By Dennis Brunson hssr.com Associate Editor Orangeburg – The Orangeburg Preparatory School girls track and field program has now started putting state championship rings on the other hand. The Indians won their sixth consecutive state championship on May 1, winning the SCISA Division II crown at the Orangeburg Prep Athletic Complex . Orangeburg Prep head coach Brooks Smith said bringing home state title trophies never gets old. “tt’s always nice to win,” Smith said. “This one was a little tougher for as coaches because we knew we had a strong team. It was hard for us to lose on paper, so that made it more stressful for us as coaches whereas we were able to use the underdog role the last couple of years.” The Indians won with 130 points with First Presbyterian of Shannon Forest finishing second with 112. Spartanburg Day School was third with 91while Thomas Sumter Academy finished fourth with 40 and Greenwood Christian School fifth with 28. Orangeburg Prep used its depth to pick up the victory as 13 athletes scored points. The Indians were led by junior Mary Legare Delaney , who was the high point scorer in the state meet for the second consecutive year. Delaney won two events and finished second in two others to score 36 points. She won the 400-meter dash in a time of 1 minute, 00.48 seconds and won the long jump with a distance of 17 feet, 1 inch. She finished second in the 200 in 26.61 seconds and second in the triple jump in 33-05. “Mary Legare brings a lot of points to the table,” Smith said with a laugh. “She’s just such a competitor. She trains hard and expects to go out and win.” Smith said Delaney’s victory in the 400 along with sophomore Naomi McCutchen’s fifth-place finish were pivotal in Orangeburg Prep coming away with a comfortable victory. “When we were trying to figure out who to put where, we the 400 is where we decided she needed to be,” Smith said of Delaney, who owns the school record in the 400 but didn’t run it as much this year as in years past. “The coaches said, ‘We need you there.’ We have a vigorous 400-meter program that we do. “Picking up 12 points (10 for Delaney and 2 for McCutchen who also had a fifth-place finish in the javelin at 88-09)) in that event was huge. It took the pressure off of when it came to the final even of the 4x4(00-meter) relay.” Freshman Blakely Garrick had the Indians’ other first-place finish. She won the 400 hurdles in 1:09.80. She finished second in the 100 hurdles in 17.88 and fifth in the triple jump at 29.05 1/4 to finish with 20 points. Sophomore Gee Gee Riley finished second in points with 22. She finished second in the 400 hurdles (1:10.31) and third in both the long jump (16-02 7/8) and the triple jump (31-08). She also ran a leg on the second-place 4x100-meter relay team (52.53) along with seventh-grader Carson Cue , McCutchen and junior Emmaline Dangerfield . “Gee Gee is like our Swiss Amry knife,” Smith said. “We’ll try her at one event this week and have her in our back pocket when we might need her for something else.” Morgan Newsome was the lone senior to score points. She finished second in the pole vaul with a height of 08-06. Eighth-grader Jordyn Baldwin was fourth at 06-11 7/8 and freshman Ella Sarvis was fifth (06-11 7/8). Eighth-grader Kennedy Lawtson finished third in both the 100 hurdles (18.15) and the 400 hurdles (1:14.19. Cue finished fifth in the 800 run (237.22). The 4x400 relay team of McCutchen, eighth-grader Erika Martin , Lawton and Cue finished second (4:26.16) and the 4x800 team of Cue, Laston, eighth-grader Delilah Howe and eighth-grader Hannah Bair finished third (11L01.56). Smith said the secret to Orangeburg Prep’s success is how it works together as a unit. “There is no doubl that this is a team that works together,” he said. “These girls all pulled for each other, believed in each other and helped each other out.”jUNI LIVINGSTON, WILLIAMS, JUDY BASDEBALL ALL-REGION Junior Marshall Livingston , junior Maxx Judy and sophomore Cholly Williams were selected to the All-Region 1-AAA baseball team. Livingston led the Indians in hitting with a .360 batting average. Judy finished with a .325 average and Williams finished at .320. After losing its entire starting lineup from last year’s AAA state runner-up team, Orangeburg Prep finished the year with a 13-13 record. The Indians went 1-2 in the state tournament. They lost to Hilton Head Prep , the team they lost to in the championship series, 5-0 in their first game. Orangeburg Prep rebounded to beat Patrick Henry Academy 5-4 in an elimination game. Freshman Cam Jolley hit the first pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning for a game-winning home run. The Indians were eliminated with a 4-3 loss to Spartanburg Christian Academy . SCHURLKNIGHT, LAMBRECHT, HARTZOG SOFTBALL ALL-REGION PICKS Senior shortstop Prestan Schurlknight , senior catcher Hannah Lambrecht , junior second baseman Calee Hartzog and sophomore pitcher Natalie Hall were named to the All-Region softball team. Schurlknight, who will be playing collegiately at Lander, was chosen as the Co-Region Player of the Year. She finished with a .521 batting average. Lambrecht batted .491, Hartzog hit .449 and Hall batted ,421, Orangeburg Prep finished the season with an 11-14 record. The Indians went 1-2 in the state tournament. They beat Spartanburg Christian 10-6 in the opener before falling to now 5-time state champion Pee Dee Academy 12-2 in five innings and fell to Williamsburg Academy 8-7.

Orangeburg Prep girls came out strong in game one of the SCISA tournament games.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Sumter —Having defeated Florence Christian 37-25 back in mid- December, the Orangeburg Prep (22-5) girls were favored to win the SCISA AAA girls’ basketball title when the same two teams met at the Sumter Civic Center on Feb., 28. with much more on the line.  Florence Christian led 19-14 at the half, while O-P rallied in the third period to cut the deficit to 28-26 starting the final period. However, the Eagles outscored the Indians 14-9 in the final period to win the state title 42-35. After the game, Florence Christian head coach Neil Minton was asked about his team’s improvement over the past two months. “It has all been the result of hard work, determination, and we just kept getting after it,” said Coach Minton. “I am so proud of my team, and I would like to go celebrate with them after you guys quit talking to me. “One of our key players today was Emerson Poston and she is the best and such a great kid, she’s a great person, and she is a great leader,” said Coach Minton. “She played very well on both sides of the ball today.” (Poston led the Eagles with 19 points in the title game after averaging 11.6 points during the season). What was the major difference in the team that could only muster 25 points in a loss to the Indians earlier, versus the team that put 42 points on the score sheet to win a state title? “We grew throughout the season,” said Coach Minton. “We had more bench players being able to play today and contributing positive minutes. “We had more people playing with confidence and they were stronger with the ball,” said Coach Minton. “All the little stuff we worked on helped us improve and we rely on our defense. I thought we played great half-court defense today.” Coch Minton gave a shout-out to his three senior starters who will be moving on. “ Leah Lambert is one of our unsung heroes and she is one of the better passing Post players around,” said Coach Minton. “She really knows the game, and she played really strong today. “Senior Anna Kate Huggins is one of our most important players defensively as Emerson is to us offensively,” said Coach Minton. “She sets the tone for us on defense. “ Demi Green is our third senior starter who is also a good leader and she plays well on both sides of the ball also,” said Coach Minton. Coach Minton said he talked about a key adjustment the team needed to make at the half when the Eagles had a 19-14 lead. “I felt like if we could make our lead a little bigger, it would eventually force them out of their triangle and two defense, and other zone defenses, and it would give us a little more room to work our offense. “However, it was important that Bailey Johnson , Charlotte Granger , and Demi Green also hit shots against that triangle and two defenses that we faced,” said Coach Minton. “We also did a better job of getting the ball in the middle of their press break.” Coach Minton, who is also the head football coach at Florence Christian now has four state titles in football and basketball over a 25-year coaching career. After a long post- game meeting with her hard-working team, veteran O-P head coach Jan Stoudenmire emerged with tears in her eyes. “We didn’t play very well today, and we have not been held to 35 points all year,” said Coach Stoudenmire. We just could not get the ball to go into the basket and that is what happened. “We made a few mental mistakes also, but you can’t take anything away from them,” said Coach Stoudenmire. “They have a great team, and a great coach, and they played hard and you could tell that they wanted to win a lot more than we did. “We got here and I am very proud of that and the hard work from our team all season,” said Coach Stoudenmire. “No one thought we would be back to the championship game this year, and our team is like a big family. They are going to come out of this bigger than life and they will be alright. “Most of the players on this team came to me as 5 th graders in our feeder programs and we have watched them grow, develop, and even make mistakes,” said Coach Stoudenmire. “We watch them do great things on and off the court also. I feel blessed and so fortunate to be able to coach them and I am proud of every player on this team. “We’ll keep working hard and trust me we will be back next season,” said Coach Stoudenmire. “We are not going anywhere.” Coach Stoudenmire said the focus on half-time adjustments was centered around the team shooting better in the second half. “We missed some shots we usually make so we talked about getting good looks on offense and getting the ball to go in the basket,” said Coach Stoudenmire. “Their match-up zone defense played well against our offense too.” Coach Stoudenmire cited the defensive play of senior leader Preston Schurlknight who will be joining her older sister in the Lander College softball program next season. “Preston was all over the court tonight, busting her behind on defense, and she is such an amazing kid. She does so many things on the court that never shows up in a stats box. “I’ll be coaching the softball team this Spring, and I can’t wait to see her on the softball field,” said Coach Stoudenmire. “With her leadership and talent, we are hoping to make a deep run in softball also. “We have a great group of seniors to go along with Preston,” said Coach Stoudenmire. “ Hannah Lambrecht has been on the team for a long time, and she has been one of our key leadership players the past two seasons. She is very good with the ball in her hands and runs the point very well. Our other two seniors are Jayme Culler and Kate Holstein , and they have all helped lay a good foundation for the program going forward.” Junior guard Mary Legare Delaney led the Indians with 15 points in the state championship game. “Mary has picked up where her older sister left off in our program, and she played well last year as a sophomore,” said Coach Stoudenmire. “We are very excited about having her back next season.” Beyond Delaney’s 15 points, Schurlknight had seven points for OP against the Eagles while Lambrecht and Culler contributed four points each. Holstein finished with three points also. Behind Poston’s 19 points for the Eagles were Johnson (8), Granger (5), Lambert (4), Huggins (3), and Green (3). The SCISA AAA girl’s all- tournament team included Schurknight and Delaney from O-P along with Johnson, Huggins, and Poston from Florence Christian. The other member was Kylee Finley from St. Johns Christian.

Sumter - The SCISA state basketball championship games at the Sumter Civic Center some of the best games in recent memory. The final game with Greenwood Christian vs Spartanburg Christian went to triple OT to determine the champion. 

Orangeburg Prep senior Avery Ravenell is averaging 23 pts per game and on pace for another 400 point season.

HHP rallies from 3-1 deficit with 4-run 6th to win program's first ever baseball championship

Game 3 in SCISA AAA baseball championship series to be played Monday at Dorchester Academy beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The SCISA Baseball playoffs are in the final semi finals and here are the updated brackets. 

Indians has won 22 of first 25 games