Orangeburg Prep girls track team wins fifth straight state championship

     Orangeburg – When a program has won four consecutive state championships, having to prove itself normally isn’t at the forefront of the athletes’ though process. That was not the case for the 2025 Orangeburg Prep girls track and field team.

           The reason the Indians had a burning desire to make it five in a row is because they no longer had Mary Katherine Evatt. Now at Converse College, Evatt could be depended upon for a high number of points with her work in the shot put, discus, pole vault and javelin.

           “We had her all those years, and we could depend on her for a lot of points,” Orangeburg Prep head coach Brooks Smith said of Evatt, who scored 28 points in last year’s SCISA Division II state meet by winning both the shot put and the discus, finishing third in the pole vault and fifth in the javelin. “The thought was with Mary Katherine gone that might cause us to slip. The girls wanted to show that wouldn’t be the case.”

           And they did. The Indians made it five in a row by winning the Division II state meet on May 2 at the Orangeburg Prep track. The Indians won with 139 points while second place Thomas Sumter Academy had 105.

           “It feels really good to have made it five in a row,” Smith said. “What makes this one different is that we were able to win it because of our depth.”

           The Indians did have someone else step into the role of providing a bushel of points, and that was Mary Legare Delaney. The sophomore won three individual events and finished third in another to finish with a meet high 36 points.

           Delaney won the 400-meter dash in a time of 59.95 seconds, the long jump in 4.95 meters and the triple jump in 10.26 meters. She was third in the 200 dash in 26.62 seconds.

           “She just had a tremendous performance for us,” Smith said of Delaney.

           The only other first-place finish for Orangeburg Prep – relay or individual -- was Emmaline Dangerfield in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.56.

           This is where the depth paid off for the Lady Indians. They scored their points by placing in 13 of the 17 events with the top six finishers in an event scoring on the 10-8-6-4-2-1 system.

Along with the three wins, Orangeburg Prep had six second-place finishes, four thirds, five fourths, two fifths and three sixths.

           Gee Gee Riley finished second in the to Delaney in the long jump at 4.79 meters. She also grabbed third in the triple jump (9.65m) and fourth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1 minute, 14.61 seconds.

           Blakely Garrick was second in the 400 hurdles (1;10.11), fourth in the triple jump (9.03m) and sixth in the 100 hurdles (19.26). Ziva Kester also placed in multiple events. She was second in the discus (26.47m) and fifth in the javelin (23.57m).

           The other silver medals went to Morgan Newsome in the pole vault (2.13m), Graysen Garrick in the high jump (1.32m) and the 4x400-meter relay team of Riley, Emma Doremus, Naomi McCutchen and Blakely Garrick. (3:25.53).

           The other bronze medal winners were Ella Sarvis in the pole vaul (1.83m) and the 4x800 relay team of Annabelle Hunter, Anna Bledsoe, Carson Gue and Delilah Howe (11:00.37).

           Doremus was fourth in the 100 hurdles (17.89) and finished fifth in the 400 hurdles (1:15.95).

McCutchen was fourth in the javelin (23.75m) while finishing sixth in the 200 dash (27.75). Erika Martin was fourth in the shot put (8,53m).

           Kate Holstein was sixth in the triple jump (8.78m).

           It was great to have all of that depth,” Smith said. “The girls put in a lot of work.”