Meet Recap: March 4 Weekend

Third Annual Father Kelly Classic Recap
Bishop England hosted 13 schools in the third annual Father Kelly Classic March 4 in Charleston at the Carl E. Poole Memorial Track complex.

The weather was breezy but promised a good day of competition. Running events started at 10:30 Saturday morning.

Several exciting events for the day follow.

In the second event (Boys 4x100), the favorite was Wando with a seed time of 43.9. After the first leg, Wando and Fort Dorchester were running together with James Island not far behind, but suffering from a bad hand-off between one and two James Island looked to be out of the race. Wando and Fort Dorchester were still running together when James Island's third leg started to make up ground, but the effort would be too late. Third seed Fort Dorchester won in a time of 44.5, followed by Wando in 44.79, and then fourth seed James Island placed third in 44.8.

The girls' 3200 meter relay was not as closely contested but was a very exciting race. Wando and Bishop England seemed to dominate with Academic Magnet just behind the whole race until the final leg when James Island, who was in seventh, started making up ground. With 400-meters left Bishop England could not hold on to Wando, while James Island was pushing to challenge Academic Magnet for third. Wando finished in 10:35 and Bishop England in 10:44. Academic Magnet took third in 11:12. James Island, having too much time to make up, finished fourth in 11:15.

Andrews HS dominated the boys' 110-meter hurdles. The exciting race between Marcus Pope and Justin Duncan, both of Anderson, was decided by three-hundredths of a second with Pope winning in 15.04 and Duncan second in 15.07.

The girls' 1600 meter run promised some entertaining racing with 24 girls starting in one heat. Ashley Hall\'s Meagan Brandli took the lead early as the pack of girls followed. After 600-meters in the event, Rindi Wood (James Island HS), M. Scott (Fort Dorchester) and unattached runner Heather Harris were 200-meters by Brandli. With two laps to go Wood and Scott tried to close the gap on Brandli. Harris was having a hard time holding on. Closing the gap to about 100-meters, Scott runs the outside of the curb giving Wood the advantage coming into the last turn. Wood\'s strong finishing kick helped the James Island Trojan finish second. Brandli finished first in 5:38. Scott was third in 5:55, and Harris in fourth with a time of 6:05.

Wando senior Daniel Vincent sealed a 1600-meter victory in 4:34.78. Vincent\'s teammate Chris Fallis was second in 4:47 and Wells Johnson (James Island HS) rounded out the top three. Vincent also finished first in the 3200-meter run (10:03).

All eyes were on Molly Thayer (Bishop England) during the fourth heat of the 400-meter run. As the gun went off Thayer took the lead, but fifth seed, Tashico Allen (Woodland HS), in lane 2, went out hard with a slight advantage on the back stretch. In the last 100-meters Thayer and Allen were running side-by-side. Allen finished ahead of Thayer with a lean in a time of 1:02.33. Thayer was very close in a time of 1:02.44. Other point scorers were: 3. Avis Campbell (Wando) 1:05.06; 4. Traci Haltiwanger (Summerville) 1:05.12; 5. Kari Carlson (Lexington) 1:05.36; 6. Sadara Shine (Military Magnet) 1:06.67; and Lakeeza Moultrie (James Island) 1:06.67.

In the boys' 400-meter run, the fast heat was easily won by James Island's Raymond Eurie in a time of 52.67, but the event did not end there. Running in the slowest heat, Wren\'s P.J. Simmons won the heat (second overall) following a close contest against to Eurie in final placing overall with a time of 52.85.

Running the slow heat of the girls 800-meter run, Brandli took the lead early on. Taylor Stubbs (James Island) did not let Brandli go unchallenged as Stubbs surged with one lap to go. Stubbs and Brandli were together with just 100-meters left when Brandli's kick helped the SCISA State Champion finish first in 2:37. Stubbs finished second overall with a time of 2:38.67.

The boys' 1600-meter relay concluded an exciting end to the meet with Wando, Bishop England, and James Island all showing promising teams. Wando took the lead early with Bishop England holding on. James Island seemed to be slipping. During the the second leg, James Island played catch up, as Bishop England dropped back. Wando had a strong lead going into the third leg. Bishop England made a come back to challenge.

The final leg hit and Bishop England was right on Wando's tail. James Island had a strong last leg, but there was too much to make up. Wando won with a time of 3:36, followed by Bishop England in 3:37, and then James Island in 3:41.

In the field events, Quinton Turner (Wando) threw 140-10 in the discus and 48-6 in the shot put, easily winning both events. Katherine Carpenter (Wando) won the girls' pole vault with a 9-0 mark.

"I hope the meet will be successful for the years to come,\" said Father Kelly Classic Meet Director Tony Colizzi. \"The kids love putting on this meet.\"

Ten Records Fall at GSP Relays
Ten records fell at the Greenville-Spartanburg Relays March 4 at Dorman HS.

In the county versus county competition Spartanburg boys and girls captured the victories over Greenville with a 295-142 score in the boys\' competition and 248-207 girls score.

In team scoring Spartanburg HS girls were first with a 126 team total to J.L. Mann\'s second place total of 86.

Dorman boys finished first with 135 points to Spartanburg\'s 92 team total.

New Records
Boys 4x400: Dorman (3:30.10), (Previous: 3:32.30-Dorman (2005))
Boys 1600 Spring Medley: Dorman (3:35.70), (Previous: 3:45.90-Broome (2002))
Boys Long Jump: Dorman (63-00), (Previous: 61-1-Spartanburg (2003))
Boys Triple Jump: Dorman (127-04-.75), (Previous: 125-06-Spartanburg (2003))
Girls 4x100: Spartanburg (48.60), (Previous: 49.0-J.L. Mann (2004))
Girls 4x200: Spartanburg (1:45.40), (Previous: 1:48.20-Spartanburg (2001))
Girls 800 Sprint Medley: Spartanburg (1:48.60), (Previous: 1:52.60-J.L. Mann (2003))
Girls 1600 Sprint Medley: Spartanburg (4:35.30), (Previous: 4:36-Greer (2002))
Girls Distance Medley: Mauldin (13:20.20), (Previous: 13:33.50-Mauldin (2005))
Girls 4x100 Shuttle Hurdle: Spartanburg (1:07.10), (Previous: 1:12.30-Spartanburg (2004))