BE, PSHS stand strong at state cross country qualifiers

Bishop England and Philip Simmons took big steps toward state championships in cross country as the schools shone brightly in the team standings while three athletes ran times that qualified as national elite “silver” times.

 

The Bishop boys and girls competed in the Class AAA state qualifier at the Sandhills Research Center in Columbia and freshman Justin Hafner and Nora Brahim turned in elite times of 16 minutes, 27.35 seconds and 19:14.37 respectively over the 5-kilometer course to lead the Bishops.

 

In the Class AA-A qualifier at Crooked Creek Park in Chapin, the Iron Horse’s Noah Ward blazed over the course to post a time of 15:26.90 to finish almost a minute ahead of his closest competitor.

 

Those are three runners to keep an eye on this week as the High School League crowns its state champions. The races will be held at Sandhills in Columbia.

 

This year’s qualifiers were different because of the coronavirus. Two separate races were held in the boys’ and girls’ divisions to make social distancing more manageable.

 

The state coaches’ association ranked the top 24 teams in the state, and those teams were invited to run at the state qualifiers.

 

That meant the BE boys, ranked No. 1 in the state in AAA, ran in the odd (number) division in AAA, while the BE girls, ranked No. 4, ran in the even (number) division.

 

It was the same format in the AA-A qualifier.

 

The Bishop boys won the odd division behind Hafner’s strong effort. The Bishops claimed first with 37 points while Pendleton was second with 62 and Academic Magnet third with 110.

 

Hafner wasn’t alone near the top as the Bishops claimed five of the top 11 spots in the odd (number) race.

 

Mark Richter finished sixth, Hank Linder eighth, Dominic Coffman 10th and Matthew Sawyer 11th. Brenden Womble and JJ Romano also ran well.

 

If you combined the odd and even races, the Bishops finished first in the team standings with a 59-107 victory over Pendleton, while Hafner was second overall.

 

Brahim’s gold-medal effort helped the Bishop girls to a second-place finish in the even (number) division.

 

Seneca claimed first in the team standings with 27 points while the Bishops tallied 51. Pendleton was third with 114 points.

 

All seven of the Bishop female runners placed in the top 20. In addition to Brahim, Nini Clarke finished ninth, Mary Wallace Rainero 11th, Bo Rosato 14th, Zoe Eckrich 16th, Kimber Keene 18th and Kayla Vroman was in 20th place.

 

Seneca was first in the combined girls’ races with 45.5 points while BE was second with 84. Daniel was third with 98 points. Brahim’s time was the best of the day for the AAA girls.

 

In the AA-A state qualifier, all seven of the Philip Simmons boys finished in the top 16 as the Iron Horses posted a 35-87 victory over Pelion.

 

In addition to Ward, Henry Wood was sixth, Thomas Schmenk seventh, Colin Nemeth eighth, Will Finch 13th, Ryan Rousseau 14th and Ian Mullaney was 16th.

 

Greer Middle College will be the Iron Horse boy’s biggest challenger at the state meet.

 

In girls’ Class AA-A, Philip Simmons finished second in the odd (number) race as Greer Middle College posted a 24-49 victory over the Iron Horses.

 

Philip Simmons had five runners place in the top 19. Emmy Wood led the way with a time of 19:50.0, which was good for fourth place. Joey May was fifth, Hailey Meyers ninth, Lilian Rendon-Chilel 12th and Hannah Rosato 19th.