seconds. Westside's Brandon Brown dominated in the long jump with a 23-07.00 best, one-inch longer than second place finisher Bailey (Ridge View). Bailey then finished 3/4 of an inch ahead of Westside's Brandon Brown in the triple jump, 48-00.00 to 47-00.75.
Summerville's Terrence Brown continued his dominance in the shot put event with a winning heave of 58-07.00. Brown's closest competitor was Orangeburg-Wilkinson's Alonzo Middleton (58-01.00).
Sunday Ford (Wren) and Alisha Royal (West Florence) finished one and two in the 3A girls 1600 run. Ford finished in 5:14.86. Royal, a seventh grader crossed the line in 5:22.02. Tides turned in the 3200 as Royal finished first in 11:40.17. Ford ran a second place finishing time of 11:55.18. Both Wren and West Florence are being moved up to the 4A class next year, joining the 4A distance strength of Niehaus, Buffo and Tiayonna Blackmon. Northwestern's Angelina Blackmon will attend NC State in the fall. Amberly Nesbitt (JL Mann) did not run in the meet due to injury. Nesbitt has South Carolina's 2004 100 and 200 best times.
For corrections to this recap please contact john@scrunners.com.
Spring Valley's (4A) girls 3200-meter relay team of Leah Doster, Megan Fulks, Shalyn McMichael and Kate Niehaus set a new record by almost 12 seconds (9:30.34). Giving Dreher 20-points in day one of the 3A portion of the meet was Brittney James and Liza Todd. James won by almost a two foot margin with an 18 foot, 6.5 inch long jump. Todd won the pole vault by more than a foot (10-06.00). Ridge View held the old 3200 relay record (9:42.10) since 1999. Northwestern finished second in the event, 1.85 seconds behind Spring Valley. Northwestern and third place finisher Spartanburg also surpassed the old record.
Stratford's (4A) mens 3200-relay squad set a new record of 7:55.14. Spring Valley held the old record of 8:03.22 since last seasons meet. This year Spring Valley's squad finished second in 7:55.91, also eclipsing the record. Ridgeview (third) and Dorman (fourth) also broke the 3200-relay record.
Ryan Jank and Dorman teammate Kevin Dejonckeere finished first and third, respectively in the 3200 4A event. Northwestern's Angelina Blackmon surpassed Carre Joyce's (Summerville, Class of 2000) 1600-meter record (5:02.81) with a individual champion time of 5:02.65. Niehaus finished second in the 1600. Candice Johnson (Byrnes), looking to run sub 2:20 in the 800-meter run all season, captured the 800-meter title in 4A action with a finishing time of 2:16.84. Johnson ran a 2:20 at last year's state championship. The 2:16 is Johnson's fastest 800 of all time. Niehaus led the way in the 3200-meter run with a 10:56.53 finishing time, breaking the two-year old record of 10:59.75, set by Northwestern's Angelina Blackmon. Blackmon finished second in this years 3200 run with Dorman's Stephanie Buffo rounded out the top three in the event. Buffo captured wins in the 1600 and 3200 at the Spartanburg County Track and Field Championships earlier this season, eclipsing both meet records.
In the 4A boys triple jump Dominick Bailey (Ridge View) captured the win. Westside's Brandon Brown finished second in the triple jump, 3/4 of-an inch behind Bailey. In the long jump Brown out-distanced Bailey by one inch, 23-7 to 23-6.
Jeremy Longshore (3A, Broome) vaulted the second best vault of the meet with a first place height of 15-06.00. Longshore's closest opponent was Thomas Wright (Lugoff-Elgin). Wright cleared 13-4 in the vault. In the 4A boy's vault Northwestern senior Mitch Greeley surpassed his old meet record by one inch (16-9). Greeley's closest 4A competitor was Irmo's Brian Gathers (14-06.00). Greeley will continue his academic and track and field career at Clemson next fall. Wren's 3200-meter relay squad of Steven Craig, Daniel Eils, Brad Orr and Andy Walls finished first in the event with a 8:14.26 finishing time, 7.35 seconds ahead of Wade Hampton (second).
Following day one Ridge View led the 4A boys meet with 34 points. Westside was in second with 18 points. Spring Valley rounded out the 4A boys top threw with 12 points. Beaufort led in 4A girls standings with 19 points. Sumter tallied 11 points, placing second after day one and Gaffney, Spring Valley and Summerville were tied for third after day one with each team tallying 10 points.
Seneca boys led the 3A team standings after day one with 22 points. Broome, Greenville and Lake City were tied for second with 16 points. In 3A girls standings Daniel led after day one with 31 points. Dreher was in second with 20 points. Brookland-Cayce rounded out the top three with 17 points.
Coming off an injury plaqued year Blue Ridge's (2A) Septima Glenn won the 200-meter dash. Glenn finished second to Carolina's Carmissa Morris in the 100-meter run. Morris fell just before the finish in the 200, leading Glenn to her third consecutive state title in the 200. Glenn also captured a win in the 400-meter run. Both Glenn and Morris will return for their senior season in 2005.
Freshman Blue Ridge high jumper Kayla Carlisle jumped a 5-2 best, capturing the 2A high jump title. Carlisle finished fourth in the triple jump. Sally Stephenson, a junior at Christ Church won the A 3200-meter run in 12:28.56.
Wren's senior distance duo of Eils and Orr captured victories in the 800 (1:59.66) and 1600 (4:30.33) events , respectively. Eils finished second in the 1600 event with a 4:30.55 finishing time. Wren's Derek Pressley (48-9.5), also a senior, won the triple jump, giving Wren 30 points on Saturday. Wren captured the team title in 3A boys competition. Wren tallied 77 points and Broome was second with 52.5. Wade Hampton rounded out the top three with 48. Wren's team title win was the school first boys championship title in over 50 years.
Greer girls took first in the 400-meter and 3200-relay events. Eastside girls finished first in the 1600-meter relay.
Mauldin's Chris Abercrombie was Greenville County's only individual champion. Abercrombie placed first in the 4A discus event. The senior Maverick threw a best of 162-00.
Westside's girls dominated the 4A 400 hurdles with Nyoka Norman taking home the win in 1:02.29. Teammates Polly Hardy and Holly Hardy finished third and sixth, respectively in the 400 hurdles.
Ashley Good (Jonesville) sealed wins in the 100-meter and 100-meter hurdle events. Felisha Jacobs (Lamar) sealed a win in the 400-meter hurdles. Lamar also finished first in the girls A 1600-meter relay. Claire Young sealed a win in the A girls pole vault, clearing 10-10.00. Good also sealed a win the long jump. Elizabeth Maxwell, a senior at Johnsonville sealed wins in the shot put and discus events.
In boys A action Calesio Newman (Green-Sea Floyds) doubled in the 100 and 200 events. Latron Jackson (Lamar) finished first in the 400, second in the 100 and third in the 200 event. In boys 2A action Sayquan Jordan doubled in the 100 and 200 events. Sophomore Ryan Turner (Columbia) finished first in the 2A boys 400 and second in the 200. Turner finished in the 400 with a 49.69, 18-hundreths ahead of Allendale-Fairfield's Chavis Robinson. Up and coming runner Alex Kingsley (Pelion freshman) dominated the 3200 field with a 10:23.95 finishing time. Kandrick Cooper, a senior at Andrews High School doubled in the 2A boys hurdle events. As a team Andrews finished first in the 1600 relay event with 3:26.87 finishing time. Derrick Cumbee dominated the long jump (23-00.50) and triple jump (45-06.50) events.
Charles Proctor (Richland Northeast) led the in the 4A boys 100 with a 10.78 winning time. Westside's Brandon Ellis finished five-hundreths of a second ahead of Charles Smith (Gaffney) to take home the win in the 200. Proctor finished third in the 200. Seven of the eight runners in the 4A 800 ran sub two minutes. Marshawn Martin of Richland Northeast ran the fastest time of 1:54.94. Martin's closest competitor was Spring Valley's Darian Hodges (1:56.50). Spring Valley's distance leaders Reid Wilson (junior) and Brian Raymond (senior) finished one and two in the 1600 event. Wilson and Raymond finished fourth and fifth, respectively in the 4A 3200 run.
Westside boys took one, two and three in the 110 meter hurdles event. Brandon Brown (14.29), Dennis Martin (14.31) and Martez Brown (14.45) were the Westside finishers. Martin of Westside sealed the 400 hurdles win in 53.26 seconds. Westside's Brandon Brown dominated in the long jump with a 23-07.00 best, one-inch longer than second place finisher Bailey (Ridge View). Bailey then finished 3/4 of an inch ahead of Westside's Brandon Brown in the triple jump, 48-00.00 to 47-00.75.
Summerville's Terrence Brown continued his dominance in the shot put event with a winning heave of 58-07.00. Brown's closest competitor was Orangeburg-Wilkinson's Alonzo Middleton (58-01.00).
Sunday Ford (Wren) and Alisha Royal (West Florence) finished one and two in the 3A girls 1600 run. Ford finished in 5:14.86. Royal, a seventh grader crossed the line in 5:22.02. Tides turned in the 3200 as Royal finished first in 11:40.17. Ford ran a second place finishing time of 11:55.18. Both Wren and West Florence are being moved up to the 4A class next year, joining the 4A distance strength of Niehaus, Buffo and Tiayonna Blackmon. Northwestern's Angelina Blackmon will attend NC State in the fall. Amberly Nesbitt (JL Mann) did not run in the meet due to injury. Nesbitt has South Carolina's 2004 100 and 200 best times.
For corrections to this recap please contact john@scrunners.com.