Mountain View Girls, Waccamaw Boys Defend AAA Titles
Mountain View Girls and Waccamaw Boys Earn SCHSL State Track & Field Titles.
By Dennis Brunson
hssr.com Associate Editor
Columbia – David Milliken has been the boys track and field head coach at Waccamaw High School for two seasons, the same amount of time Mike Johnson has been the girls track head coach at Mountain View Prep.
The two coaches, along with their respective teams, have met at the same place both years to conclude their seasons: the podium of the AAA state meet to accept state championship trophies.
MVP, which is located in the Upstate in Spartanburg, and WHS, which is on the Grand Strand in Pawleys Island, defended their titles in dominant fashion on Friday at Spring Valley’s Harry Parone Stadium.
The Stars were victorious in six events and scored 155 points, easily outdistancing second place Greer Middle College’s 70 to win the girls title. The Warriors set a AAA boys record with 127 points while second place went to Powdersville with 61.50 points.
Mountain View is a charter school that is just in its second year of existence, so it knows nothing except winning state titles.
“I think this year was more of an overall team effort,” Johnson said. “We were getting points from everywhere, sprints, jumps, throws. It was just an overall team effort.”
For Waccamaw, last year’s title was its first after coming up short on a couple of other occasions. The Warriors had to take a different approach this season.
“We definitely had the mentality that we were the hunted this year,” said Milliken, who was an assistant coach for one year prior to taking over. “They kept that in mind every time we competed, that people were chasing us.
“We qualified in every event in the state meet except for the high jump. We just wanted to try to get them to buy into the mindset that we would leave it all on the track every time.”
MVP set the stage for its dominance in the very first event, setting a state record in winning the 4x100-meter relay. The team of Kimora Pardlow, Brionna Boggains, Akyra Chamberlain and Keanna Tate won in a time of 45.97 seconds.
“That was just a great way to start the day,” Johnson said in an understatement. “That gave us a spark.”
The Stars also won the 4x400 relay. The team of Amari Rambert, Aryana Armstrong, Chamberlain and Tate won in 3 minutes, 49.46 seconds.
Tate finished first in both the 200- and 400-meter dashes. She won the 200 in 24.09 and the 400 in 55.02.
Mountain View claimed the top four spots in the 200 with Boggains finishing second, Chamberlain third and Armstrong fourth. Armstrong finished second in the 400 while Serena Taylor was sixth.
Rambert took home the goal in the 100 hurdles in 1:03.27 with Nyla Harris finishing third. Harris won the high jump with a height of 05-05.
Chamberlain, Boggains and Pardlow went 2-3-4 in the 100 dash. Avery Richards was second in the discus and fourth in the shotput, Cameron Wilson was third in the javelin, Taylor was fourth in the triple jump, and Italia Riches was eighth in the pole vault.
Mountain View doesn’t have a home track, but it did gain access to the North Greenville University facilities this year – a 40-minute drive. That didn’t deter the Stars.
“Our whole thing this year was finish the mission,” Johnson said. “We wanted to go b back-to-back. We felt like if everybody continued to train hard and injuries stayed away, we’d have a chance to do it.”
For Waccamaw, not only did it qualify in each event except one, it scored points in each of those events on Friday. The Warriors won four events, but scored points by placing in 18 other slots.
The 4x4 relay team won in a time of 3:20.77. The team included William Howard, Orian Nesmith, Adrian Grate Jr. and Wade Leventis.
Grate won the 200 in 21.97 with Leventis finishing third. Grate also finished second in the 100.
Leventis won the 400 in 47 seconds flat, according to the official results. However, according to Milliken, Leventis finished in 46.99, which meant he reached his goal of breaking 47 seconds.
Howard finished fifth and Nesmith seventh in the 400.
The other individual winner was Wilson Rutherford V in the 3,200 run in 9:29.83. Rutherford also finished second in the 1,600 run.
Xavier Greggs came in second in the long jump. The 4x1 relay team of RJ Rogers, Andre Grate, Jhustyn Funnye and Adrian Grate Jr., and the 4x8 team of Braxton Haynes, Howard, William Martin and Aden Perry both finished second.
Andre Grate was third in the 110 hurdles, Vinny Cegledy was fourth in the javelin with Andre Grate seventh, Kevin Jackson was fifth in the shot put, Mason Dvorshock was fifth in the pole vault, Martin finished sixth in the 800, Kamari Smith was sixth in the triple jump, Leon Womack was sixth in the discus, and Leander McCarthy was sixth in the 400 hurdles while Talib Turner was seventh,
“I couldn’t be more proud of this team scratching and clawing and getting every point,” Milliken said. “I’m just super proud of their perseverance.”\
