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.”

By David Shelton Senior Writer Lake View – It did not come as a big surprise when Lake View’s head baseball coach Kip Herlong retired after 32 seasons at the helm. Herlong certainly still has the energy and passion for the game but there comes a perfect time to step away. Expressing a desire to follow his son Kason’s college career at North Greenville, Herlong is ready to hand over the reins of the program. Kason Herlong capped a solid prep career by hitting .417 with 40 hits and 31 runs scored. He also was 7-1 with two saves and a 0.56 earned run average on the mound. He was selected as the Class A player of the year and played in the North-South all-star game where he was named the most valuable player for the 1A/2A/5A South all-stars. Herlong also played football and was the starting quarterback for three seasons. “It was a real blessing to coach my son for six seasons, and he worked hard and is all about this community and his teammates,” the coach said. “Because I was coaching I missed out on a lot of my daughter (Morgan) playing in college. My wife (Liz) and I are looking forward to following his college career.” Herlong, already a member of the state’s baseball coaches hall of fame, leaves behind a legacy that will not likely ever be matched at Lake View. He won 633 games and eight state championships since taking over in 1993. His teams also were state runner-up five times, including this season when the Wild Gators lost to McBee in the Class A state championship series. One of the traits that made Herlong such a success was his humility and even keel attitude. While sometimes feeling disappointment, the coach always used the game as a teaching tool to his players. After the game three loss to McBee, Herlong took the time to thank those who helped the program be a success. “It has been a great ride in such a great community,” he said. “We have met with failure and we have met with success, and we treat them the same and move forward. Our motto this season was ‘keep moving forward’ to keep one foot in front of the other and keep going. “It would have been great for our players and for our fans had we won but things don’t always turn out like you would like.” Lake View finished 2025 with a 23-7 record. Several other players had solid seasons for the Wild Gators. Chase Price contributed five wins on the mound with a 1.76 earned run average. Senior Chris McGill batted .342 with two homeruns and 23 RBIs while senior Braden Borders batted .341 with 17 RBIs. Senior Bryce King hit .311 and senior Ian Capps hit .287 with 22 RBIs. McGill, Borders and Capps were three-year starters. “We have great kids here at Lake View and they work really hard. We always have a chance with these kids. Baseball is really important to them,” Herlong said earlier this spring. Lake View has moved quickly to replace Herlong, hiring former Lancaster coach Will Celmer to the position. Celmer is a 2008 graduate of Dillon High and was coach at Lancaster from 2019-2024. Softball posts another successful season The Lake View softball program continued its winning ways in 2025, posting 17 victories and making the district finals of the Class A Lower State playoffs. Chloe Cox finished the season with a .423 batting average on 30 hits and 14 RBIs. Sarah Price hit ,435 with 12 RBIs and Hollie Scott hit .373 with 19 RBIs. Scott also handled pitching duties and had a 2.15 earned run average with 187 strikeouts. Hanna Coburn finished with a .356 batting average, adding 16 RBIs, while Kaylynn Turner hit .356.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Florence — McBee won their 5 th Class A baseball state championship since their first one in 1981, with an 8-1 win over Lake View , at Francis Marion College on May, 31 st spoiling the final game of Wild Gator head coach Kip Herlong, who is retiring after 32 seasons at the same school. McBee head coach Josh Tiller told the HSSR, after the big win, “This is an amazing feeling right now, and it is great to see all the hard work that we put in throughout the season pay off with a state championship,” said Coach Tiller. “We are super proud of Aiden Hughes going all seven innings on the mound. He had a gutsy performance tonight. “Tonight, we were finally able to get some hits with runners in scoring position and that makes a big difference in any baseball game,” said Coach Tiller. “Other than Hughes on the mound, other seniors playing for the final time tonight (for McBee) were Landon Tedder behind the plate, headed to Coker College , Cohen Reid played third base, and Colton Wallace played at short. These guys have provided a lot of leadership for our program, not just tonight, but for several seasons. We are super proud to have had them be a part of our program.” Coach Tiller said his team being able to get on the board first, with three runs in the third inning was a turning point in the game. “Being able to get an early three run lead, it made it easier to turn around and play defense,” said Coach Tiller. “Once we got momentum the game seems to go our way the rest of the way.” Hughes, tossed a five hitter in the 8-1 win for McBee. And he is still deciding on a next level program, told the HSSR, after the game, “I am blessed to have great teammates who support each other, a coaching staff that works hard to teach us the game, and we also have a great community as you saw from the crowd tonight,” said Hughes. “It was important for me being a senior to have the ball in my hand tonight. It was a pressure situation to be in, but my team mates got us an early lead and they played good defense behind me. “I have been a member of the McBee varsity since the 9th grade and I will remember this game for the rest of the life.” Coach Herlong exits a Hall of Fame career at Lake View (633-170) that began with his first state championship in 1995. Few will ever forget Lake View’s five straight state titles between 1997 and 2001, a true dynasty era for the program. Two other state titles were won in 2016 and in 2021. The 2021 was Herlong’s 8 th title and it was very special because his son Kason, was on the team as an 8 th grader on his way to a great career at Lake View. On five occasions, including his final game in coaching, the Wild Gators have finished as runners-up. So, with a crowd of players, present and past, and family members, and fans gathered around him after the disappointing loss, Coach Herlong shared some thoughts: “It has been a great ride in such a great community and you look up in the stands tonight and you see such a great crowd,” said Coach Herlong. “It’s like this in every sport at Lake View. This community is very supportive of all the teams at Lake View. We all support each other.” “We have met with failure and we have met with success, and we treat them both the same and move forward,” said Coach Herlong. “Our motto this season was to “Keep Moving Forward” to keep one foot in front of the other and keep going. “We had some bad things happen tonight, early on, and that hurt us, but we kept working hard but it didn’t work out for us tonight,” said Coach Herlong. “It would have bene great for our players and fans had we won but things do not always turn out like you hope they might. “We had a couple more errors than we are used to having tonight, and I felt like the pressure got to us tonight and it just didn’t work-out,” said Coach Herlong. “We had an error here and there, left some runners on base early that we could not bring in, and that is not what you want to happen in a state championship but that is what the Lord willed and we will just have to accept it and move on.” Coach Herlong said in retirement he will now be able to follow his son’s baseball career (Kason) at North Greenville University. “Because I was coaching, I missed a lot of Morgan’s (older daughter) softball games at North Greenville when she played. Now that I am retired my wife will make sure we are there to see Kason play as often as possible. “It was a real blessing to coach my son for six seasons, and he worked hard, and he is all about the community. and his teammates, so we looking forward to following his college career,” said Coach Herlong. “The other night when all the players I had been blessed to coached at Lake View, showed up for our final home game, and stayed for a group picture, that just shows you what kind of wonderful people they are. That moment meant a lot to me.” This writer covered all 8 state championship games won by Coach Herlong and the Wild Gators through the years. It will be an adjustment coming to baseball games next season at Lake View and not seeing Coach Herlong in communication with his brother Chad, a long- time assistant, when things like a pitching change might be needed. After two scoreless innings, McBee plated three runs in the bottom of the third. Manning Tolson reached on an error, and then Cohen Reid reached on a fielder’s choice as Manning forced out at second. With two out JJ Melton drew a walk. Landon Tedder then singles on an infield hit to load the base with two out. Hughes then singles on a line drive hit to left field to score Tedder and Melton to make it 2-0. Reid makes it 3-0 when he scores on a wild pitch. Lake View got one-out back-to-back singles from Bryce King and Ian Capps in the top of the 4th but both runners were stranded at first and third as the next two Wild Gator batters hit short balls to the shallow outfield to retire the side. In the bottom of the 4 th McBee made it 4-0. Manning Tolson reached on a two-out double to right field. Cohen Reid then singled him to give the Panthers a four-run lead. Lake View scored their only run of the game in the top of the 5 th inning. Holden Lee reached on a hit-by-pitch. Two batters later Herlong singled to advance Lee to second. Braden Borders then draws a walk to load the bases. Lee scored on a deep sacrifice fly ball by Chris McGill to center field that might have been a grand slam in a high school park to make the score 4-1 after five innings. In the bottom of the 5 th McBee made it 5-1. Tedder draws a one-out walk and then Hughes reaches on a hit-by-pitch. Hayden Griggs loads up the bases when he reaches on an error. Colten Wallace then hits a sacrifice fly RBI that brings in Tedder from third base. In the bottom of the 6 th inning McBee adds three insurance runs. Tolson, Reid, and Evan Norris all collect singles as the first three batters of the inning. Tolson’s pinch runner (T Wright) scores on an error to make it 6-1 while Reid and Norris advance to second and third on the error. Reid then scores on a pass ball to make it 7-1. Norris scores on a sac RBI sac fly by Tedder to make the final score 8-1. For the game, McBee had seven hits and the Panthers took advantage of three Lake View errors to produce several of their 8 runs. The Panthers were led at the plate by Tolson and Reid who each had two hits with Reid also collecting one RBI. Lake View had five hits in the deciding game three against McBee. Capps led the way with two hits. Herlong, Bryce King and Holden Lee each contributed one hit. Lee scored the team’s lone run.

Head Coach Kip Herlong with four senior starters after recent 6-2 win over McBee.

SCHSL Championship Series got started on Saturday with 12 teams in each category striving to earn a state title. It's looking to be a wet week for most of the state, we'll see how the forecast holds up for these games to be completed. Softball 5/26 - Class 5A Div 1. - Byrnes @ Summerville 5/26 - Class 5A Div. 2 - Catawba Ridge @ St. James 6p 5/27 - Class AAAA - York @ Gray Collegiate 6:30p 5/27 - Class AAA - BHP @ Aynor 6p5/27 - 5/27 - Class AA - Saluda @ East Clarendon 7p 5/27 - Class A - Latta @ Lewisville 6p 5/28 - Class 5A Div 1. - Summerville @ Byrnes 5/28 - Class 5A Div. 2 - St. James @ Catawba Ridge 6p 5/28 - Class AAAA - Gray Collegiate @ York 5/29 - Class AAA - Aynor @ BHP 6p 5/29 - Class AA - Lewisville @ Latta 5/29 - Class A - East Clarendon @ Saluda 7p Game 3s (if needed) on 5/30 Baseball - Games Started Saturday, May 24 th with games 5/27, 5/29, and 5/31 5/24 - Class AAA - Southside Christian 14 , Oceanside 1 5/24 - Class AA - Philip Simons 5 , Batesburg-Leesville 3 5/24 - Class A - McBee 5 , LakeView 3 5/27 - Class 5A Div. 1 - Lexington @ James Island 6:30p 5/27 - Class 5A Div. 2 -Catawba Ridge @ Berkeley 5/27 - Class AAAA - Airport @ Seneca 5/27 - Class AAA - Oceanside @ Southside Christian 5/27 - Class AA - Philip Simons @ Batesburg-Leesville 5/27 - Class A - McBee @ Lake View 5/29 - Class 5A Div. 1 -Lexington@ James Island 6:30p 5/29 - Class 5A Div. 2 -Berkeley @ Catawba Ridge 5/29 - Class AAAA - Seneca @ Airport Game 3s (if needed) on 5/31

McBee comes back and holds on to win Game 1 in the Class A title series 5-3

By David Shelton Senior Writer Lake View – When only nine players can take the field, a baseball team that loses four or five starters from one year to the next can find the road to success pretty difficult. At larger high schools in the state, losing players to graduation is not as impactful as it is at smaller Class A schools. The difference in sheer numbers of potential players can be astounding. Some AAAAA schools will cut 50 to 75 players in a given spring. Most Class A schools don’t have enough interest to even make cuts. If you come out, you make the team. Lake View head baseball coach Kip Herlong is beginning his 32 nd season at the helm. He has won eight state titles and more than 600 games as the mentor of the Wild Gators. You can bet that over 32 years he has faced losing quality players from year to year. This spring, Herlong has only a handful of returning starters from last year’s 20-5 team that lost to Latta in the finals of the Lower State series . The coach entered this season needing to replace his entire outfield, some productive bats, and other key personnel. Not a problem. Herlong has stated many times that the key to his program’s success is the work ethic of his players. Young players grow up in the system and enter their time to play with the same expectations as the veteran players. Herlong has never been one to worry about how many games his team will win. The focus always has been on attitude and effort. He has long believed that if his team’s put in the work and play the game the right way, the wins will take care of themselves. “We have great kids here at Lake View and they work really hard. We always have a chance with these kids. Baseball is really important to them.” The 2025 season has begun with Lake View winning seven of their first nine games, losing to Fairmont (NC) and AAA Aynor. Herlong has seen some good and some bad early on but likes the team’s potential to compete. “It’s kind of hard to tell right now what we are,” he said. “I think we can be a competitive team but I don’t know how competitive we are with the better teams that we will play. Time will tell as we go along. I think our pitching and infield defense are the strengths. We have some new guys in the outfield and we have to improve offensively.” The key returners to this year’s team are senior first baseman Chris McGill and senior shortstop Kason Herlong . Both also are the top two pitchers. McGill hit .483 with 10 homers and 38 RBI’s last season while Herlong hit .526 with three homers and 22 RBI’s in 2024. Aiding on the mound are returning junior Chase Price and a mixture of arms that will develop into their roles as the season progresses. Returning at catcher is senior three-year starters Braden Borders while senior Ian Capps is a fourth-year starter in the middle. Bryce King returns at third base. Price and McGill will share duties at first base. Junior Landon King has been a solid surprise as the new centerfielder. Holden Lee, Tadd Lovett and Seth Deese also are working in the corner outfield spots. Softball off to 3-0 start The Lake View softball team opened 2025 with three wins as they look to build into another state championship contender this spring. The Wild Gators out-scored their first three opponents, 37-8, and look to continue that explosive offense as they face tough competition in the region. Coach Brandy Huggins has four main players returning to this year’s team. Senior Hollie Scott is back at first base but is the team’s No. 1 pitcher this spring. Scott also is one of the top returning hitters. Sophomore Chloe Cox returns as a starter and is working at shortstop. She hit .365 last year. Back at third base is Kaleigh Blackmon , now a three-year starter. Moving from the middle infield to catcher is Hanna Coburn , a freshman. While Scott is the primary pitcher, Haley Miller also has seen some action early while playing first base. Other players seeing time on the infield include Sophia Rogers, Callie Smith, Paisley Alford, Brilee Schirra, Maddison Strickland, and Madi Hunt. Outfielders include Kaylnn Turner, Katima Genwright, Sarah Price and Carlie Matthews. Rounding out the squad this spring are Summer Hilburn, Emmalee Miller and Lilly Hatcher .

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Lake View —The Lake View girls’ basketball team, the defending Class A state champions in South Carolina who finished with a 26-4 record, competed well in the month of December, despite key graduation losses, finishing 4-1 and the Wild Gators are focused on another deep play-off run. How do you replace the graduated point guard Jaleya Ford who scored 1,707 points in her career at Lake View, along with 661 rebounds and 121 assists? Small forward Gwendasia Page had 1,093 career points and 1,045 rebounds in her storied career at Lake View, along with 276 assists, so she will be hard to replace also. These two con-census Class A all-state players will be missed as Lake View, as the team works hard to defend the title they won in a highly competitive game a year ago against Denmark - Olar when Lake View rallied for a 49-46 win. Both teams entered the fourth period last year tied at 35 each. The player stepping up to fill those shoes is sophomore shooting guard Zy’Kiara Waters who was averaging around 20 points a game before she tweaked her knee in a win over Johnsonville game recently. “She is getting an MRI ,and we will know exactly how bad the knee issue is by January, 8,” said veteran head coach James McMillian who has won 167 games at Lake View. “She is walking around okay and we need her talent and leadership back on the floor so we are hoping for the best when the MRI is done.” Waters had 18 points in the opening season win over Carolina Academy (36-35), 16 points against West Columbus , NC (50-37), and 24 points in a win over Hannah - Pamplico (54-33). Waters had scored 17 points in the 36-35 win over Johnsonville when she hurt her knee in the 4 th period. Waters did not play against Pee Dee Academy and the Eagles dominated that game (47-10) giving Lake View their lone loss thus far in the season. “Our first goal is to get healthy and build towards a good run in the play-offs in the play-offs,” said Coach McMillian. “We graduated three starters off our championship team last year so we know we have some work to do. “While we are developing experience at the guard position this year, we feel like we have a lot of experience at the forward position,” said Coach McMillian. “I am stressing to my players that we will play this season one game at the time with the goal of being 1-0 each and every game we play. If we can be 1-0 after every game we play, then competing for a region title and having a deep play-off run will take care of itself.” The next player on the roster with the most experience is senior PF Ta’kiyah Waters who is averaging around six points and six rebounds a game. “She is our top rebounder and shot blocker,” said Coach McMillian. “She controls things in the paint for us.” Lake View is starting a 7 th grader (PG Callie Smith ) for only the second time in Coach McMillian’s tenure at Lake View. “ Olivia McDaniel started as a 7 th grader and Callie Smith is our 7 th grade starting point guard this season,” said Coach McMillian. Smith is averaging five points and three assists a game. Smith had her best game with 14 points against West Columbus, NC. Senior Da’Myra Page is starting as a senior SF after not playing her junior season. She had been a player on the team her freshman and sophomore years . Page is averaging around seven points after five games of the season. Senior PF Alexis Blackmon rounds out the starting five for Lake View and she is averaging around four points and four rebounds a game. The first two players off the bench include 8 th grade shooting guard Sophia Rogers who will start while Waters is out, along with PF Shayla Johnson who is averaging four points a game. Johnson is also a good ball handler. Freshman combo-guard Aura Green is also a first sub off the bench and she is getting better with every game according to Coach McMillian. Rounding out the team are 9 th grade forward Ny’Kya Jones , 8 th forward Aaliah Harley , 8 th grade combo guard Delilah Jones , 7 th grade forward Sarah Bethea , and 7 th grade guard Kloye Davis along with 9 th grade forward LaShanna Jordon .  The team will play Carvers Bay and Latta in early January games hoping to get Waters off the injured list. Coach McMillian is assisted by volunteer coach Raymond Foxworth .