5A Division 1 Wando, J.L. Mann Finally Hammer It Out on USC Indoor Courts
Worthy Evans • May 16, 2025
By WORTHY EVANS
Contributing Writer
Columbia - Rainy conditions in the Midlands Saturday kept J.L. Mann and Wando off the courts for the 5A Division I championship. While championships at the other classifications were hashed out at the University of South Carolina’s indoor tennis facility that day, the Patriots and Warriors opted to play another day, considering that the other six teams battled each other until 6 p.m.
Thursday afternoon at the USC indoor tennis facility, J.L. Mann and Wando finally engaged in a rematch of last year’s 5A title match. Just as last year’s outcome, the Patriots came through with a victory.
J.L. Mann (27-0) got wins in doubles and in No.2 – No.5 singles to claim a 5-1 victory and win their fourth straight state championship.
Wando No.1 Owen Griffiths defeated Christian Holloway 6-3, 5-4 (retired), but J.L. Mann No.2 Sebastian Hyjek defeated Benny Bonavito 6-2, 6-3; Nolan Curran defeated Graham Anderson 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3; James Parker defeated Nacho Oria 6-3, 6-2 at No.4; and Aaron Kumar defeated Vijay Pandey 6-1, 7-5 at No.5. The Patriots doubles team of Miles Vogt and Holden Lucas defeated Nico Oria and Ethan Gawryluk 6-3, 6-1.
“My seniors have been here between five and six years total, I’m losing my 1-3 next year,” J.L. Mann head coach John Armstrong said. “For them to come out here and be a part of four state titles is pretty incredible.”
J.L. Mann’s No.1 player, Holloway, and No.2 player, Hyjek, signed to play tennis for The Citadel last November. The No.3 player, Curran, has not yet signed. While those three move on, Armstrong said the rest of the team is pumped to try for a fifth straight state crown.
“We’ve got a really promising young group of guys,” Armstrong said. “We’ve been talking about it a little bit. We’re going with ‘Fear the Thumb.’”
Wando (18-1) had been state runner-up the last six times it reached the state final. Head coach Bob Lang hoped that the seventh time might be the charm.
While the Warriors fell again, Lang said the season won’t be diminished because of a loss to a top-notch team.
“I’m really proud of the boys. They’ve had quite a season,” Lang said. “This was a rough finish, but we just played a really, really good team. We put up a good fight today and were in a few matches here and there, but they just came up with the shots they needed, when they needed to, and they’re a class team.”
Wando loses five seniors, including No.1 player Owen Griffiths, No. 2 Ben Bonavito, who signed to play for Coker, and doubles players Nico Oria and Gawryluk, and Aidan Norman.
“All of them have started at one time or another,” Lang said. “But in the top five, we should have three coming back. We’ve got a good nucleus coming back and we’re going to try to get here again. It’s hard to get here, and we appreciate that and understand that. But it wouldn’t shock me if this team (J.L. Mann) just reloads and gets back here again.
Desmond Green with his Mom at his commitment announcement.
HSSR's #1 rated 2026 football prospect Desmond Green!
Senior running back Jaiden McDowell also returns and he recently ran a 4.47 at a skills combine camp.
Lake View’s Kaylynn Turner Named “NETC” Female Student Athlete of the Month Lake View — Kaylynn Turner is a senior who plays softball and volleyball at Lake View High School . Turner said she started playing volleyball in the seventh grade, but softball is her favorite sport, which she started playing in the 9 th grade. On the volleyball court, she played all around as a utility player and played left field in softball. Being a two-sport student athlete brought opportunities. Turner says this about team play, “My favorite part is being on a team with friends, forming new friendships, and the support from family.” In the classroom, she carries a 4.07 GPA, and she says that after high school she plans to major in Exercise Science with an end goal of a career in Occupational Therapy, or as an athletic trainer. While she has not ruled out continuing softball at the next level, if she gets that opportunity, her favorites teams are Coastal Carolina , USC , and Florence Darlington Tech . For all her athletic and academic accomplishments, Turner has been chosen the “NETC” Female Student Athlete of the Month.” This honor is bestowed through a partnership between the Northeastern Technical College and “The High School Sports Report” with the publication communicating with athletic directors at high schools in the counties of Dillon, Marlboro, and Chesterfield, where NETC serves the needs of high school students seeking to earn dual credits, in various subjects, that can be transferred to colleges after a student’s high school graduation. The NETC is currently offering over 44 online dual credit courses for the 2024-25 school year to students in the three counties they serve. Currently, Turner is enrolled in two dual credit online courses offered by NETC. She already completed many basic requirements for her freshman year of college. She has focused on taking key classes for her major, like Medical Terminology, History, and Spanish. She added that she “already took care of many first-year classes and hopefully this puts me a semester ahead when I start college.”. When asked about what NETC did to help her, Turner said it “helped her develop important time management skills, especially while playing sports, attending high school, and taking college level classes online through the NETC. “Dual-enrollment classes really taught me the difference between in-person classes, versus online classes which prepared me for what’s I should experience in in college,” said Turner. When asked about the online class experience, Turner said the experience was a “confidence boost” that enhanced her time management skills. “The online classes were doable when I thought they weren’t,” she said. “Before taking online classes, I was more of a procrastinator, and I learned to be more on top of my work.” Turner recalled her favorite time playing softball “In the first game of the lower state playoffs this past season, I played a long ball off the fence and I was able to throw it back to the infield and we got the lead runner out.”
Lake View’s Kason Herlong Named “NETC” Male Student Athlete of the Month Lake View — Kason Herlong is a senior two-sport athlete at Lake View High School , where he earned all-region honors in two seasons as the starting quarterback on the football team. He was recently named the Class A Baseball Player of the Year by the South Carolina Baseball Coaches Association and Herlong has signed a baseball scholarship to attend North Greenville College . He has also earned Class A all-state honors in baseball by the “The High School Sports Report” for the past three seasons. Herlong batted .418 with two home runs and 17 RBI’s this past season. On the mound he was 7-1 with 80 strike-outs in 50.1 innings of work. He had a .556 ERA also. Of the two sports, Herlong favors baseball. Baseball is a sport he has played since he was first enrolled in T-Ball. Herlong was also chosen to represent Lake View in the 2025 North-South all-star baseball game. He has a very bright future ahead of him in the sport of baseball. In the classroom he carries a 5.23 GPA. He has been taking dual credit online courses through the NETC since he started the ninth grade. Just a sample of his completed college course work includes College Algebra, Biology, English 1, English 2, Computing, and Economics. For all his athletic and academic accomplishments, Herlong has been chosen the “NETC” Male Student Athlete of the Month.” This honor is bestowed through a partnership between the Northeastern Technical College and “The High School Sports Report” with the publication communicating with athletic directors at high schools in the counties of Dillon, Marlboro, and Chesterfield, where NETC serves the needs of high school students seeking to earn dual credits in various subjects that can be transferred to colleges after a student’s high school graduation. The ”NETC” is currently offering over 44 online dual credit courses for the 2024-25 school year to students in the three counties they serve. With his high diploma earned, and numerous college level courses completed with NETC, Herlong should start college as a sophomore when he reports to campus at the end of the summer. He plans to major in Accounting in college. “Taking NETC online courses had a huge impact, including being better at prioritizing my time,” said Herlong. “How you do one thing, is how you do everything. And it helps keep me focused on meeting priorities and deadlines in both academics and athletics,” said Herlong. When asked about the impact on starting his collegiate career, he commented, “By taking these online classes now, I’ve got extra credits completed to put me one step ahead. I’ve been very blessed to have this opportunity.” Herlong said that while baseball is his favorite sport, he also enjoyed playing football. As a two-sport athlete in high school, and dual enrolled for online college classes through the NETC, he feels better prepared to meet the challenges ahead of him as a student athlete at North Greenville University. Herlong has a favorite memory from his baseball career. ”This season, we won against Latta for the Lower State Championship,” he said. “Last season, we got beat by Latta for the lower state championship. We came back this season and turned that around by beating them twice on their field. Those two wins advanced the team to play for a State Championship.”
Cav’s head coach Quinn Hatfield.
Colleton Prep rising senior Ava Murray batted .543 with six homers, 31 RBIs and 22 stolen bases in her junior season.
By Rob Gantt Special to the HSSR GOOSE CREEK – Goose Creek High School track and field coach Jason Winstead said hurdler Kourtney Horne was at her best in the Class 5A Div. II state track meet. Horne believed she was going to be challenged in the 100-meter hurdles May 15 at Spring Valley High School. Horne ran like it, too, making it look easy on the way to her first track and field state championship for the Gators. Horne cruised across the finish line in 14.2 seconds, 18 hundredths of a second ahead of the runner-up. “We saw her best,” Winstead said. Horne placed eighth in the event in 2024, more than a full second behind her winning time at state. “Her future is as bright as it possibly can be,” Winstead said. “Watching Kourtney run the last month or so has been fun. She’s such a competitor. She does a great job of getting ready to run. She just got off to a great start.” Horne became the third Gators hurdler in a row to win a state championship. Faith Jones finished first in 2024 and Robert Wheatley reached the top of the podium in 2023 for the Goose Creek boys. “We’ve had pretty good hurdlers around here for a while,” Winstead said. Horne also placed second by two hundredths of a second in the 400-meter hurdles. Wisdom Johnson added a runner-up finish for the Goose Creek boys in the 110-meter hurdles. More notable finishes for the Gators were turned in by long jumpers Julian Whitfield and Trevor Smalls . They placed second and third in the boys event. Kaprice Manigualt-Garrett finished second for the Gators' girls in the 400-meter dash.
Sophomore Briggs Gwozdo was named the SCISA 3A Boys All-State Team.
By Billy G. Baker Publisher Spartanburg —It’s not often you get to build a football program from the ground up, but that is exactly what Spartanburg Day football coach Partick Moffitt (actually the Director of Football) has been experiencing for the past year as the school transitions from a middle school program into a varsity program by the Fall of 2026. This past May Coach Moffit worked out 36 candidates for the junior varsity program that the school will have in the Fall. By 2026, the Griffin’s will be playing varsity football likely at the AA level. “We went 3-3 in the six games we played with a group of middle schoolers in the fall and we were mildly shocked at the fan support we got at games and how unity starting a football program was bringing to the school,” said Coach Moffitt. “Having some success in the early going helped everyone’s confidence also.” Spartanburg Day played games against Christ Church , Southside Christian and St . Jospeh’s last season. “Our numbers have picked up in a year from 20 kids playing on our 5 th to 8 th grade team last year to now having 36 players competing to play at the junior varsity level and that is very positive,” said Coach Moffitt. “When we had May football drills it was like teaching some kids real basic fundamentals of the game because many of them had never played the sport before,” said Coach Moffitt. “It is a really hands on experience for sure.” Coming all of the May drill period into June Coach Moffitt has a really good idea of who his better players come August when the team plays even more competitive games. He starting quarterback will be Rutledge Hall described as a dual threat with a high football I-Q. He was a starting free safety on the middle school team last year. “Rutledge has a good arm and he uses his feet when he has to escape pressure also,” said Coach Moffitt. The likely starting running back out of the spread offense is likely rising freshman Bennett Johnson . Johnson gained 163 yards and scored two touchdowns last season as a middle schooler. The offense uses four receivers. Camden Teal , who recently won the 800 meters run at the SCISA State track meet, will be one starting receivers. He had seven catches for 99 yards last season. He will be joined by Tyler Fermanders , Chandler Wilson , and the team is still seeking that 4 th receiver. The offensive line will be comprised of left tackle Nicholas Quinn , right tackle Charlie Birch , center Sammy Crain , right guard Cale Willoughby and left guard Gibbes Montgomery. Many of the offensive players will flip to defense and play both ways. Quinn and Birch flip to defensive ends while Willoughby flips to defensive tackle. Newcomer Lawson Robinson will start at defensive tackle. “Lawson is an 8 th grader with a high motor and he plays a very physical type game,” said Coach Moffitt” The Griffins defense will consist of four linebackers. They are Charles Wilson , Mike Bennett , Heath Boyd , or Rutledge. Ben Visk could also see some action at linebacker. The three deep secondaries will consist of Fermanders, Camden Teel , and a flip between Rutledge and Visk. Charles Wilson is the place kicker and Charlei Birch is handling punting duties. “Our goals are to keep kids engaged in the sport and hope that they fall in love with practice,” said Coach Moffitt. “We just hope our young players continue to develop and build off our successes of our first season. We hope everyone of them develop into good football players.” Right now, Coach Moffitt has one assistant coach and he is Justin Crain who works with both lines. A little later this summer Chris Cormier will be joining the program as the defensive coordinator. Coach Cormier was a top athlete who played in the highly successful St. Aquinas Florida prep football program in the late 1990’s. The team will begin the season on August, 29 against the Greenville Hurricanes.