2A Girls and Boys State Track Meet

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 8^th 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.

1^st  - 10

2^nd - 8

3^rd - 6

4^th - 5

5^th - 4

6^th - 3

7^th - 2

8^th - 1