Considering our humble beginnings, cross country in South
Carolina has become the largest one day State Championships in the state. At the end of last year's meet (the 49th)
the South Carolina High School League, who is responsible for all state
championships in the state, had crowned 239 teams and individuals and teams as
state champions in cross country (133 boys and 106 girls).
The South Carolina Track and Cross Country
Coaches Association, who has directed the meet itself for most of these years,
has recognized 3,585 All-State athletes
(top 15 in each race). Over 19,000 boys and 15,000 girls have crossed the state championships
finish line.
In 1970, the very first "official" year, the State Meet was
one race. It was an "Open" race meaning
that all classifications ran together.
It was only for boys, only 2.25 miles and 12 schools competed of
which only 10 had teams of five runners. The
meet had 69 runners and was won by Sumter. In the meet's next 11 years, the largest
number of participants was 114. There were
qualifying meets that eliminated some of the runners, but the numbers were
still relatively small and still in one boys' race. The girls had their first championship in
1976 with just 31 runners. The number
remained under 100 until 1981.
The girls had only one "Open" race also.
In 1980, the numbers started growing. The SCHSL had three races for the boys - a 4A
race, a 3A and a 2A/1A race.
Qualifying became a part of everyone's schedule, but still the numbers
in the State Meet grew, more than double the number of participants from the
year before. The 2A/1A meet only lasted
three years. The numbers doubled again
when they got their race back in 1992.
That meet split in 2016 and remained until the development of the
5A. By then the number of runners in the
state meet had grown to almost 650 boys, an almost tenfold increase from our
beginnings. This of course does not
include another 650 that did not qualify.
The girl's meet did not get their second race until 1989. This race increased the number of girls to
over 200. Their third race,
2A/1A started in 1995 and put the number of participants to almost 400. This number climber to almost
500 in the next few years until the girl's races split again for a
short while with a 1A race in 2010, which lasted until 2015. The number of runners grew to 566.
The largest state championship was in 2016 when we had 1,205 finishers.
The next years dropped because of the loss of the 1A meets and stricter
qualifying, but still over 1,000 in last year's meet.
The number of finishing teams has also grown over the years
due to the popularity of the sport. The
first meet in 1970 finished 10 boys' schools.
This number grew to 16 until 1982 when the qualifying procedure
that year dropped the number in the 4A race to 10. That year only the top two teams from each
region could qualify and not every region even had two teams. This procedure was quickly changed and the number
increased back to 15. The first
girls meet had only four teams finish and took until their fifth meet to get
over 10 (teams).
Obviously, the numbers that qualify determines the number of
teams that finish the state meet.
However, the nature of the sport will allow many teams competing at the
same time. Moreover, with the additions
of more and more classification championships, the number of teams grew. The most to compete was in 2016 and 2017, the
only two years we have had nine races, when 165 teams
competed and finished at least five runners.
That number will surely increase as the 1A schools begin to develop and
keep teams.
Over the 49 years of the state championships, 2,607 boys teams and 2,054 girls
schools have competed in the state meet - 239 of them
earning the honor of being state champions.
The 2019 State Meet, our 50th, promises to have
about the same number of teams and runners as last year. The numbers in this article were compiled
from all of the results of our State Meet.
These were painstakingly retyped by the Eastside Cross Team a few years
back and are now on line at SCRunners.
From these I have gathered all types of statistics. Chris White, the current president of
SCTCCCA, has compiled all of these stats into a very limited 50th State Championships meet program. If you
enjoy data or you just want to see how your school could possibly place among
all of the others, please make plans to purchase one of these. The program will have the top 10 times by
classification, the number of All-State athletes by each school, the number of
wins and runner-ups by each school, the state meet records of all winning
coaches, and many other stats that I am sure you will enjoy.
Editor's note: Former Eastside cross country and track Coach Ed Boehmke was the head boys and girls track and cross country coach for 38 years. His teams won three state championships,
seven state runner-ups, and numerous region championships. He has
been the meet director for the Coaches Classic, S.C. State Championships, and
the Chick-fil-a Games, as well the Greenville County Cross Country Championships
and the Greenville County Track and Field Championships. He started the
girls' division in 1977. He has also hosted state and regional
Junior Olympics in both track and cross-country. He is very active in the S.C.
State and Cross Country Coaches Association having held every elected and
appointed position in the organization, including serving as president from
1988 - 1992. He has been selected to five different Hall of Fames -
Berea High School Athletic, USATF/S.C., Greenville Track Club, S.C. Track and
Cross Country Coaches Association, and the S.C. Athletic Coaches
Association. He retired from teaching in June of 2016 but still
continues to be a meet director at Eastside and is still responsible for
directing the 3A and 4A state qualifying meet in cross country.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author. It is
the hope that these thoughts, though maybe controversial, will open dialog
between coaches, athletes, meet directors, and the S.C. High School League to
find insightful and meaningful ideas to promote improvements in the sports of
track and cross country.
Considering our humble beginnings, cross country in South
Carolina has become the largest one day State Championships in the state. At the end of last year's meet (the 49th)
the South Carolina High School League, who is responsible for all state
championships in the state, had crowned 239 teams and individuals and teams as
state champions in cross country (133 boys and 106 girls).
The South Carolina Track and Cross Country
Coaches Association, who has directed the meet itself for most of these years,
has recognized 3,585 All-State athletes
(top 15 in each race). Over 19,000 boys and 15,000 girls have crossed the state championships
finish line.
In 1970, the very first "official" year, the State Meet was
one race. It was an "Open" race meaning
that all classifications ran together.
It was only for boys, only 2.25 miles and 12 schools competed of
which only 10 had teams of five runners. The
meet had 69 runners and was won by Sumter. In the meet's next 11 years, the largest
number of participants was 114. There were
qualifying meets that eliminated some of the runners, but the numbers were
still relatively small and still in one boys' race. The girls had their first championship in
1976 with just 31 runners. The number
remained under 100 until 1981.
The girls had only one "Open" race also.
In 1980, the numbers started growing. The SCHSL had three races for the boys - a 4A
race, a 3A and a 2A/1A race.
Qualifying became a part of everyone's schedule, but still the numbers
in the State Meet grew, more than double the number of participants from the
year before. The 2A/1A meet only lasted
three years. The numbers doubled again
when they got their race back in 1992.
That meet split in 2016 and remained until the development of the
5A. By then the number of runners in the
state meet had grown to almost 650 boys, an almost tenfold increase from our
beginnings. This of course does not
include another 650 that did not qualify.
The girl's meet did not get their second race until 1989. This race increased the number of girls to
over 200. Their third race,
2A/1A started in 1995 and put the number of participants to almost 400. This number climber to almost
500 in the next few years until the girl's races split again for a
short while with a 1A race in 2010, which lasted until 2015. The number of runners grew to 566.
The largest state championship was in 2016 when we had 1,205 finishers.
The next years dropped because of the loss of the 1A meets and stricter
qualifying, but still over 1,000 in last year's meet.
The number of finishing teams has also grown over the years
due to the popularity of the sport. The
first meet in 1970 finished 10 boys' schools.
This number grew to 16 until 1982 when the qualifying procedure
that year dropped the number in the 4A race to 10. That year only the top two teams from each
region could qualify and not every region even had two teams. This procedure was quickly changed and the number
increased back to 15. The first
girls meet had only four teams finish and took until their fifth meet to get
over 10 (teams).
