2A Girls and Boys State Track Meet

Worthy Evans • May 17, 2025

FC senior Hank White, the only Griffin running the 800m, claims gold with a time of 1:53.32.


By WORTHY EVANS

Contributing Writer

Columbia - The Fairfield Central boys track and field team faced competition Friday afternoon from Philip Simmons, the 2024 3A state champions who came down to 2A this year.


While the Iron Horses got close, the Griffins sprinted past them and claimed their second straight state 2A championship at Spring Valley High School’s Harry Parone Stadium.


“We broke through last year with a lot of young kids,” Fairfield Central head coach Raymond Harrison said. “We returned a lot of kids who scored points last year, so I knew we had a pretty strong chance to win it again this year. All season long, I knew Philip Simmons was going to be tough to deal with.”


With wins and top placings in the 100-, 200-, 400- and 800-meter dashes and runs, Fairfield Central collected 65 of is 101 points on the night. Philip Simmons finished second with 82 points and Mid-Carolina took a distant third with 44 points.



Fairfield Central’s depth in the dashes kept the points coming. The Griffins ran three sprinters for the 100-meter dash, and four in the 200 and 400 dashes. Senior Tydarion Grier took first in the 100 with a time of 10.31 and the 200 with a time of 21.37 seconds. Junior Jayden Boyd took second in the 100 and third in the 200.


“We put hard work in, and hard work paid off,” Grier said. “Slow feet don’t eat.”


Grier, a senior who was a running back and receiver for the Griffins and was a Shrine Bowl pick in 2024, also won gold as part of the 4x100-meter relay team with Boyd, sophomore TyQuarius Shannon, and junior Jamie Brown. Grier placed sixth in the long jump.


Brown took gold in the 400 dash with a time of 48.61. Teammate Kenyan Douglas, a sophomore, took third with a time of 49.90, and freshman Da’Qwan Kelly took fourth with a time of 50.13. Brown was the anchor leg of the 4x400 team, which included Douglass, Kelly, and junior Brenton Mack, and put an exclamation point on Fairfield Central’s performance at the meet with a first-place time of 41.12.


“It was a whole bunch of grinding man, day and night, dreaming, praying about it,” Brown said. “All glory to God, we all worked together, we just wanted to be great. We’re trying to reach for the future, make the young kids see how great we want to be, and whatever we accomplish, make them want to accomplish.”


Senior Hank White was the only Griffin running the 800 run and he claimed gold with a time of 1:53.32.


Junior Marlon Smith took sixth in the 400 hurdles with a time of 59.96.


Among the Philip Simmons finishers, only the 4x800 relay team claimed gold, finishing with a time of 8:14.66.


Senior Corey Steed finished fourth in the 100 dash, and second in the 200 dash. Junior Cameron Steed finished eighth in the 400 dash, which accounted for 14 of Philip Simmons’ points.


The Iron Horses multiple finishers in the 800-, 1,600-, and 3,200-meter runs. Sophomore Stone Sweatman finished third and senior Joseph Wright finished sixth in the 800 run; senior Pierce Walker took second, junior Trent Manning took fifth, Wright took sixth, and freshman Griffin Tollison took 8th in the 1,600 run; and Walker took third, freshman Matthew Perry took seventh, and freshman Grady Castiglia took eighth in the 3,200 run. These finishes netted Philip Simmons 34 points.


The Iron Horses’ 4x100 relay team’s second-place finish behind Fairfield Central, the 4x400 team’s eighth-place finish gave them nine points.


In the field events, senior Trey Hensley finished sixth in the pole vault and senior Matthew Yaun took third, junior Luke Robinson took fourth, and sophomore Jack Robinson took fifth in the javelin, all for 18 points.


Gold medalists besides those from Fairfield Central and Philip Simmons included Academic Magnet senior Quinn Swanton’s win in the 1,600 run with a time of 4:16.78, and his win in the 3,200 run with a time of 9:36.29.


Whale Branch Early College junior Jonathan Kelley won gold in the 110 hurdles with a time of 13.98.


Saluda senior Tymar Cannon won the 400 hurdles with a time of 55.44.


Marion senior Jamere Legette won the high jump with a mark of 1.93 meters, and sophomore Darrion Baccus won the discus with a throw of 49.4 meters.


Timberland sophomore Carter Hawkins won the triple jump with a mark of 14.05 meters.


Batesburg-Leesville senior Sawyer Ringer won gold in the pole vault with a vault of 3.94 meters.


Chesnee senior K.J. Proctor won the Javelin with a throw of 54.89 meters.


Central senior Tobias Miller won the shot put with a throw of 15.54 meters.

 

2A girls

In the girls meet, the big question was which events Philip Simmons athletes did not participate in. Down from 3A, the Iron Horses populated every event, and in many events several athletes took part, except the shot put.


With so much participation, the Philip Simmons girls team totaled 148 points on the evening, 87 points more than second-place Saluda, which finished with 61 points.


“These girls game straight out of the gate this season with their eyes on the prize in 2A,” said head coach Emma Santor, whose team finished fourth in the 3A meet last year. “They definitely wanted to come back and take the state title back with us. That was our goal from the start and we did a lot of work together to create a sense of unity in their training and their runs, teaching the kids to train together, go out together, and so when they come to these meets they have a sort of pack mentality, especially on our distance side.”


The Iron Horses used their strength in the distance events to secure a lot of points. Freshman Laura Perry took first in the 1,600 run with a time of 5:13.19 and won gold in the 3,200 run with a time of 11:42.58. Behind Perry in the 1,600 was junior Avah Mallek, who finished second with a time of 5:27.07. Behind Perry in the 3,200 run was junior Keziah Verner, who finished second with a time of 11:48.86. Junior Anna Alomar took seventh.


For those two events alone, Philip Simmons chalked up 38 points.


Add the 800 run finishers, first-place sophomore Flynn Taylor who crossed the line with a time of 2:19.06, and Mallek in third place with a time of 2:27.75, and the total for those three events comes to 54 points.


The 4x800 team won with a time of 10:08.84, the 4x100 team took third place with a time of 49.40, and the 4x400 team took fourth place with a time of 4:16.61, all good for 21 points.


In the sprinting events, freshman Ashlyn Johnson finished sixth in the 100 and senior Illyana Pannell finished eighth in the 100 dash, and Johnson took fourth and Pannell seventh in the 200 dash for a total of 11 points.


In the field events the Iron Horses loaded up on even more points.


Junior Ashley Roush took first in the long jump with a time of 4.98 meters and first in the pole vault with a vault of 3.56 meters.


Behind Roush in the long jump was eighth grader Elliana Pagan’s sixth-place finish, and behind Roush in the pole vault were eighth grader Hannah Hopson’s second-place vault, junior Madilynn Campbell’s fourth place effort and junior Kenli Brown’s sixth-place mark.

“It’s a lot of fun with the team and everyone,” Roush said. “It’s like a big family, all of us. It’s fun for us to come out and do what we all know we can do.”


Those two events brought Philip Simmons 39 points.


In the other field events, Roush and freshman Lilah May tied for fourth in the high jump; freshman Jaydyn Richardson finished sixth and junior Julia Reilly took seventh in the triple jump; senior Kellis Lincoln took eighth in the discus; and sophomore Chloe Woods took fourth and sophomore Cora Gabriel took seventh in the Javelin.


With the girls program young and working together, look for the Iron Horses to keep racking up the points in the state meets to come.


“We’ve been really blessed with a lot of young girls,” Santor said. “I’m only losing maybe five girls next year so all these girls will be with us next season. They’re a young group, they work hard, they want to win and they will do whatever it takes.”


Besides Philip Simmons athletes who took gold Friday, Hampton County junior Areyana Allen, who took first in the 100 dash with a time of 12.13.


Marion senior Jaeda Davis took first in the 200 dash with a time of 25.01, and freshman Ashanti Gause took first in the 400 dash with a time of 56.66. Marion’s 4x100 team won gold with a time of 48.73.


Lake City junior Tiara Muldrow took first in the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.96.


Saluda freshman Ceddrianna Springs won gold in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:06.86. Sophomore Jabria Burnson won the high jump with a 1.55 meter mark.


Woodland’s 4x400 team won gold with a time of 4:10.85.


Academic Magnet freshman Makenzie Wilbourn won gold in the girls triple jump with an effort of 10.36 meters.


Batesburg-Leesville sophomore Keira Frye won gold in the discus with a throw of 40.77 meters. She also won the shot put with a throw of 11.99 meters.


Pelion eighth-grader Madison Kyzer won the javelin with a throw of 33.58 meters.

 

 

1st  - 10

2nd - 8

3rd - 6

4th - 5

5th - 4

6th - 3

7th - 2

8th - 1

Saluda Football Uses Spring To Build Depth

By Dennis Brunson • July 3, 2026
By Dennis Brunson hssr.com Associate Editor Saluda – The Saluda High School football team will have a good amount of experience returning for the 2026 season. The Tigers have six starters back on offense and eight on defense from a team that went 6-6 and reached the second round of the AA state playoffs. However, they didn’t get a lot of work in during spring practice because many of them were on the school’s baseball and track and field teams that made deep runs in the postseason. Saluda head coach Greg Woerner found a silver lining in that though. “We were only able to get eight days of spring practice in and made the most o it and got better learning the offense and defense and developing some depth with the younger guys,” said Woerner, who will be in his second season as head coach. “A lot of our returning starters were making playoff runs in baseball and track, so we got a good luck at our depth.” Saluda returns four players who were selected to the All-Region 2-AA team last year. They are rising junior placekicker Ericson Vasquez , senior running back Tristan Daniels, senior tight end Jahmeer Myers and junior defensive back Ceddion Springs . Vasquez was named the Region 2 Special Teams Player of the year. Woerner is hoping the Tigers can be productive in the month of July leading into the start of fall practice. “For the remainder of the summer we’re really just looking forward to continuing to get stronger but also focusing in more on football,” Woerner said. “We had a good June competing in 7-on-7s (competitions) and getting better at our passing game and pass defense. July will focus more on getting better at the whole game.” The Tigers completed their 7-on-7 competition in June. Their first scrimmage will be on August 6 at Woodland before coming home to scrimmage Gilbert on August 10. Saluda is scheduled to open its season on August 21 at home against Abbeville . The Tigers will be part of a new region in Region 4-AA. The region will include two old Region 2 foes in defending state champion Strom Thurmond and Pelion to go with American Leadership Academy , Orangeburg-Wilkinson and Silver Bluff . MILLER MARTIN SELECTED TO AA ALL-STATE SOFTBALL TEAM Sophomore pitcher Miller Martin , a key figure for Saluda’s AA state championship softball team, was selected to the AA All-State softball team announced by the South Carolina Association for Women’s Sports . Martin had a 15-3 win-loss record and struck out 248 batters in 139 2/3 innings while posting a 0.70 earned run average. At the plate, Martin had a .308 batting average with five home runs and 32 runs batted in. Martin was also named the Region 2 Co-Player of the Year. Martin was joined on the All-Region team by Amy Sorcia , Zoey Springs and Nyla Jordan . Tigers head coach Hannah Towery said the program’s first ever state title sets a precedent for the future. “Future players will walk on to that field knowing a championship can be achieved because this team proved it,” said Towery, who guided Saluda to a 29-3 record. “The banner will hang, the trophy will be displayed, and the record books will always show who did it first. “History remembers champions, but it especially remembers those who paved the way. This team just didn’t win a state championship – they built a legacy.”

Jefferson Davis football focusing on the basics over the summer

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Raiders return everyone along the line from 8-4 team that reached 8-man semifinals

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W W King Holds Spring Athletic Banquet

By Gerald Doolittle • July 1, 2026
By: Gerald Doolittle Contributing Writer, HSSR Batesburg-Leesville, S.C. -W.W. King Academy held its Spring/Winter Athletic Banquet in mid-May to honor their 2025-26 athletic efforts. All the Knight teams were very competitive in their SCISA Class A region where they competed against Wardlaw Academy, Newberry Academy, Cambridge Academy, Richard Winn Academy and Anderson Christian . The Varsity Baseball team won the SCISA Class A Title . The Varsity Softball team was very competitive in the playoffs. Coach Jessica Anderson presented the Varsity Girls Basketball Awards . Blythe Buzhardt won the All-Around Excellence Award. Kenzie Morse won the Defensive Player-of-the-Year Award. Coach Dennis Gibson presented the Varsity Boys Basketball Awards. Spencer McCormick received the Most Outstanding Player Award. Brady Goff received the Sharp-Shooter Award. Coach Allen Guy presented the Varsity Softball Awards. Blythe Buzhardt received the Most Outstanding Player Award. Abby Aull received the Leadership Award and Kenzie Morse received the Iron Athletic Award. Coach Zach Matthews presented five awards to his Varsity Baseball State Champion players. Elijah Hutto received the Offensive Player of the Year Award. Luke Harvey received the Defensive Player of The Year Award. Wyatt Burbank, Zed Watkins and Smith Kirby shared the Team Leadership Award. Athletic Director Kathy Gibson assisted in presenting the Senior Awards. Smith Kirby and Abby Aull received the Senior Student Athlete of the Year Award. Wyatt Burbank and Kenzie Morse received the Athlete of the Year Award. Spencer McCormick and Abby Aull received the Christian Leadership Award. Wyatt Burbank and Kenzie received the Varsity Year-Round Athletes Award.

Florence Christian football team lost a few players to more than just graduation

By Dennis Brunson hssr.com Associate Editor • July 1, 2026
Eagles do return Region Defensive Player of the Year in Hayden Schwab

Lodge Begins Fourth Season As Berkeley Coach

By David Shelton • June 30, 2026
By David Shelton Senior Writer Moncks Corner – After a pair of six-win seasons in his first two years , Berkeley head football coach Eric Lodge guided the Stags to a 10-3 record last fall. Lodge is hoping and expecting to see continued growth and development in 2026 and recently put his prospective team through spring drills. The purpose of the spring is to identify roles and hopefully find rising talent that can assist either as backups or starters this fall. “Our spring is about evaluating kids, all of them, to see where they fit in,” Lodge said, “Those practices are very important to the growth of the program. We get everyone involved amd work to get them up to speed. Once we get into the summer, we are working hard to get stronger in the weight room along with seven-on-seven stuff.” Lodge says most of the returning experience is on the offensive side and the Stags should be explosive. Henry Rivers , a senior, will be a fourth-year starter and rates as one of the best in the state. Hethres for more than 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, adding 803 rushing yards and 16 more scores. Returning at receiver are John Cleveland, Eli Mitchell and Johnathan Mitchell, who combined for more than 60 receptions last season. Anchoring the running game are returners Lawrence Washington, Bryson McGee and Jesse Brown . That trio will work behind a revamped offensive line but Lodge sees potential in the developing unit up front. “I like our depth at running back and receiver, and of course we have a veteran leader at quarterback,” said Lodge. There are significantly more holes to fill on defense. The Stags lost an all-state tackle and three starting linebackers that were three-year starters. There also are three holes to fill on the back endd. “We have identified some young men who we feel will step in and be solid players for us,” Lodge said. “Replacing the experience is tough but we have some guys who will learn and grow over time. We’re not new to having young guys on the field. The talent is there and there are opportunities for guys to get on the field.”

Pinewood Preparing To Move Up A Class

By Roger Lee • June 29, 2026
Expectations are high for Pinewood Prep quarterback Silas Brawner.

Cane Bay Football Looking To Get Back On Track

By David Shelton • June 29, 2026
By David Shelton Senior Writer Summerville – The last two football seasons have been sub-par for the Cane Bay Cobras but veteran head coach Russell Zehr believes the pieces are in place for a potential resurgence. The Cobras finished the last two seasons with three wins each but did win a region championship in 2024. Zehr and his staff have worked hard in the offseason to develop some up and coming talent. They did so through the weight room and spring practice. “We had a good spring overall,” Zehr said. “We were missing a handful of guys due to track but we had good numbers. We spent a lot of time getting everyone up to speed. It was an opportunity for us to see younger kids that are coming up and find out who can help us this season. We had about 80 kids during the sprng and about 75 of those have been consistent in their workouts over the summer.” The Cobras will have a new quarterback this fall. Zehr says senior Coran Houp e is moving from running back to run the option offense this season. Returning in the backfield are Mayson Samuel and Sam Rolston , with some talented backs coming from the lower levels. The offensive line returns two starters, Isaac Siefken and Eli Taylor . Junior JJ Rose is back as the leader along the defensive front, with ends Devin Cobbs and B rennen Shokes also returning. The linebackers will be new starters with only Jackson Williamson returning with experience. The secondary could be a strength with returners Tyrell Bess, Zion Bryant and Caeden Wilson . The kicking game is a solid strength with senior Aiden Thorne returning. Thorne is a deep threat on kickoffs and field goals. “He’s got a leg and can be a real weapon for us,” Zehr said. Cane Bay participated in weekly 7-on-7 passing league scrimmages during June and will play at The Citadel event in July.

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By David Shelton • June 29, 2026
Head football coach at James Island, Jamar McKoy has worked to build his program into one of the more consistent programs in the state.

Red Fox Football Putting In The Work For 2026 Season

By David Shelton • June 29, 2026
By David Shelton Senior Writer Hartsville – As he embarks on his 22 nd season as the head football coach at Hartsville High, Jeff Calabrese is anxiously anticipating the upcoming 2026 season. Calabrese, with more than 200 career coaching wins, sys his team has put in good work in the offseason and appears focused on bettering last year’s 7-5 record. “We had a good spring practice, a good offseason all together really,” the coach said. “The numbers were maybe a little down but not far off. We spent a lot of time evaluating every position. If we needed to make a change we did. The focus in the spring and summer is making sure we have the right guys in the right spots. We basically are trying to get everyone on the same page.” Like all the schools in the state, the Red Foxes put in training four days a week from 8:30 to 11 am. Calabrese says this summer has been especially important as four new coaches have joined the program, including new defensive coordinator Neil Smith . “Really excited to have coach Smith. He brings a ton of energy and experience and he has really adapted well here,” Calabrese said. In terms of personnel, the Red Foxes have experience returning in several areas, starting with quarterback. Junior Ford Wallace is back as the starter and continues to develop in his role as a leader on the offense.. Returning at running back is Trace Hillian with CJ Hickmon moving from receiver to the backfield. Anchoring the offensive line is two-time all-region performer Fred Turner . Other returning linemen, who could end up on either side of the ball, include Creighton McKnight, Jake Williams, Jaquan Samuel and Pat Rhode. Rod Cranford returns in the back seven as a third-year starter. Zi’Yon Mason is moving from the secondary to linebacker, as is Jamario Scipio-Bishop. Devaris James and Deon McCall are players to watch in the secondary. “At a school our size, sometimes you have to move some kids around to make it all fit,” Calabrese said. “That’s why the summer is so important, to get those kids a lot of reps, good group to work with. We just need to build some depth.”
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