Abbeville prepared for move to Class A
Abbeville – According to athletic director Maggie Jameson, Abbeville’s reclassification from Class AA tp Class A is overall a better situation for the student-athletes in her athletic program.
While Abbeville has more than held their own in Class AA in football, the AA classification and region placement caused significant challenges in terms of competitiveness, travel and overall student achievement. Moving to Class A will help to rectify those issues, according to Jameson. Abbeville was initially placed back in AA during the South Carolina High School League’s reclassification but was granted relief during its appeal process.
“Transitioning to Class A allows for our sports outside of football to have a better opportunity to be more competitive, specifically our female sports,” Jameson says. “Our (enrollment) numbers reflected being in Class A. Being in class A allows for much shorter travel times, with the average being roughly 45 minutes each way versus the over an hour that we were driving in AA.
“The difference in travel will mean shorter nights with away games. It also give us an opportunity to play the same students they played while growing up in the recreation department.”
Jameson is pleased overall with the success of the athletic program during the 2023-24 school year. She is hopeful for even more success across the board in 2024-25.
“Last year we ended with several region championships and we had a state champion in track. Next year we hope to continue the growth and success in Class A. I look forward to seeing how our teams compete in our new region.”
The athletic director continues to be appreciative of the support the athletics program receives from a community that steps up to support all of the sports at the school. Few small schools can match the level of community support in Abbeville.
In terms of personnel, Jameson says there is a new volleyball coach as Sara Wojtjowski takes over the program. She is the only new varsity sport head coach.
Jamie Nickles returns to lead the powerhouse football program this fall. Nickles has guided the Panthers to eight state titles and is the winningest coach in school history with more than 200 victories.
Daniel Little will return as head baseball coach and Doug Belcher returns to coach boys basketball. Darrell Crawford is the varsity girls basketball coach while Chris Guire coaches cross country in the fall and girls soccer in the spring. Frank Smith also coaches girls soccer.
Arnaldo Sabatino is the boys soccer coach and Andy Hagood coaches the boys golf team. Tim Collins returns as head softball coach. Ben Glace is the head wrestling coach. Coaching track are Pete Calhoun and Rebecca Holland.
Along with community support, Jameson sees a coaching staff that works extra hard to give their athletes the best opportunity to compete and win championships. And, coaching at Abbeville is about more than wins and losses.
“Our coaches do a phenomenal job of not only coaching our athletes in their respective sports, but also coaching them in the game of life,” she says. “They work so hard to ensure that we succeed on the field, on the court, on the mat, and in our community.
“Abbeville has the most supportive fans who come out to events by the bus load and are always there to support out athletes in every way possible,” says Jameson, who is entering her third year as athletic director. “Without the community, the fans, the businesses, we could not run our athletic department.”
