By Jennilyn Howell
scrunners.com intern
CHARLESTON -- Three coaches were inducted into the South Carolina Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame and Greenville's Sandi Morris cleared 12 feet, eight inches in the pole vault at the Coaches Classic meet, which was held at West Ashley.
The mark surpassed the state record of 12 feet, six inches (Sara Young, Thornwell) makes the top five at the national level.
State records must be broken at the state meet in South Carolina.
"I’m training to work on my top form," Morris said. "Today I made a lot of progress. ... It was a really great improvement."
Morris also won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.88.
Spartanburg coach Glover Smiley and his former assistant coach Shay Rice joined the Hall of Fame along with retired coach Zeke Goode, who coached for 26 years at Ninety-Six and Emerald.
Goode credits his success to a deep passion for the sport. He read about Jesse Owens while in elementary school and grew up in an active family where running was encouraged. Goode then passed on the family tradition to his daughter.
"The highlight of my career was ... seeing her participated in a NCAA finals in Austin, Texas in 2004," Goode said.
Smiley works to have a family atmosphere with the Spartanburg team. He views himself as the parent of each student on the team.
"I coach for the kids," he said. "Everyone on the team is important, and we push that philosophy."
In his 18 years of coaching high school athletes, Smiley has led Spartanburg to six state championships.
"My motto has always been: 'doing your best is success,’ and our goal is to be one of the best teams in the state," Smiley said.
Coach Rice, who coached for 17 years and has recently become an assistant principal at Dorman, is still motivated by Smiley and expressed how honored she was to share the induction with him.
"It’s a feeling that it’s probably ... better than winning state championships," Rice said. "I thought you had to be old to get [this honor]!"
Cameron Griggs of Chesterfield took first place in both the discus and shot put events. Despite the challenge of high winds in the area, he threw 168 feet, seven inches in the discus and 51 feet, 11.5 inches in the shot put.
"It was really windy so I had to throw more of a line drive [in the discus]," Griggs said.
Mann standout Briana Nelson won the 100-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter events.
"It went pretty well," she said. "This [was] my first 100 of the year. I really wanted to push myself."
Miguel Quinn of Fort Dorchester took the boys’ 100-meter title at 11.09 seconds despite pain at the start of the dash due to a groin injury.
"I started seeing everyone in front of me and I knew I just had to push myself," he said.
The boys’ 400-meter dash winner was Clifford Morrow of Hilton Head.
"I was pretty nervous because of the wind," Morrow said. "My game plan was just to get out quick and stride the back stretch. The start was near perfect."
Distance runners Jeanne Stroud of Bishop England and Aaron Ramirez of Woodmont won the 1600-meter events. Stroud, who finished in five minutes 22.39 seconds, broke the school record she's been reaching for since her sophomore year.
"I was about to cry," Stroud said. "It’s a record that’s just been eating me up."
Ramirez finished with a time of four minutes, 26.05 seconds. He was injured last season and was excited to be back on the track. After falling to third place during the third lap, Ramirez was able to reclaim the lead within 300 meters of the finish line.
"It was my first competitive mile in awhile. I just wanted to stay in the front and out-kick the field," he said. "I’m working on my speed and I’m pretty confident in my finishing ability."
The Coaches Classic meet is a fundraiser for the association.