Summerville pitcher Ansley Bennett threw a no-hitter against Sumter May 19 during the playoffs. Photo by Roger Lee

By WORTHY EVANS Contributing Writer Columbia – Moving up to the 5A Division 1 classification once again proved no problem for Ridge View . Just as the Blazers basketball team kept the state championships string alive with a win over Blythewood in the 5A Division 1 final in March, the Ridge View boys track and field team moved up from a 4A state championship in 2024 to score 91 points and edge Spartanburg’s 87.5 points in Saturday’s 5A Division 1 track and field meet at Spring Valley’s Harry Parone Stadium. “I’m just proud of the growth of this program,” said fourth-year head coach Charles Proctor , noting the team’s three region championships on top of its second straight state championship. “I think the number that I’m most proud of over these four years is that we’ve helped 20 young men gain scholarships to continue their athletic and academic careers. We’re just continuing to build this program.” The Blazers had just two gold medals on the afternoon. Jordyn Best won state in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.52 seconds and the 4x100 relay team of Quency Grant , Khristian Jackson , Mounir Spann , and Best took first with a time of 40.88. What Ridge View did have was enough depth to cover almost every event, and double up in several events. In the 400 hurdles, four Blazer runners finished within the top 8. Grant took second with a time of 54.79, Elijah White took 4 th with a time of 56.51, Jaciyah Johnson took 6 th with a time of 56.74, and Ethan Jirves took 8 th with a time of 57.49. Those placings netted Ridge View 17 points. White and Jirves also placed in the 110 hurdles, with White taking fifth with a time of 14.89 and Jirves placing eighth with a time of 15.25. Those finishes netted five points. Best finished third in the 200 dash with a time of 21.63. In the 400 dash Spann took second with a time of 48.24 and Darrell Price finished seventh with a time of 48.94. Those placings added 16 points to the Blazers’ total. Macaire N’twa took fifth in the 800 run with a time of 1:58.12 for four points. The 4x800 relay team of N’twa, Price, Correll Johnson , and Orin Striggles took sixth place with a time of 8:00.39, and the 4x400 relay team of Grant, Price, N’twa, and Spann closed out the meet with a fourth place time of 3:20.95. Those finishes gave Ridge View eight points. In the field events Amari Stevenson’s second-place finish in the triple jump with a mark of 14.27 meters was tops, with Nevan Gaither’s mark of 13.6 meters was good for fifth place. The two efforts gave the Blazers 12 points for that event. Josh Campbell’s 5 th place discus throw of 47.28 meters and Angel Brooks Jr.’s fourth-place javelin throw of 51.48 meters were good for nine points. All in all, while the finishes weren’t all top finishes, there were more than enough to get the Blazers across to victory. “The thing that helped us the most is that we came in here with 24 scoring opportunities,” Proctor said. “I always say that if we can come in here with more than 15 scoring opportunities, we’ve got a great chance to win. The depth of our team allowed for some mistakes, which we knew we would have, it’s rare that you would have a perfect championship, so our depth is what helped us pull this out today.” Spartanburg had several individual state champions on its roster. Justin Rice took gold in the 200 dash with a time of 21.40, Knox Eaton finished first in the 800 run with a time of 1:54.88, and Torrean Davis took gold in the long jump with a mark of 7.33 meters. The 4x400 relay team of Joshua Taliaferro , Andy Metz , Christian Davis , and Elijah Roseburg finished first and gave the Vikings one final push with a time of 3:19.30. Those finishes gave Spartanburg 40 points, but the Vikings did not have enough high finishers to boost their point total over the top. Rice finished fifth in the 100 dash with a time of 10.82; Davis finished fifth in the 200 dash with a time of 21.82; Taliaferro took fifth in the 400 dash with a time of 48.56, and fourth in the high jump with a mark of 1.9 meters; Walker Nunes took eighth in the 800 run with a time of 1:58.27; and Andy Metz finished third in the 400 hurdles with a time of 54.92. The 4x800 relay team of Eaton, Chap Willbanks , Nicholas Rhoden and Nunes finished second with a time of 7:53.78, and the 4x100 relay team of Kendrion Keenon , Davis, Rice, and Taliaferro finished third with a time of 41.61 to round out the Viking’s score of 87.5 points. With the championship in hand, the Blazers will keep training and work toward another successful season. For Proctor it is a moment to reflect on the past four years, and what the future may bring to Ridge View. “I think we can be a perennial powerhouse in the country,” Proctor said. “It’s a great thing to win a state championship today, but to also end the season as the No.1 team in South Carolina, that means everything, and it’s something we’ve been working on and striving for.” Apart from the Ridge View-Spartanburg contest, top finishers included Carolina Forest senior Zayveon Sims , who took first place in the 400 dash with a time of 47.82. Boiling Springs junior Mike Hurley won gold in the 3200 run with a time of 9:13.11. Cane Bay senior Jayden Anderson took first in the 110 hurdles with a time of 14.62, and also won gold I the 400 hurdles with a time of 53.35. Mauldin’s 4x800 relay team as tops with a time of 7:51.00. Dorman junior Jamarius Brown won the high jump with a mark of 1.93 meters, and also took gold in the triple jump with a mark of 14.63 meters. Stratford junior Lukas Kowlok took first in the pole vault with a vault of 4.65 meters. Blythewood senior Santana Wright threw the discus for a first-place distance of 51.84 meters. Mauldin sophomore Walker Ferguson won the javelin with a throw of 58.19 meters. West Ashley junior Matthew Atkinson took gold in the shot put with a throw of 15 meters. Girls 5A Division I While competition in the boys events was tight, the Blythewood girls team dominated the field Saturday. The Bengals sprinters placed high and racked up points early, finishing with 107 points on the day to claim their third straight state championship and first in the 5A Division I configuration. Blythewood’s total was 53 points better than second-place Spartanburg’s 54 points. “We had to perform a lot better than we did last season because we had a lot of hiccups last year,” head coach Aleshia Hawkins ,” We just came out and performed the way we needed to perform.” That they did. Sophomore sprinter Peyton Hightower won the 400-meter dash for the second straight year, this year with a time of 24.46 seconds. She finished fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.46 and ran a leg for the gold-winning 4x400 relay team. Junior Olivia Taylor , who finished fifth in the 100 dash with a time of 12.03, also finished fifth in the 400 dash with a time of 55.60. Hightower’s sister, junior sprinter and point guard on the 5A Division 1 state basketball championship Bengals Hayley Hightower , took second in the 800 run with time of 2:10.27 and also ran legs in the 4x400 and 4x800 races. Both sisters say they enjoy competing with each other and alongside each other, and spending time with the team as everyone prepares to do their best for events. “I like to see her succeed on the track and I think she does the same for me,” Hayley Hightower said. “It’s amazing to see both of us competing and running on this level.” Peyton Hightower added, “It’s great having someone to cheer for, not only as a teammate but as family. I root for her and she roots for me.” Both sisters said they and the team came into Harry Parone stadium Saturday with the focus on keeping their championship at Blythewood. “We’ve been working extra hard this year, trusting our coaches, setting some goals, and coming here with a plan,” Hayley Hightower said. “We weren’t going to get away from our plan. We knew what we had to come here and do, it didn’t matter about the class or whatever, we just had to come in here and get the job done. To get another state championship in track means a lot to me. I’m really proud of this team.” Added Peyton Hightower , “This is No.3 in a row for us so we know what we needed to do coming in here, We’re just proud that we came out on top,” she said. “We knew that there were going to be some teams that would challenge us. We knew that we had to stay humble and do our best. We did a really good job of coming in and not worrying about the outside noise and doing what we had to do.” What they did was place as high as possible, in every event possible. Eighth grader Brooke Bramlett took first in the 100 hurdles with a time of 13.88. Bramlett also finished seventh in the 100 dash and ran a leg on the 4x100 team. Senior Aminah Rhone won gold in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:01.74. She finished third in the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.41, and she also ran a leg in the 4x400. Sophomore Romell Garway finished seventh in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.24. Blythewood racked up 26 points in the relays with a first place in the 4x400 and second placings in the 4x100 and 4x800. The 4x400 team of Rhone, Alexandra Francique , Hayley Hightower , and Payton Hightower won gold with a time of 3:48.77. The 4x100 team of Bramlett, Taylor , Brittany Benson , and junior Tylar Moore took second with a time of 47.02. The 4x800 team of junior Anna Kelly , senior Mallory Hogue , Scarlett Baker , and Hayley Hightower took second with a time of 9:23.80. Hogue and Kelly also placed in the 3200 run. Hogue placed third with a time of 11:17.49 and Kelly placed fourth with a time of 11:19.47. Sophomore Alexis Jones placed fourth in the high jump with a mark of 1.55 meters. Moore placed fifth in the long jump with a mark of 5.59 meters. Coach Hawkins credited the success of Blythewood to supporters throughout the school and community. “From Blythewood, the high school, the parents, the younger brothers and sisters come out, it’s just wonderful,” Hawkins said. “Everyone takes everything seriously. They want to get to the next level, and I tell them, you work. You don’t work, you can’t make it to the next level.” Noting the youth on the team, the program isn’t slowing down anytime soon. “We’re just losing three scorers this year, but everyone else is coming back,” Hawkins said. “It’s going to be exciting in 2026.” Among the other top finishers, Rock Hill senior Khamoni Rockeymore-Crews won the 100 dash with a time of 11.74, and won the 200 dash with a time of 24.19. She was also one of Rock Hill’s state-champion 4x100 team that also included Cherish Paul , Zoe McClurkin , and Aubrey Stevenson that finished with a time of 46.75. The Wando 4x800 team of Rowyn Martens , Emma Stanton , Ana Laurient , and Emmi Hunter made a state-record run of 9:08.70 that beat the old record by 13 seconds. Laurient, a senior, also won gold in the 80 meter run with a time of 2:10.24. Warrior javelin thrower Elle Cocco , a freshman, won her event with a 39.65-meter throw. Clover junior Ella Nighbor won the 1,600 run with a time of 5:02.77. Summerville junior Taylor Blackwelder won the 3,200 run with a time of 11:13.45. Teammate Nikki Brown , a senior, won the pole vault with a vault of 3.48 meters. Mauldin senior Lena Scott took first place in the high jump with a mark of 1.68 meters. She also won the triple jump with an effort of 12.19 meters. Ashley Ridge senior Alana Braxton won gold in the long jump with a jump of 5.87 meters. Fort Dorchester’s Saniyah Joyner won the discus with a throw of 39.91 meters. Spartanburg sophomore Riley Vaughn won gold in the shot put with a throw of 12.4 meters.

Summerville's Ansley Bennett

Summerville - After two rain delays, the Aynor vs Summerville game end with a 1-0 Greenwave win. Enjoy this sample of images, follow this link for the full gallery

By WORTHY EVANS Contributing Writer FLORENCE – Around this time three years ago, the Blythewood girls basketball team finished the season 0-19. On Friday night at the Florence Center, the Bengals won the 5A Division I state championship with a 62-59 victory over lower-state champion Summerville . “Their hard work has definitely paid off,” second-year head coach Emily McElveen - Schaeffer said. “That was what I was most proud of, that they worked hard since June, day in and day out, fall ball, and I’m glad they get to reap the benefit of that.” Over the past three years India Williams , Chase Thomas , and Hayley Hightower have developed into team leaders, and it showed on the court and in the box score Friday night—Williams led Blythewood (29-2) with 22 points, Thomas had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Hightower had 11 points. “It means a lot, this is the first state title in, like ever,” Williams said. “It’s a great opportunity to be a part of this, and in only my third year here, it’s incredible. We started off working very hard, and we were like, this is our season, and we definitely came out and performed to that.” It was a Williams-Thomas-Hightower show against the Green Wave (24-4) in the first half. The veterans got around Summerville’s 3-2 zone by hitting six 3-pointers in the first half, which was just enough to help the Bengals to a 29-25 halftime lead. Thomas had just four points in the first half, a free throw and a 3-pointer. Williams had 14 points in the first half, but just one layup to join her four 3-pointers. “She stepped up big in the first half,” Schaeffer said of Williams. “She had the first six points of the game from that corner. The corner 3, that’s her shot.” Hightower scored nine points in the first half—a 3-pointer, two foul shots, and two layups. Hitting baskets from behind the 3-point line has been a trait for all Blythewood players this year, and Friday’s 3-pointers—four from Williams, one from Thomas and one from Hightower, proved to be the difference. “I play a little team. We have a lot of guards so we rely on that,” Schaeffer said. “We shoot a lot in practice. We knew they would come out in a zone and I told the girls to occupy the guards, get it to the corners and let us shoot the ball.” While the Green Wave’s zone prevented a lot of easy baskets, Blythewood did just enough in the second half to keep Summerville behind. “Like I told the girls, basketball is a game of runs,” Schaeffer said. “When teams go on runs you’ve got to be able to control those runs. You can’t let the atmosphere take over, because in this kind of atmosphere here, the crowd’s gonna be involved. I think we did a good job of responding to their runs.” Aniyah Guerrero sank the first basket of the second half to give the Bengals a 31-25 lead, but Cailah Tucker and Molly Daugherty put up baskets to cut that margin to two. Williams made good on a jumper and a foul shot, and a jumper from Hightower brought Blythewood’s lead back up to 36-29 at the 4:53 mark of the third quarter. The Bengals outscored Summerville 9-8 the rest of the way to end three quarters of play with a 45-37 lead, even with senior point guard Sharron Waters on the bench in foul trouble. Without Waters, who’s a consistent 3-point hitter as well as a good ball-handler, the team relied on Thomas in the paint and at the free-throw line, and Daniella Bosmans who had nine points in the game, as the game drew to a close. “Our team is more than one person,” second-year head coach Emily McElveen-Schaeffer said. “We rely on each other and Chase had to do her role tonight, and in the fourth quarter they went man, and we could open up against what we’re used to playing all year, and that just shows that all five on the court can go.” Bosmans’ basket early in the fourth gave the Bengals a 47-37 lead, the first double-digit lead of the game. Thomas, who had a 3-point play in the third quarter, made good on another 3-point play in the fourth quarter that put Blythewood up 57-45 with just over three minutes to go. She scored 11 points—seven from foul shots—in the final quarter to help preserve the win. Tucker’s 3-pointer with 19 seconds left was the last score of the game, and as Molly Daugherty’s 3-point attempt failed at the buzzer, Blythewood players cleared the bench in celebration of closing out the season with a victory. Molly Daugherty scored 22 points and Tucker had 18 points to lead Summerville. “One of the things I felt that hurt us was that we had like 10 days off,” Green Wave head coach Calvin Davis said. “But we gave it our all, we left it all on the floor. It didn’t end the way we wanted it to end, but in the end they grew, and they became special in that sense of being developed.” Summerville’s five seniors, tucker, Lavassar, Emma and Molly Daugherty, and Madison Thomas , provided a strong foundation for the team over the past three years. “Three of them will go on to play at the next level, and the other two might,” Davis said. “They’re very special to me. They’ve been with me for at least three to four years. I love them, they grew up as my leaders.” Blythewood 16 13 16 17 – 62 Summerville 13 12 12 19 – 56 B – India Williams 22, Chase Thomas 18, Hayley Hightower 11, Daniella Bosmans 9, Aniya Guerrero 2. S – Molly Daugherty 22, Cailah Tucker 18, Jayden Bennett 5, Emma Daugherty 4, Madison Thomas 3, Krissa Lavassar 2, Destinee Grant 2.

Photos from March 7th, the SCHSL Class AAAA Girls Championship Game between Blythewood and Summerville . Enjoy this sample of images, follow this link for the full gallery

ZJ Jenkins takes a shot for Summerville Dec. 30 during the Roundball Classic showcase.

The Dutch Fork Silver Foxes claimed their 3 straight state championship with their 35-21 win over Summerville in the SCHSL Class 5A Div. 1 State Championship game in Oliver C. Dawson Stadium at SC State University. 

Dutch Fork's Junior QB Ethan Offing