5AD1 Girls and Boys State Track Meet
By WORTHY EVANS
Contributing Writer
Columbia – Moving up to the 5A Division 1 classification once again proved no problem for Ridge View.
Just as the Blazers basketball team kept the state championships string alive with a win over Blythewood in the 5A Division 1 final in March, the Ridge View boys track and field team moved up from a 4A state championship in 2024 to score 91 points and edge Spartanburg’s 87.5 points in Saturday’s 5A Division 1 track and field meet at Spring Valley’s Harry Parone Stadium.
“I’m just proud of the growth of this program,” said fourth-year head coach Charles Proctor, noting the team’s three region championships on top of its second straight state championship. “I think the number that I’m most proud of over these four years is that we’ve helped 20 young men gain scholarships to continue their athletic and academic careers. We’re just continuing to build this program.”
The Blazers had just two gold medals on the afternoon. Jordyn Best won state in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.52 seconds and the 4x100 relay team of Quency Grant, Khristian Jackson, Mounir Spann, and Best took first with a time of 40.88.
What Ridge View did have was enough depth to cover almost every event, and double up in several events.
In the 400 hurdles, four Blazer runners finished within the top 8. Grant took second with a time of 54.79, Elijah White took 4th with a time of 56.51, Jaciyah Johnson took 6th with a time of 56.74, and Ethan Jirves took 8th with a time of 57.49. Those placings netted Ridge View 17 points.
White and Jirves also placed in the 110 hurdles, with White taking fifth with a time of 14.89 and Jirves placing eighth with a time of 15.25. Those finishes netted five points.
Best finished third in the 200 dash with a time of 21.63. In the 400 dash Spann took second with a time of 48.24 and Darrell Price finished seventh with a time of 48.94. Those placings added 16 points to the Blazers’ total.
Macaire N’twa took fifth in the 800 run with a time of 1:58.12 for four points.
The 4x800 relay team of N’twa, Price, Correll Johnson, and Orin Striggles took sixth place with a time of 8:00.39, and the 4x400 relay team of Grant, Price, N’twa, and Spann closed out the meet with a fourth place time of 3:20.95. Those finishes gave Ridge View eight points.
In the field events Amari Stevenson’s second-place finish in the triple jump with a mark of 14.27 meters was tops, with Nevan Gaither’s mark of 13.6 meters was good for fifth place. The two efforts gave the Blazers 12 points for that event.
Josh Campbell’s 5th place discus throw of 47.28 meters and Angel Brooks Jr.’s fourth-place javelin throw of 51.48 meters were good for nine points.
All in all, while the finishes weren’t all top finishes, there were more than enough to get the Blazers across to victory.
“The thing that helped us the most is that we came in here with 24 scoring opportunities,” Proctor said. “I always say that if we can come in here with more than 15 scoring opportunities, we’ve got a great chance to win. The depth of our team allowed for some mistakes, which we knew we would have, it’s rare that you would have a perfect championship, so our depth is what helped us pull this out today.”
Spartanburg had several individual state champions on its roster.
Justin Rice took gold in the 200 dash with a time of 21.40, Knox Eaton finished first in the 800 run with a time of 1:54.88, and Torrean Davis took gold in the long jump with a mark of 7.33 meters.
The 4x400 relay team of Joshua Taliaferro, Andy Metz, Christian Davis, and Elijah Roseburg finished first and gave the Vikings one final push with a time of 3:19.30.
Those finishes gave Spartanburg 40 points, but the Vikings did not have enough high finishers to boost their point total over the top.
Rice finished fifth in the 100 dash with a time of 10.82; Davis finished fifth in the 200 dash with a time of 21.82; Taliaferro took fifth in the 400 dash with a time of 48.56, and fourth in the high jump with a mark of 1.9 meters; Walker Nunes took eighth in the 800 run with a time of 1:58.27; and Andy Metz finished third in the 400 hurdles with a time of 54.92.
The 4x800 relay team of Eaton, Chap Willbanks, Nicholas Rhoden and Nunes finished second with a time of 7:53.78, and the 4x100 relay team of Kendrion Keenon, Davis, Rice, and Taliaferro finished third with a time of 41.61 to round out the Viking’s score of 87.5 points.
With the championship in hand, the Blazers will keep training and work toward another successful season. For Proctor it is a moment to reflect on the past four years, and what the future may bring to Ridge View.
“I think we can be a perennial powerhouse in the country,” Proctor said. “It’s a great thing to win a state championship today, but to also end the season as the No.1 team in South Carolina, that means everything, and it’s something we’ve been working on and striving for.”
Apart from the Ridge View-Spartanburg contest, top finishers included Carolina Forest senior Zayveon Sims, who took first place in the 400 dash with a time of 47.82.
Boiling Springs junior Mike Hurley won gold in the 3200 run with a time of 9:13.11.
Cane Bay senior Jayden Anderson took first in the 110 hurdles with a time of 14.62, and also won gold I the 400 hurdles with a time of 53.35.
Mauldin’s 4x800 relay team as tops with a time of 7:51.00.
Dorman junior Jamarius Brown won the high jump with a mark of 1.93 meters, and also took gold in the triple jump with a mark of 14.63 meters.
Stratford junior Lukas Kowlok took first in the pole vault with a vault of 4.65 meters.
Blythewood senior Santana Wright threw the discus for a first-place distance of 51.84 meters.
Mauldin sophomore Walker Ferguson won the javelin with a throw of 58.19 meters.
West Ashley junior Matthew Atkinson took gold in the shot put with a throw of 15 meters.
Girls 5A Division I
While competition in the boys events was tight, the Blythewood girls team dominated the field Saturday.
The Bengals sprinters placed high and racked up points early, finishing with 107 points on the day to claim their third straight state championship and first in the 5A Division I configuration. Blythewood’s total was 53 points better than second-place Spartanburg’s 54 points.
“We had to perform a lot better than we did last season because we had a lot of hiccups last year,” head coach Aleshia Hawkins,” We just came out and performed the way we needed to perform.”
That they did.
Sophomore sprinter Peyton Hightower won the 400-meter dash for the second straight year, this year with a time of 24.46 seconds. She finished fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.46 and ran a leg for the gold-winning 4x400 relay team. Junior Olivia Taylor, who finished fifth in the 100 dash with a time of 12.03, also finished fifth in the 400 dash with a time of 55.60.
Hightower’s sister, junior sprinter and point guard on the 5A Division 1 state basketball championship Bengals Hayley Hightower, took second in the 800 run with time of 2:10.27 and also ran legs in the 4x400 and 4x800 races.
Both sisters say they enjoy competing with each other and alongside each other, and spending time with the team as everyone prepares to do their best for events.
“I like to see her succeed on the track and I think she does the same for me,” Hayley Hightower said. “It’s amazing to see both of us competing and running on this level.”
Peyton Hightower added, “It’s great having someone to cheer for, not only as a teammate but as family. I root for her and she roots for me.”
Both sisters said they and the team came into Harry Parone stadium Saturday with the focus on keeping their championship at Blythewood.
“We’ve been working extra hard this year, trusting our coaches, setting some goals, and coming here with a plan,” Hayley Hightower said. “We weren’t going to get away from our plan. We knew what we had to come here and do, it didn’t matter about the class or whatever, we just had to come in here and get the job done. To get another state championship in track means a lot to me. I’m really proud of this team.”
Added Peyton Hightower, “This is No.3 in a row for us so we know what we needed to do coming in here, We’re just proud that we came out on top,” she said.
“We knew that there were going to be some teams that would challenge us. We knew that we had to stay humble and do our best. We did a really good job of coming in and not worrying about the outside noise and doing what we had to do.”
What they did was place as high as possible, in every event possible.
Eighth grader Brooke Bramlett took first in the 100 hurdles with a time of 13.88. Bramlett also finished seventh in the 100 dash and ran a leg on the 4x100 team.
Senior Aminah Rhone won gold in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:01.74. She finished third in the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.41, and she also ran a leg in the 4x400.
Sophomore Romell Garway finished seventh in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.24.
Blythewood racked up 26 points in the relays with a first place in the 4x400 and second placings in the 4x100 and 4x800.
The 4x400 team of Rhone, Alexandra Francique, Hayley Hightower, and Payton Hightower won gold with a time of 3:48.77.
The 4x100 team of Bramlett, Taylor, Brittany Benson, and junior Tylar Moore took second with a time of 47.02.
The 4x800 team of junior Anna Kelly, senior Mallory Hogue, Scarlett Baker, and Hayley Hightower took second with a time of 9:23.80.
Hogue and Kelly also placed in the 3200 run. Hogue placed third with a time of 11:17.49 and Kelly placed fourth with a time of 11:19.47.
Sophomore Alexis Jones placed fourth in the high jump with a mark of 1.55 meters.
Moore placed fifth in the long jump with a mark of 5.59 meters.
Coach Hawkins credited the success of Blythewood to supporters throughout the school and community.
“From Blythewood, the high school, the parents, the younger brothers and sisters come out, it’s just wonderful,” Hawkins said. “Everyone takes everything seriously. They want to get to the next level, and I tell them, you work. You don’t work, you can’t make it to the next level.”
Noting the youth on the team, the program isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
“We’re just losing three scorers this year, but everyone else is coming back,” Hawkins said. “It’s going to be exciting in 2026.”
Among the other top finishers, Rock Hill senior Khamoni Rockeymore-Crews won the 100 dash with a time of 11.74, and won the 200 dash with a time of 24.19. She was also one of Rock Hill’s state-champion 4x100 team that also included Cherish Paul, Zoe McClurkin, and Aubrey Stevenson that finished with a time of 46.75.
The Wando 4x800 team of Rowyn Martens, Emma Stanton, Ana Laurient, and Emmi Hunter made a state-record run of 9:08.70 that beat the old record by 13 seconds. Laurient, a senior, also won gold in the 80 meter run with a time of 2:10.24. Warrior javelin thrower Elle Cocco, a freshman, won her event with a 39.65-meter throw.
Clover junior Ella Nighbor won the 1,600 run with a time of 5:02.77.
Summerville junior Taylor Blackwelder won the 3,200 run with a time of 11:13.45. Teammate Nikki Brown, a senior, won the pole vault with a vault of 3.48 meters.
Mauldin senior Lena Scott took first place in the high jump with a mark of 1.68 meters. She also won the triple jump with an effort of 12.19 meters.
Ashley Ridge senior Alana Braxton won gold in the long jump with a jump of 5.87 meters.
Fort Dorchester’s Saniyah Joyner won the discus with a throw of 39.91 meters.
Spartanburg sophomore Riley Vaughn won gold in the shot put with a throw of 12.4 meters.
