Woodmont volleyball bests NMB in five sets for 5A Division 2 state title, first school state crown since 1979 By WORTHY EVANS HSSR Contributing Writer Columbia - The Woodmont volleyball team may have been the underdog in facing defending 5A Division 2 defending champion North Myrtle Beach , but the Wildcats were playing without pressure. Woodmont took the Chiefs to five sets at Dreher High School Thursday night, and when sophomore outside hitter Mallory Mizell slammed a kill shot into the middle of the North Myrtle Beach court for the 15 th point of set 5, she was quickly buried in a pile of blue-uniformed teammates in front of the net. The final hit clinched the Wildcats’ 3-2 victory over the Chiefs, who barely won the first set and dropped the second and third sets before winning the fourth to force the deciding set. “I told them, the pressure is not on us, the pressure is on the other team,” Woodmont head coach Haleigh Horgan said. “We’ve never been here. And for them to come back and fight through five sets, it was brilliant.” The win also the school’s first state championship since 1979. Woodmont got off to a hot start in the match, winning the first four points and eventually taking a 6-1 lead in the first set. North Myrtle Beach, led by senior outside hitter Clara Cloninger , eventually worked their way out of the deficit. The Chiefs battled to a 24-24 stalemate and won the first set 27-25. The Wildcats could have faltered, but instead kept the pressure on North Myrtle Beach throughout the second and third sets. Besides Mizell, senior hitter Aubrie Walker and junior middle blocker Kendall Cobb began delivering kills and blocks along the net. Woodmont won the second set 25-21, but in the third set the Wildcats got more effective in blocking and spiking along the net, building a 10-4 lead early in the set and closing it out with back-to-back kills from Cobb for a 25-18 win. “She has been something else this season,” Horgan said of Cobb. “That was a really big answer for us this season, setting the middle and getting them (opponents) off of our outsides so our outsides could open up. I’m really big on establishing those middles and then opening up the net, and they did just that.” North Myrtle Beach won the first four points of the fourth set and held on to win 25-20, which evened the score at 2-2. “It was just about grit and resilience and competing,” Chiefs head coach Jenn Loeswick said. “Our seniors came out on fire early on in that set. I just told them to go out and compete, that’s all you can control. You can’t control the win-loss, you can’t control the points, but you can work hard, have fun, be a good teammate.” Both teams battled for an advantage in the fifth set. The Chiefs had a slight advantage with a 13-11 lead following Lily Loeswick’s and Madison Johnson’s unanswered block that landed in the Woodmont court. Horgan called a timeout after that point. “I said ‘trust your training,’” she said. “I’m going to be honest, my team has prayed over the season and at that last time out we prayed. I told them trust in your training, be calm, and we prayed just for the calm. It definitely was answered.” On the next point, Cloninger’s serve was out, cutting the Chiefs’ lead to 13-12. Woodmont server Samantha Willis hit the ball in play, and Cobb tied the game at 13 on a kill. Willis hit the ball in play again, and Mizell’s kill set Woodmont up for the match point. After a short volley, Mizell took flight near the center of the net and dropped the ball into an open space on the Chief’s side for the win. This year’s state championship run began last year, when Woodmont went 31-5 but fell out in the third round of the playoffs. Horgan said the culture took root in a team that went 1-14 in 2020. “Last year we had great seniors, and we wanted to change the culture,” Horgan said. “I said you’ve got to trust me, you’ve got to trust the culture, and it just bled over into this year. It was beautiful. My seniors Aubrie and Lauren ( Smith ) are captains and they embodied exactly what I wanted, and my returners came back and wanted the exact same thing. They’re all playing at high-level clubs and that’s important, but it’s just the trust in me, the trust in their teammates and the trust in their training that they can do the job.” The loss after such a hard-fought game came hard for the Chiefs, but Loeswick reminded the team, “I know this hurts a little bit, but after that hurt, make sure to not forget what a great season we had, what an incredible match this was,” she told the team. “This group has a huge place in my heart. They played with so much heart and battled. They played for each other all the time. They played with grit and determination. If you’re going to go out, this was the one you want to go out with.”

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.”

 By David Shelton Senior Writer Myrtle Beach – For the most part, the varsity sports head coaching roster at Myrtle Beach High will return intact for the 2025-26 school year. However, two varsity sports will have new leaders when the new year begins as athletic director John Cahill hires new head coaches in volleyball and girls soccer. Taking over the girls volleyball program will be Emma Ann Lay , a former all-region performer and recent graduate of Winthrop University, where she was a member of the volleyball program. In girls soccer, the new head coach will be Levi Gray , who brings a wealth of experience as a club coach and player development director. As for the rest of the varsity staff, returning coaches will again take the reins of their respective programs. Mickey Wilson is set to return for his 17 th season as the head football coach. Wilson has guided the Seahawks to three state championships (2010, 2013, 2018) and two state runner-up finishes (2009, 2019). Wilson has averaged 10 wins per season and 2022 was his first losing season as the Seahawks finished with a 5-7 record. Myrtle Beach has won 10 or more games nine times under Wilson’s guidance. The most successful athletic program, in terms of state championships, at Myrtle Beach is the boys tennis program. The Seahawks won the 2023 state title, going back-to-back with championships. Their bid for a three-peat came up short in a finals loss to Riverside last spring but the Seahawks bounced back with a state title in AAAAA Division II this spring. It was the 13 th state championship for the program. Jeremy Howard is the head coach of the boys tennis team. Susan Sparks is set to return as the girls tennis coach this fall while Meredith Jiorle returns as the girls cross country coach. Jiorle also is the varsity softball coach in the spring. Also in the fall, Katherine Detlaff returns to head up the boys swim program while Kaitlyn Holmes will again coach the girls swim team. Lowell Counce will again coach the girls golf team in the fall as well as the boys golf team in the spring. In basketball, Jennifer Dennison returns as the girls varsity coach, and Eric Lyons returns for his fourth season as the boys coach. Veteran Ken MacIver will continue his efforts with the wrestling program. Veteran Tim Christy is set to return as the head baseball coach next spring. Jason Himmelsbach heads up the boys soccer team. Stephen Nickerson is the boys lacrosse coach. John Sedeska (boys) and Leandra Walcott (girls) will handle track and field.