Athletic Director Molly Miller has outstanding coaches who believe in the core values of Christ Church and the vision statement for CCE.

Chapin high school hires Billie Williams as Athletic Director after retirement of longtime AD Ronnie Wessinger.

By Neill Kirkpatrick Special to the HSSR  Moncks Corner – Head coach Shaun Welch begins his second season as the head of the St. John’s Christian football program after a solid first season where the Cavaliers ended the season in the first round of the SCISA Class AA playoffs. Before taking over the head job the Newberry College graduate had been an assistant coach for three years at SJCA. He began putting his stamp on the program last season and looks for year two to see more progress from his team. “Last year was my first year as head coach and I was proud of the way the team responded and played throughout the year. We went 4-6 in regular season and 3-2 in region. Our region losses came from Pee Dee Academy, which on the state championship and Bethesda Academy, which was the state runner up. We also took our first lost a season from Pinewood Prep the 3a state champion,” said coach. Coach continued, “My first goal when I first took over the program was to make sure that our team was disciplined, learn life lessons, give all our glory to the Lord, and get better every day, not just us football players, but as young men.” On the field coach Welch and his staff put in a spread offense that relay’s heavily on RPO’s but stressing the run game. Defensively, the one thing the Cav’s struggle with his size along the defensive front so they play with three down linemen with the rest of the defensive made up of athletic players that can get the football. Returning to coach Welch’s staff are Matthew Myers and Stephen Billiot . Myers handles the offensive and defensive lines and brings a wealth of experience to Cavaliers. Billiot is in his third year at SJCA and is the team’s defensive coordinator and running back’s coach. Ryan Jackson and Christopher Oliver will be in there first year at SJCA. Jackson will coach the wide receivers and the defensive backs while Oliver will handle the quarterbacks as well as help with the receivers and the defensive backs. “We stress to our kids discipline conditioning and getting better every day. Each week we must get better as we make it to our region into our playoff run, of course the first few games matter, but we want to progress every week. We have a veteran group returning so we are expecting a good season but we have a lot of work to do before the season starts,” coach Welch said. .

Michael Jenkins is the new head coach for the Summerville Boys Basketball program.

Spartanburg Day School athletic director Mike Cerino.

OCA athletic director Mark Meyer , who also is the varsity girls soccer coach.

Ken Cribb is the Johnsonville high school’s athletic director and also is the head football coach.

Dutch Fork defensive end Julian Walker recorded 50 tackles, 19 TFLs, 11 sacks in the 2024 season.

By David Shelton Senior Writer Little River – Entering year five of his tenure as the athletic director at North Myrtle Beach High , Anthony Heilbronn feels his program is on the verge of big things. Recent facility improvements have inspired strong commitment from the athletes and a strong group of coaches is making the most of their opportunities to compete at the highest level. “I think the coaching staff we have is one of the best in the Grand Strand area,” Heilbronn said. “Collectively, I would put them up against any other staff as they work hard and do the best they can to bring out the best in our kids. I love our coaches and am excited to see what they can do this upcoming season.” There will be a new wrestling coach this winter but that person has not been named yet. The rest of the coaching staff should return intact. Girls volleyball head coach Jenn Loeswick guided her program to a state title in her first season as head coach. Loeswick is a former assistant in the program. Greg Hill is back for his fourth season as head football coach. Brian Alderson is returns as the varsity baseball coach. Alderson led the Chiefs to back-to-back appearances in the AAAA Lower State finals om 2023 and 2024. Krystal Mante is back for her second season as the head softball coach. Ryan Walker is set to return as the varsity boys basketball coach while Heather Kearney will return for year three with the girls basketball program. The Lady Chiefs advanced to the state finals this past season. Alex Booth coaches cross country and track and Miranda Ruppe coaches cross country as well. Ryan Dinnant will coach boys track in the spring. Kyle Cavallini will be the boys golf coach and Wendy Hilburn coaches the girls golf team. Zach Lytle (boys) and Danielle Lowrimore (girls) will coach the lacrosse teams. Joel Schmaltz and Kristen Henley are the swim coaches and Brian Patterson is the coach in boys and girls tennis. Dru Brooks coaches the boys volleyball team. Zach Brittain is the boys soccer coach and Kelsey Winkler is the girls soccer coach. Overall, the athletic department has seen significant upgrades in facilities over the last few years. Thanks to the Horry County school district, North Myrtle Beach has had about two million dollars of facility improvement, namely the football stadium and track since 2022. The district, as part of a county-wide upgrade of area schools facilities, refurbished the track and installed artificial turf on the football field. The track was completed in the spring of 2022 and the football field was ready by the start of that season. The turf cost is estimated at $1.2 million while the track upgrade cost about $800,000 dollars. The stadium also has a new lighting system and also has a new video board. The softball and baseball facilities have the best playing surfaces around and new scoreboards. “It’s a joy to work here with so many great people,” said Heilbronn. “A lot of great things have happened over the last few years and we continue to make improvements where we can. We had a good year overall in terms of our teams competing in the region and getting playoff opportunities, Now, the goal is to do even better.” With the reclassification of schools by the South Carolina High School League last winter, North Myrtle Beach moved up from AAAA to Class AAAAA for the 2024-26 school year. They also now compete placed in a new region with the region comprised of Horry County schools. Once the state playoffs begin, all Chiefs teams compete in the Division II-AAAAA state playoffs with schools closer to their own enrollment figures. The larger classification did not adversely affect the success rate for North Myrtle Beach, according to Heilbronn. “The past season was a successful one for us as we won two state championships (girls volleyball and individual girls shot put) and seven region championships in our first year in AAAAA, Heilbronn said. “We put a lot of kids on the all-region and all-state teams that come back (this year), so hopefully we can build upon last year's successes and push even farther this year.”