HORSE-STORIC RUN

On a day the Philip Simmons High School girls’ track and field team celebrated a state championship, standout senior sprinter NaJhyrai Watson savored one of the all-time, top-individual performances in the history of the South Carolina High School League.

 

The Iron Horses repeated as Class AA state champions May 20 with a 129-80 victory over Greer Middle College at Lower Richland High School. 

 

Watson, making her fourth and final performance at the championships, became only the 15th girl in state history to win four gold medals. She swept the sprint events, winning the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes, while running the second leg of the winning 4x100-meter

relay team.

 

“I didn’t know that,” Watson said of her place in Palmetto State high school track history. “I’m excited. I hoped to do it last year, but we had some bad luck in the relay. This year, it was my goal. But I didn’t know if I could do it.”

 

Watson was overwhelming in the 100-meter dash, winning by a half second with a time of 11.74. It was more of the same in the 200-meter dash as she won by more than a second with a clocking of 24.33

 

Watson is the most recent girl from the Lowcountry to win four gold medals at a state meet, since Fort Dorchester High School standout Jasmine Quinn went 4-for-4 in 2013 and again in 2014. Quinn won gold medals in the 100 and 200 dashes, the 100 hurdles and long jump both years. Quinn, who now goes by Jasmine Camacho-Quinn to reflect her Puerto Rican heritage, won the gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles representing Puerto Rico in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

 

Just how dominant was Watson at the state meet? With 32.5 points, she outscored all but eight of the 30 teams that competed.

 

Watson led the Iron Horses to the state title last spring with three gold medals. She concluded her career with nine gold medals.

 

“Obviously, I knew it would come to an end,” Watson said of her prep career. “But I didn’t know it would come this quickly.”

 

The Iron Horses tallied 24 points in the pole vault as Madison Jent claimed gold by clearing 11-6. Reagan Roush also cleared 11-6 to win silver, while Avery Harbaugh claimed bronze.

 

Phoebe Crogan and Samantha Watson finished 2-3, respectively in the 800-meter run, while DeAndra Brown won silver in the 100-meter hurdles and bronze in the triple jump. The 4x800-meter relay team claimed a silver medal.

 

PS boys track & field

 

Greer Middle College denied the Iron Horse boys’ bid for a second straight state title with a 92-87.4 conquest of PSHS.

 

Freshman Pierce Walker claimed gold in the 1,600-meter run and finished fourth in the 3,200 to lead the Iron Horses.

 

The Iron Horses claimed two silvers and a bronze in the three relay events to account for 22 points.Luke Roberts (800 meter), Bryce Kinloch (high jump) and Abram Wright (discus) all claimed bronze medals.

 

BE track & field

 

On May 21, the Class AAA state meet was contested at Lower Richland High School, and the Bishop England High School girls’ team finished second behind Seneca by a 90-62 margin. The Bishop England boys finished in 17th place well behind state champ Wren and runner-up Seneca. Hope-Elaine Stowell led the Bishops with a victory in the javelin. She claimed the gold medal with a heave of 123-2. The Bishops also claimed silver medals in both the 4x800 and 4x400-meter relays.

 

Emma Hamrick finished second in the high jump and Maggie Long claimed bronze in the long jump.

 

In the boys’ meet, the Bishops’ Justin Hafner scored 16 of the team’s 17 points. He claimed a state championship in the 1,600 with a time of 4:24.93 and a bronze in the 3,200 run.