Wilson Hall track and field coach Rip Ripley talks with MileSplit South Carolina before the 2026 SCISA Track and Field Championships. See this week's South Carolina track and field team spotlight.
Program Outlook
After winning the 2025 state championship, what is the overall outlook for your girls team this season? We had an incredible run last year with our girls team, and were fortunate to have a really strong group of Seniors leading the charge. Coming into this season, we had some big shoes to fill, but at the state meet last year, we saw some of our younger athletes step up and grab some important points. That gave us some hope that we would be able to get back to a high level this season.
How has the team responded in the offseason after reaching the top last year? I think that we have seen a great focus this offseason from both of our teams. Our Boys are coming off of back to back state championships in cross country and the girls looking to defend their title from last spring. The standard has continued to rise which is really exciting to be a part of.
What lessons from last season's championship run are you emphasizing this year? Wilson Hall has an incredible history in track & field and last year was another step in that storied history. This was the first girls championship that we've won in a while so it was exciting to see how they responded. We have an unbelievable coaching staff that has continued to grow and pour into our team. Personally, one of the biggest things that I've tried to do is continue to trust our staff and great things will happen. As a head coach, I can't emphasize enough how important it has been to surround our program with quality people who will grow our students as young people and athletes.
Tell us about how the girls and boys team work together at practice and meets. We practice as one team, we stagger our weight room time with track time but on a typical day, we have over 120 boys and girls in grades 6-12 practicing together. Our staff has grown over the past few years, mostly with alumni, parents, former parents and a great relationship with Shaw Air Force Base. This allows us to break our athletes into smaller groups with their discipline coaches and provide more intentional instruction and workouts. This does not work without the incredible coaches that we have.
We are 100% dedicated to the strength training program with our Strength Coach Sam Watford ('16) (who just won the State Speed and Strength meet in March with many of our track members!). Emily Jackson and Mary Peyton Clepper (ATC-'14) do an incredible job with our athletes in strength training, stretching, pilates and whatever else they need to stay healthy and ready to compete. The aforementioned Cross Country success carries over into track where Dustin and Kristine Smith serve as assistants for both programs. Blane Russell ('10) has stepped up for us this year and helped with more of our team operations in addition to coaching our sprints with Brandon Singletary, a recent runner at USC-Sumter who is new to our staff.
"This staff pours so much time and energy into not only our athletes, but into hosting some of the best meets around. We hosted eight track meets this year with many meets topping 1000 entries, and we absolutely crushed it." - Rip Ripley, Wilson Hall track and field
A strength of our program has been in the middle distances where Brian Jackson has coached the 400/800 runners and Shanna Thomas and Leah Barwick ('16) are working with continuing to build our legacy of strong hurdlers this season. Moving to our field events, Dr. Linda Crabbe has been a staple in the Wilson Hall track program for over 20 years and has been a key part of 13 state championship teams while working with our jumpers with Dwain Burton and Evans Boyle ('17). Dylan Reese ('07) coaches our throws and a few parents (Chris Osgood, Chadiola Chumney, Katie Getz) help out with meet operations alongside Kurt Wilson.
This staff pours so much time and energy into not only our athletes, but into hosting some of the best meets around. We hosted eight track meets this year with many meets topping 1000 entries, and we absolutely crushed it.
Top Returners
Who are some of your top returning athletes and events from last year's championship team? On the girls side, we return McKinley Bath ('29) who is one of the top Javelin and High Jumpers in the state. Bailey Flemming ('28) has continued to develop as one of our top sprinters and jumpers in the program and some younger athletes like Karsen Jones ('29) and Elisa Getz ('30) have really started to step up into some of those holes left by last years graduating class. Our distance has continued to be a strength at our weekly meets with Mary Ellen Thorne ('26) and Mary Foley ('28) leading the points. In the field, Ashley Carter ('29) and Christina Osgood ('27) have been scoring in bunches and Grace Stewart ('29) has continued to grow in the High Jump where she was an USATF All-American last summer.
Which returning athletes do you expect to take on bigger leadership roles this season? As mentioned, we were very senior heavy last season, so leadership was an area that we knew we would need this year. While we have a huge staff, ultimately success comes when the athletes buy in at a level that deserves success. This season, we have seen that from many of our top performers, and the exciting thing is that many of them are underclassmen who will be with us over the next few years.
New Athletes / Breakouts
Who are some new athletes that could make an impact this season? We don't really have any new athletes to the program this year, but we are continuing to see some of our younger athletes develop into bigger roles.
Team Strengths
"Getting to see our veteran athletes lead our younger ones and set the standard for them is really special." - Rip Ripley
What events or areas of the team do you feel are strongest this year? Over the past 11 years, we have tried to pride ourselves on being strong in the more difficult events. Events that take technical skill to complement our strong athletes. Again this is attributed to our incredible coaching staff and the knowledge that they bring. Traditionally we have been strong in events like Pole Vault, Triple Jump, Hurdles, High Jump and Distance events.
Are there any events where you are looking to build depth or develop athletes? How do you work on areas to build depth? This year we have seen a bump in our throws, largely thanks to a couple of freshmen McKinley Bath and Ashley Carter along with Grace McArthur ('28). This group has continued to work with Coach Reese to become a threat to score some real points at state.
How do you build team strength over the years? Physically, a lot of that credit goes to Sam Watford and Emily Jackons who bring an incredible amount of knowledge and programming into the strength development of our athletes. In terms of team culture, we have our own nuances, like many other teams, that help make our program unique. Events like Spring Break Challenges, Popsicle Fridays and Senior Last Laps and Talks help bring our program together in special ways. There are challenges with practicing 6th-12th grade together, but there are blessings that come with it as well. Getting to see our veteran athletes lead our younger ones and set the standard for them is really special.
Season Goals
What are the main goals for the team this season? We typically enter every season with similar goals. Strive to PR in everything that we do over the course of the season. We put a lot into the power of the PR and try to celebrate them whenever we can. This is something that can be achieved by any level of competitor and is one of the beauties of Track & Field. From there our athletes strive to qualify for regions and then state. As a team, our primary goal has always been to win the region championship, compete for our Sumter County and SCISA Middle School titles, and put ourselves in a position to compete at the state meet. This season, our Girls won the MS Championship, both teams won the Sumter County and Region titles, and I feel that we have put ourselves in a good position to compete to be top 3 in Boys and Girls at State.
What do you see regarding the growth of SCISA track and field? One of the parts that I love about hosting our meets is getting to interact with so many schools around SCISA. I do occasionally get grief from our staff and admin about the number of meets that we host, but we are blessed to be one of the few schools in SCISA with a track. I really feel that as a school who has a track and are blessed with a great program, there is a sense of responsibility to help our smaller schools continue to grow by hosting as many meets as we do. There are other schools who limit themselves to hosting 1-2 meets a year and limit the number of teams or charge entry fees for their meets. If we all did that, many of our smaller schools wouldn't be allowed to compete and our sport wouldn't continue to grow. And it is growing! We have more qualifiers for the state meet than ever, and we are seeing some high level marks being put down in SCISA right now. It is really exciting to be a part of.
Team Culture / Mission
How do you keep athletes motivated after winning in 2025? I think that the standard being raised has been the biggest part. There's no pressure, but its definitely motivating to strive to compete at the high level again.
What do you want this group of athletes to be remembered for? For this year's group, I think its been exciting to see how they are stepping up. We talk at time with our runners about pushing that wall around the track. Most races have a wall that you're going to hit eventually and our goal over the season is to push that wall further and further around the track. Our athletes have stepped up in many ways to keep pushing that bar higher. As we have had some success, it hasn't phased them, but instead motivated them to keep moving that bar of achievement higher and higher.
Are there any key meets or invitationals your team is particularly preparing for as championship season nears? Early in the season, we always look to compete to win the Melicue Metts Invitational which we co-host with Orangeburg Prep in March. It's a really fun meet that is set up similarly to our state meet but also has ties with Coach Brooks Smith who is a great coaching friend. Getting to co-host the meet at OP, where I coached for 7 seasons prior to Wilson Hall, with him in a meet that is named for his grandfather, a storied track coach in the Orangeburg area, is pretty special. Spring Break worked out pretty well this year where we were able to cleanly split our season into Championship Swing once we got back from Spring Break. Our goal is to peak over this 3 week stretch of Sumter County, Region and State and hopefully we will be able to do that.
Is there anything unique about this group compared to past teams? I think that this group has more athletes that can really compete to win their events than in past years. Recently, we have always relied on our depth to compete (Last year, we won state despite only winning 2 events), but this year, we have quite a few that are looking for that individual or relay Gold!
Anything we missed?
What's something behind-the-scenes in your coaching philosophy we may not know? I'm not sure that it's related to my coaching philosophy, but as many great coaches do, I have an unbelievably supportive wife, Corey, and family. We have five kids: Jack (11), Owens (9), Beau (7), Ace (5) and Mac (2) who love coming and being a part of all of the sports that I coach. Jack got to officially join our Wilson Hall team this year as a 6th grader and they all compete with our Sumter Speed USATF program which is so fun to watch them learn to love competing and learn the sport. It takes a village and I've been so fortunate to always have a supportive family from my parents to Corey to our kids who motivate and allow me to continue coaching!
From a coaching philosophy standpoint, I think that I bring a unique approach to track and field because of my eclectic background in coaching. I also serve as our Head Volleyball and Head Boys Basketball coach as well as Assistant AD at Wilson Hall. Corey and I also run some youth sports organizations in Sumter, Next Level Athletics and Sumter Speed. Throughout all of these, I get to work alongside some incredible coaches and athletes that continue to mold my philosophies.
As a coach, what drives you to keep going? There are a lot of motivators that drive me: The joy in seeing our athletes accomplish things that we could see possible as coaches but maybe they couldn't as athletes, Doing everything that I can to make our family and school community proud of our program, and the desire to keep pushing that wall a little bit further around the track. But ultimately, it falls to one of our Family Rules: Compete to win in everything that you do. Compete to be the best version of yourself that you can be and I don't care if we are in a race or playing Progressive Rummy at the beach with my family, I can promise that I'm going to compete, and that's something that I try to constantly instill in all of my kids.
Thank you for the opportunity to shine light on our incredible program.
Here are some of the 2026 notable track and field meets for Wilson Hall
Bob Jenkins Coaches Classic Track and Field DISTRICT 4
SCISA Middle School Championship
May 2: SCISA Track and Field Championships - Division 1
Wilson Hall track and field coach Rip Ripley talks with MileSplit South Carolina before the 2026 SCISA Track and Field Championships. See this week's South Carolina track and field team spotlight.
Program Outlook
After winning the 2025 state championship, what is the overall outlook for your girls team this season? We had an incredible run last year with our girls team, and were fortunate to have a really strong group of Seniors leading the charge. Coming into this season, we had some big shoes to fill, but at the state meet last year, we saw some of our younger athletes step up and grab some important points. That gave us some hope that we would be able to get back to a high level this season.
How has the team responded in the offseason after reaching the top last year? I think that we have seen a great focus this offseason from both of our teams. Our Boys are coming off of back to back state championships in cross country and the girls looking to defend their title from last spring. The standard has continued to rise which is really exciting to be a part of.