3rd Annual Sandlapper Classic another huge success

West Ashley's Dana Brown won 3 Silver medals on the day

This past Saturday 44 high school track teams from as far away as Atlanta and Charlotte traveled to West Ashley High School to compete at the third annual Sandlapper Track & Field Classic. With perfectly sunny skies and highs in the upper 70’s, it could hardly have been a more beautiful day for the nine hour event. Add the drama of top level competition, the thrill of continues medal ceremonies, and the aroma of Andolini’s pizza in the concessions stand, and it’s no wonder why the crowd stayed strong and enthusiastic from sunrise to sunset.  The public address announcers kept the spectators energized and engaged with lane by lane introductions and plenty of colorful play by play for every race and field event. And of all the names called out, few gained more crowd approval than tiny St. Johns High champion sprinter, Greg Roper.  Roper, who will be seeking his fourth consecutive Class A State Championship in the 400 meter dash, proved that he is “the man” to beat when he edged out James Island’s reigning Class AAAA State Champion, Raymond Eurie in the most dramatic race of the day.  Roper went on to become the first sprinter in Sandlapper history to sweep the sprints with gold in the 100 and 200 meter sprints as well, earning him the prestigious Outstanding Male Track Athlete award. Eurie was last year’s top winner and has become a legitimate media star, but his times proved that he wasn’t quite on top of his game for the season opener, so when he pulled out of competition after the 400 he left the crowd wondering if he may have been under the weather. But that takes nothing from Roper. “I view him as the top sprinter in the state,” said WAHS Athletic Director Richard Luden. “He had the fastest 400 in the state last year, and the fact that he has lacked the facilities or top competition found at the AAAA level for his entire career says a lot about his raw talent,” added Luden. The biggest shocker of the day was the performance of Cane Bay’s true freshman Semaj Tolliver who literally came out of nowhere to win the Outstanding Female Track Athlete awarded. Tolliver set the new meet record in the girls 100m with a time of 12.54 and also won the gold in the 200m with a time of 25.48.  If the name sound familiar, Semaj is the daughter of WAHS Assistant Principal Keysha Williams-Tolliver, who was instrumental in drawing the new Cane Bay High (comprised of just 9^th and 10^th graders) to enter the prestigious meet. In the field, Northwestern High’s Cordarelle Patterson took the Outstanding Male Field Athlete by winning gold in both the high jump and long jump, and Fort Dorchester’s Keri Emanuel took the Outstanding Female Field Athlete for the second year in a row with victories in the triple and long jump. Patterson is also a football and basketball standout at the Rock Hill area school, and all in attendance could see “pro athlete” written all over him so he’s definitely a name to keep an eye on. In the team standings the Wando Warriors edged out Northwestern for the Boys, Girls, and Overall crowns to be the first school ever to pull the team sweep. Wando boasts the largest mostly-volunteer staff of coaches we’ve seen in the state, so let that serve notice to potential volunteers in our communities. Honorable team mentions go to Atlanta area Miller Grove, who traveled with a relatively small yet professionally trained girls’ team of sprinters to take third in the girls scoring. Honors also go to an equally small group of men from Charlotte’s Ardry Kell High School who took fifth, just one spot behind the WAHS boys who finished a respectable 4^th in team scoring.

 

The West Ashley Wildcats turned in several impressive individual performances as they played gracious host. On the girls’ side, senior star Jessica Gallagher lead all lady Wildcat medalists with silver in the high jump, bronze in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of personal best time of15.9 seconds, a strong 4^th place finish in the 400 meter hurdles, and silver as the anchor of the 4×400 relay – a marquee event that the Wildcats have remained perennially powerful for more than 5 years. Joining Gallagher in the 4×400 were senior star Breanna Grant, freshman Nykeila “Kiki” Sanderson, and junior star Morgan Blake. The ladies also looked to continue the new tradition of a strong 4×100 relay squad by winning the bronze in the frenetic event. Joining squad veterans Blake and Grant to earn bronze were Sanderson and fellow freshman Paige Murray. The ladies were region champs in both relays in 2008, so they’re well on their way to repeating in ’09. Blake also narrowly missed the bronze in the girls 100 meters, settling for 4^th against a very fast field, but defeated every region foe in attendance, so her junior season is off to a tremendous start.

 

On the track for the boys, senior super-star sprinter Dana Brown, now a senior, was one “Greg Roper” away from winning the boy’s Outstanding Track Athlete award, as he took the silver in the 100 and 200 while also anchoring the 4×100 relay team for his third silver on the day. Brown, the only returning member of the Wildcats squad that took silver at State in ’08 for All State honors, projects to be a favorite to contend for the State crown in both short sprints this year, so keep an eye on Dana. Joining Brown in the elite relay were sophomore Ronald Jenkins, sophomore Roemelle Mack, and sophomore Nick Bosley. In the field, senior star Donovan Pinckney proved he’s a front runner for the State crown in the Discus by winning the Wildcat’s lone gold medal on the day, while fellow senior thrower Cedric Chisolm won the silver in the shot put.

 

Be sure to visit SandlapperClassic.com for more than 400 photos from the event. Next up for the Wildcats is the prestigious Outback Azalea Classic in Summerville this Saturday.