Spring Valley 3-peats as AAAAA boys track and field champion

Dennis Brunson hssr.com Associate Editor • May 18, 2024

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Vikings use strong finish in field events to pull away

Columbia – Spring Valley High School has one of the most storied track and field programs – both boys and girls – in the state of South Carolina. The Vikings boys won the program’s ninth state title on Friday, claiming the AAAAA state title at its very own Harry Parone Stadium.

However, this Spring Valley team helped the program accomplish something it never had before. The Vikings won a third straight state title, all in AAAAA, for the first time.

“It’s awesome,” SV head coach Matt Oberly said. “We were returning a lot of guys. Winning two in a row was awesome. We were returning a lot of guys, had a lot more pieces. Winning three in a row is, wow, unbelievable.

It’s incredible. The AAAAA level is so good. To win three in a row in AAAAA is awesome.”

Spring Valley easily won with a total of 99 points. Nation Ford finished second with 58 followed by Hillcrest with 48 and Spartanburg with 47.50. T.L. Hanna and Wando tied for fith with 36. Dorman and Rock Hill tied for seventh with 33 and Fort Mill and Goose Creek tied for ninth with 30.

It was actually a tight competition about two-thirds of the way through the 18-event meet. At one point, Nation Ford was in the lead with 50 compared to 49 for the Vikings. Hillcrest and Spartanburg were both within 10 points as well.

SV blew everyone else away the rest of the way, starting with the high jump event. Spring Valley senior Jameer Williams won the event with a leap of 6 feet, 6 inches. Fellow senior Caleb Cooper finished second and junior Landon Drinkard finished eighth.

“Going first, second and eighth in the high jump is where the meet turned,” Oberly said. “That was awesome for those two seniors to go 1-2 in their last high school track meet.”

The Vikings were victorious in four other events besides the high jump. Senior Devan Crumpton, who will run at the University of South Carolina, won the 400-meter dash in a time of 46.70 seconds. Senior Amir Joe won the 110 hurdles in 14.90, the 4x400-meter relay team won in 3 minutes, 18.09 seconds, and the 4x800 team won in 7:57.61.

The 4x4 team was made up of senior Josh Nelson, senior Jakori Herring, sophomore Joseph Robinson and Crumpton. The 4x8 team included senior Anderson Walker, junior Jackson Inmon, Robinson and Herring.

Second-place finishers for the Vikings were Herring in the 400 hurdles and senior Joey Swick in the pole vault. Crumpton finished third in the 200 and sophomore Brendan Hitchcock was third in the 3,200-meter run.

Herring finished fourth in the 110 hurdles, senior Jaylen Bostic was fifth in the triple jump, junior Sam Sexton was seventh in the pole vault and Nelson finished eighth in the triple jump.

Being the 2-time defending state champion, Oberly knew his squad had a good chance to 3-peat coming into the season. However, he said it wasn’t as easy as one might think.

“We started out a little slower than we had in the past,” Oberly said. “We were kind of up and down, but we got pieces put in the right place. We got healthy. We had a little bit of a roller coaster season, but we came out of spring break and started to get healthy, really started to get focused on what we wanted to do.”

Senior Jake Liebert of Wando and junior Neale Johnson of Nation Ford both won two individual events. Liebert won the 3,200 in 9:14.32 and the 1,600 in 4:17.60. Johnson claimed the 400 hurdles in 53.41 and won the long jump with a jump of 23-04.

Senior Evan Daniels of Goose Creek won the 100 dash in 10.47, Nation Ford senior Xavier Dixon won the 200 in 21.24, junior Knox Eaton of Spartanburg won the 800 in 1:55.61, West Ashley senior Caleb Holman won the triple jump with a jump of 49-03, senior Isaiah Palmer of Rock Hill won the pole vault with a height of 14-11, St. James senior Joshua Sterlng won the discus with a throw of 178-02, senior Jalen Barry of Fort Dorchester won the javelin with a throw of 192-05, and West Ashley’s Hampton O’Donnell won the shot put with a throw of 53-10.

The Hillcrest 4x100 relay team won in a time of 41.43. Members of the team are sophomore Drequan Smith, senior Havyn Spain, senior Damien Watts and senior Grant Holliday.

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