Bishop England cross country team scores first state title since 2011
Bishop England High School has captured The Carlisle Cup Award for the state’s top athletic program in its classification every year since the award’s inception in time for the 2002-03 academic year.
Saturday, Bishop England took its first step toward another Carlisle Cup Award as the boys’ cross country team dominated the field in the Class AAA state meet at the Sandhills course in Columbia.
The Bishops scored 50 points to top Waccamaw, which tallied 68 points. May River claimed third place with 97 points. Hanahan finished in 17th place.
While the Bishops had the best Daniel Island area team effort of the day, Philip Simmons High School’s Noah Ward had the best individual effort of the day. The talented sophomore claimed first place in the Class A-AA meet with a time of 15:40.30 over the five-kilometer course.It was the fourth best time of the day regardless of classification.
It was the Bishops’ first state title since 2011 and fourth overall. The championship gives Bishop England 144 state titles. The Bishops are attempting to become the first school in state history to reach 150 state championships.
“The keys to winning this year were team unity and the addition of a new runner,” BE Coach Tony Colizzi said. “The team was very tight and they worked very hard in practice. They pushed each other each day thanks to great senior leadership. They also logged a lot of miles over the summer. The addition of senior Colin Costello to the squad was a huge help. He and his family moved here from Illinois.”
The Bishops had five runners finish in the top 17 to record the victory with an exclamation point. Senior Sam Boykin led the way with a time of 15:54.18 to finish second overall.
Junior Logan Logan Desciak claimed fourth place while senior Aidan Richter was ninth.
Sophomore Mark Richter held down 17th place and Christopher was 18th. Colizzi said it will be tough to replace his talented seniors.
“The group of senior athletes has been some of the best seniors I have had in my 20 years of coaching,” Colizzi said. “They lead by example, encourage the younger runners and are great kids in general. They are the main reason the team won the state championship. They pushed this team to be the best they could be. They were tired of finishing as state runners-up.”
Jack Dantzler had Hanahan’s top finish, claiming 16th overall.
In the girls’ Class AAA meet, Seneca won with 52 points. Hanahan claimed sixth place and BE was 10th. Kylie Futrell led the Hawks with a 21st-place finish while Mary Wallace Rainero had BE’s top finish, claiming 22nd place.
Ward led Philip Simmons to a fourth-place finish in the Class A-AA boys’ meet. St. Joseph’s won the boys’ and girls’ titles.
Saturday’s state title was Ward’s third state crown. He won the 1,600-meter run at Hanahan High School as an eighth-grader. He won the 1,600 as a freshman at PSHS last May.
A pair of seventh-graders led the Philip Simmons girls. Hailey Meyers was third with a time of 19:15.88 and classmate Josie May was 12th.