Guest Column: Chester Girls Win in Initial Athletic Meet

Guest column by Chris Ardis, Northwestern coach

The above headline appeared in The Herald newspaper out of Rock Hill on May 4, 1925, the day after Chester High School won the first-ever girls state championship track meet at Winthrop College. ⁴ Sure, the SCHSL has the Wando girls track team winning the first two state titles, but just like the boys state track, meet there is more to the story than what is written in the SCHSL record books. As we approach what would be the 50^th (this column was submitted to MileSplit SC in 2024) running of the girls state championship for track,  (2020 was not run due to Covid), I thought it would be good to go back in time over 100 years to look at some of the pioneers in our sport that are not included in the official record books.
The Winthrop Training School High School in York County hosted track meets for female students as early as 1918. ¹ These early meets were intersquad competitions between the various grade levels at the high school and were highly anticipated events in the local community. ⁷ In addition to the high jump and long jump, events contested were the 50 yard dash, baseball throw, basketball throw, obstacle race and a 1/6 mile walk. The triple jump was also contested, although it was called the hop-step jump. ¹

The Catawba Athletic Association, which included schools from York, Lancaster and Chester counties, began hosting an annual track meet for boys in 1915. It wasn't until 1922 that the association began hosting a track meet for girls. ²⁸ The inaugural meet, held at Winthrop College, had about 12 representatives each from Winnsboro, Chester, Clover, Great Fall, Fort Mill, York, Rock Hill, Lancaster and Winthrop Training School. Events contested, while different than what we see today, were similar to the events we now contest over 100 years later. They ran the 50 yard dash, 75 yard dash, 60 yard hurdles, a relay race, and contested the high jump, long jump, basketball throw, baseball throw, shot put and discus. ^{2, 3}
Winthrop College continued to host the annual track meet for the Catawba Athletic Association for the next several years, with the expressed purpose of establishing a statewide track meet for girls when the time was right. ²⁷ Winthrop College was the logical place to hold such a meet given their support of track and field over the years and their recent history of producing one of the best American track athletes of the time, Lucile Ellerbe Godbold. In the first ever Women's World Games in 1922, Lucile competed in several events, winning the gold medal in the shot put and a bronze in the javelin throw. ³³ So it came to be that in 1925, after requests from schools across the state, Winthrop College decided to move forward with a statewide track meet for girls.

Guide to 2025 SCHSL State Championships Weekend, Watch Live

On May 2, 1925, 18 schools and approximately 125 girls converged on the campus of Winthrop College for the first ever girls state championship track meet. ⁸ By all accounts the meet was a success with two national records being set by Davidson of Chester High School in the discus with a throw of 91-6, and by Small of Lancaster in the 60 yard hurdles with a time of nine seconds. ⁴ At least one state record fell as well with Gaffney's Gertrude Meredith jumping 15 feet, 1 inch to break the old Winthrop Training School record of 14 feet, 10.75 inches. ⁶ Individual winners received ribbons provided by Winthrop and the winning team, Chester High School, received a loving cup sponsored by Carolina Sporting Goods out of Charlotte. Marion High School scored 14 points to earn second behind Chester's 33 and 1/3 points. ^{4, 5}

For the next several years, the girls state track meet was extremely successful. Most years, the meet hosted around 20 schools and over 120 athletes. Both state and national records were broken on a consistent basis while fierce battles between the top teams in the state were waged. Chester High School and Columbia High School won the first six state meets before Nichols High School won two in a row in 1931 and 1932. ^{9, 10 ,11}
Unfortunately, despite the success of the girls state track meet, the meet was discontinued after the 1933 championship in which Chester captured their fourth championship. There could be several reasons why the state meet was discontinued but it is probably safe to say that one factor that played a part in the decision was the prevailing attitude towards women in sports during that time period. Many held the belief that intense exercise and running long distances were not healthy for women and that their bodies could not handle distances beyond 100 or 200 meters. Others felt that women should participate in non-competitive sports. Indeed, after the 1933 state championship, a new chair was named to Winthrop's athletic department, Miss Julia Post, who decided to replace the track meet with a play day similar to the field day events most elementary schools have nowadays. ¹² She wanted to develop programs in non-competitive sports instead of the more competitive nature of the annual track meet. Even competitions at the national and international level had to content with this type of thinking as shown by what happened after the 1928 Olympic Games. After the women's 800m in the Olympics, several newspaper articles were printed stating that the women in the race could barely finish and that the distance was just too great for them to run. After many articles and reporters called for the 800m to be banned, the Olympic committee, including the US delegate, decided to remove the 800m from the Olympics. It wasn't until 1960 that the 800m was again included as an event and it took until 1972 before women were allowed to run distances greater than the 800m. ^{13, 14}

Regardless as to why the state meet was discontinued, it would take more than 40 years before the South Carolina High School League sponsored a state championship for female athletes in track and field. Although the idea of a state championship was dead for now, the spirit of the sport and the desire to compete still lived on. In some areas of the state, individual schools, cities, and counties still provided opportunities for girls to compete. These meets were primarily organized by local recreation departments or civics organizations. Eventually, the AAU began to sponsor a statewide competition not unlike the Junior Olympics and AAU meets we have today.

Greenville and Oconee counties continued to hold track meets for boys and girls through the late 1930s and 40s. ²⁰ The Daughters of the American Revolution School, Tamassee, won its fifth consecutive Oconee Country track championship in 1942. ¹⁹ Columbia regularly held citywide meets throughout the 1950s and 60s with schools such as Hand, Olympia, Columbia, Eau Claire, University and Dentsville competing in these meets. ¹⁸ Teams in the lower part of the state, such as Orangeburg High School had also formed track teams and held meets during this time. ¹⁷ By the 1960s interest in the sport had grown so much that regular meets were taking place across the state. In 1963, for example, The Columbia Sertoma Club sponsored a track meet with over 300 participants competing in a multi-day meet. ¹⁵ In addition, by 1965 the AAU had begun sponsoring the Junior Olympics, which consisted of statewide track meet for girls of all ages. It was clear that the tide was shifting in the way people thought about females participating in sports. The Columbia Record published an article in 1963 criticizing the "old fashioned" thinking about women participating in track and field. ¹⁶ It would take another 12 years before the SCHSL got on board. In 1974, with little fanfare and even less controversy it seems, the SCHSL voted to sponsor a state championship for girls track the following year.  ²¹

This brings us to 1975, where the record books for the SCHSL officially begin. Wando High School captured its first state championship that year before repeating as champions the following year. ^{22, 23} Even though the attitudes towards women's sports had shifted, it still took several years to completely shake off the outdated views on females competing in track and field. For example, we did not contest the two mile until the 1978 season (woman shouldn't be running long distances, you know) and the softball throw was an official event before being phased out in 1977 (congrats Sandy Tribbett from Stall for holding the state meet record in the softball throw with a 197-7). ^{22, 26} Despite this, we finally had what people across the state have been wanting since the early 1920s, a state championship for girls track.

As we approach the state championship, I believe it is important for us to recognize those that came before us and how they paved the way for future generations to compete. Both the teams from Wando that won the first two state meets in the 1970s, as well as the individuals and teams from across the state that competed in the early state championships in the 1920s and 30s. Maybe one day, they too will be included in the record books.

1925 individual winners ⁴

75-yard dash: Small, Lancaster 9 4/5 seconds
Shot Put: Willians, Winthrop Training School and Davidson from Chester tied
60-yard Hurdles: Small, Lancaster, 9 seconds (National Record)
Baseball Throw: Davidson, Chester
Running Broad Jump: Meredith, Gaffney 14-6
Discus Throw: Davidson, Chester 91-6
Running High Jump: Bray Florence 4-6
Basket ball throw: Lamen Marion 75-6
50-yard dash: Hunter, Chester 6 2/5 seconds
All schools represented: Chester, Florence, Marion, Hartsville, York, Anderson, Winthrop Training School, Lancaster, Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Clio, and Gaffney.
Team Champions from 1925-1933
1925 Chester High School ⁴
1926 Columbia High School ¹⁰
1927 Chester High School ²⁵
1928 Columbia High School ²⁹
1929 Chester, Buford, Columbia (tie) ³⁰
1930 Chester High School ³¹
1931 Nichols High School ¹¹
1932 Nichols High School ¹¹
1933 Columbia High School ³²

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3. "Hold Track Meet for High Girls" Newspapers.com. The State, April 23, 1922. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-state-1922-catawba-track-meet/107534471/.
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