BE boys' tennis nets Class AAA state Championship win!
The search for perfection is over.
The Bishop England boys’ tennis team handled Clinton Saturday, 6-0, to win the Class AAA state championship and cap a perfect season with a 16-0 mark.
The Bishops, who claimed a state tennis crown for the second time in four years and 10th in the history of the program, spent a lot of energy in Thursday’s Lower State championship match against Hanahan. The Bishops survived 4-3 to end the Hawks’ two-year reign as state champs.
Saturday, the Bishops were simply smashing from the first serve to last volley in a match played at the Cayce Tennis Center.
“It was a very good team,” coach Kristen Fleming Arnold said. “It was a very disciplined team. They worked hard in the offseason. They worked hard to make this happen.”
The BE boys’ and girls’ teams have combined for 32 state titles, and Saturday’s crown was the 13th coach Fleming Arnold has been a part of, either as a player or coach at the school.
Senior Jared Pratt played in his last high school match, and almost served foe Isaac McMillan double bagels. Pratt posted a 6-0, 6-1 victory.
Lleyton Dacuba posted a 6-4, 6-4 decision in No. 2 singles over Ike Waldron, while his brother, Zach Dacuba, won at No. 3 singles, besting Tyler Trevino 6-3, 6-2.
The Bishops’ Lukas Gosselein and Brenden Smith won their singles matches as well.
The doubles team of Harrison Estey-Rafe Flatchman posted an impressive decision in doubles play.
The Dacuba brothers played in this week’s Class AAA individual state championships, which began Monday and concluded Tuesday.
TRACK AND FIELD
The Bishop England boys claimed third in the team standings of the Class AAA State Track and Field Championships, which were contested Saturday at Harry Parone Stadium on the campus of Spring Valley High School, while the Bishop girls were fourth.
Defending boys’ champion Hanahan placed 12th with 24 points, while the Hawks girls tied for eighth in the team standings with 29 points. Waccamaw captured the girls’ title with 76 points while Seneca won the boys’ crown with 71.
Hanahan’s Quincy Mitchell concluded a stellar prep career with a victory in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.68. Mitchell, who will compete in track and field as a member of the University of Cincinnati team, placed second in the 200 with a time of 21.89. The victory in the 100 was the third time Mitchell claimed gold in the event at the state meet in his career.
Aidan Richter led the Bishop boys with a victory in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:58.54. He was fifth in the 1,600-meter run.
The Bishops’ other gold medal came in the 4x800-meter relay.
In the girls’ meet, Emma Albano captured a gold medal with a heave of 119-6 in the discus to lead the Bishop girls. She finished sixth in the shot put.
Teammate Patricia George picked up a silver medal in the 800.
Hanahan’s Emily Load was second in the pole vault, while the Hawks relay team was second in the 4x400-meter relay.
Philip Simmons’ Noah Ward and Najhyjai Watson made history as the first Iron Horses to win state championships in track and field.
Ward won the 1,600-meter run in 4:19.64 and was fourth in the 800. Watson won the gold in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.41 and claimed bronze in the 100 dash.