Wilson Hall track teams both finish second in SCISA Division I state meet
Girls team just misses defending state title; Karsen Jones leads the way with 2 titles
Sumter -- Both the boys and girls track and field teams for Wilson Hall have proven themselves to be yearly contenders for SCISA Division I state titles.
Both teams finished second in the state meet in May. The Lady Barons just missed repeating as state champions, finishing with 135 points while Hammond took the title with 140. Heathwood Hall finished a close third with 133.
On the boys side, Heathwood won with 130 points. The Barons finished with 116.
"We/ve been excited about our growth over the last few years," said head coach Rip Ripley. "We have an unbelievable coaching staff taht really dedicates to our athletes and offers a great variety of training and pushes our athletes.
"W8h the success our track and cross country teams the last few years, it has raised the level of ezxpectation, and our athletes have bought in to embracking the challenges of competing at a high level."
Leading the way for the Wilson Hall girls was freshman Karsen Jones. She won both of the hurdle events, taking the 100 in a time of 16.65 seconds and the 400 in 1 minute, 2.37 seconds.
Another freshman, McKinley Bath, won a state title in the javelin with a throw of 33.76 meters. She also scored points by finishing fourth in the shot put and seventh in the triple jump.
Freshman Ashley Carter was second in both the shot and discus. Junior Christina Osgood was second in the pole vault, setting a school record at 2.9m. Freshman Grace Stewart was second in the high jump.
The 4x800-meter relay team set a school record at 19:06.61 while finishing second. The team was made up of sophomore Mary Foley, eighth-grader Jane Foley, sophomore Ellis Coker and eighth-grader Riley Coker.
Eighth-grader Elisa Getz and sophomore Bailey Flemming both placed in three events. Getz was third in the triple jump, fourth in the 100 hurdles and fifth in the long jump. Flemming was fourth in the triple jump, fifth in the 400 dash and seventh in the 200 dash.
Jane Foley and eighth-grader Kate-Austen Kaneft had fourth-place finishes in the 400 hurdles and vault, respectively, while sophomore Grace McArthur was fourth in the javelin. Freshman Isabella Quiroz was sixth in the vault, eighth-grader Leland Jones was sixth in the triple, and senior Mary Ellen Thorne was seventh in the 3,200 run.
The 4x4 relay team of Karsen Jones, Jane Foley, Mary Foley and Ellis Coker finished fourth and the 4x1 relay team of senior Bowen Zitzke, Morgan Chewning, Quiroz and McArthur finished fifth.
The boys team had two individual state champions in senior Ford Wilder and sophomore Shep Vincent, while the 4x4 and 4x8 relay teams also won.
Wilder won the long jump with a leap of 20 feet, 11.50 inches. Vincent won the 110 hurdles in 15.88. The 4x4 team of seventh-grader Joseph Foley, sophomore Trip Hunt, junior Caulder Williamson and freshman Jack Gratz won in 3:31.82 and the 4x8 team of junior Abel Ayres, senior Ben Rabon, Williamson and Gratz won in 8:26.55.
Vincent also finished second in the 400 hurdles and third in the triple, while Wilder was second in the triple.
Sophomore Gibb Wilder was second in the vault. Gratz was third in both the 400 and 800 run, while sophomore Joseph Hiott was third in the high and fifth in the 400. Hunt was fourth in the 3,200 and sixth in the 1,600 run, and sophomore Nolan Gooch was sixth in the triple and seventh in the long.
Williamson finished fourth in the 1,600, senior Andrew Howle was seventh in the shot, sophomore Craig Busch was seventh in the javelin, and sophomore Harris Huffman was seventh in the 400 hurdles.
