BE cross-country team seeks three-peat

The Bishop England High School girls’ cross-country team is coming off a season that might not be forgotten or, perhaps, duplicated.

 

Coach Tony Colizzi’s crew won its second straight state championship last fall, and the only thing more impressive than that was all seven of the Bishops runners earned all-state honors by finishing in the top 15 individually as the Bishops won the Class AA title with a 30-53 victory over Greer Middle College. That gave the program five state titles since 2000. The top five BE runners finished in the top 10.

 

“Placing seven in the top 15 is very difficult but there are several talented teams out there that could do the same,” Colizzi said. “Some of the best schools in the state are at the AA and AAA level and I would think they have a good chance of placing all seven at the all-state level.”

 

The Bishops said farewell to four of the seven runners at May’s graduation ceremonies, then almost immediately began planning for 2024.

 

“We graduated four, and replacing them will be difficult,” Colizzi said. “We have a strong returning group of rising juniors who will lead the team: juniors Nora Brahim, Grace Buss and Kate Tomas. The team is going to depend heavily on newcomers, making this a very young team.”

 

Brahim led the Bishops’ impressive performance last fall with a time of 18:22.25 over the 5K course on a tough day, weather-wise.

 

“The key to success will be our returners running as well as they did last year and several new runners rising to the occasion,” Colizzi said. “Several of the returning girls have put in a lot of miles this summer and if the new runners follow the example set by the upperclassmen, they will have a successful season.  

 

“With many new faces on the team the upperclassmen will have to work with the younger runners to develop a strong, team-first atmosphere,” Colizzi continued.

 

Nora is just half of the Brahim connection on Daniel Island. Her brother Marc also earned all-state honors last year to help the Bishops finish third in the team standings behind champ Greer Middle College and Academic Magnet.

 

The Brahims should have big seasons if their workload is any indication.

 

“Marc and Nora should have great seasons,” Colizzi said. “Both have been working exceptionally hard this summer. Marc will exceed 600 miles this summer and Nora will approach 400 miles. Those are the most miles run over the summer by any BE cross country runner in team history. Both will be strong leaders for their teams.”

 

The Bishops won state titles in 2020 and 2021. They were hit with graduation losses, making 2024 a young team.

 

“The boys also graduated several varsity members last year and will be a young team,” Colizzi said. “Our runners will be led by Brahim. The team has several returners who ran well for us last year: Andrew Curl, Jackson Muller, Ben Huntington and Gabe Hislop.”