2008 Sandlapper

2008 Outstanding Athlete Award Winners Named

Now that all results are final, Meet Director Richard Luden today announced the MVP honorees for the 2008 Sandlapper Classic. For the girls, Northwestern’s Mary Kate Dubard staked a convincing victory for the girl’s Outstanding Track Athlete Award by taking the gold medal in the 1600 meter run and also the 3200 meter run, where her time of 11:30.64 broke both the meet record and the Wildcat Stadium record. By leading her Northwestern team to the ‘08 Sandlapper Girl’s Team Championship, she was surely the top victor of the meet. In the field, the girls MVP race was rare and unusual as Fort Dorchester teammates Searra Jones and Keri Emanuel traded Gold and Silver in both the long and the triple jump, with the senior Jones taking the triple and sophomore Emanuel taking the long. The tiebreaker for the top award went to Emanuel for breaking the meet record with a jump of 17′5″. Jones won the top award at last year’s Sandlapper, and is the reigning AAAA State Champion in both events, so she seemed content watching her protege take her turn in the spotlight, but “just once,” quipped the smiling Searra. For the boys, Woodland’s Andrew Johnson won the gold medal in both the long jump and the triple jump to win the boy’s Outstanding Field Athlete Award. And of course, as noted below in the full event article, James Island’s Raymond Eurie (pictured above with his award) shattered the stadium records in both the 200 and 400 to take gold and the boys Outstanding Field Athlete Award. For honorable mention, Pendleton’s Jasmin Stowers broke her own Stadium record in the 100 meter high hurdles and would likely have repeated as MVP this year had she not bowed out of the 400 hurdles due a cold she’s been fighting, an event for which she also holds the stadium record. It was announced at the meet by Pendleton’s Coach Moses that just last week Jasmin set a new National sophomore record in the 60 meter indoor hurdles. With the Nike Indoor National’s just days away, Jasmin seems primed to again make history, and possibly take the National Crown. We’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile defending State Champion and Sandlapper ‘07 MVP Marcus Pope also failed to repeat as MVP after false-starting his way out of the 110 high hurdle finals, but went on to successfully defend his gold medal in the 400 nonetheless. He still holds both meet and stadium records set from his ‘07 performances. Congratulations to these great athletes, their teammates, their coaches, and their schools!

The Photos start to pour in… and here comes Video too…

Pendleton High School made another strong showingHere are the early returns on photos from the pros… enjoy, and be sure to check back daily for more!1. Slideshow By Kyle Nowlin
2. Gallery By Kyle Nowlin
3. Visit KyleNowlinPhotography.com to purchase full quality images from Kyle Nowlin
4. Gallery at www.SCrunnners.com
5. Slideshow by SCrunners.com
6. Video interviews by SCrunners.com
7. Slideshow by WildcatTrack.com
8. Gallery by WildcatTrack.com
9. Slideshow by D. Keith Driggers
10. Gallery by D. Keith Driggers
11. Visit KeithDriggersPhotography.com to purchase photos by D. Keith Driggers

2nd Annual Sandlapper Classic exceeds the Inaugural

With more than 1000 athletes in attendance, Wildcat stadium had seldom if ever hosted so many competitors in a single day, and the equally large crowd of fans easily got its money’s worth. With more than 50 teams and numerous male and female state champions on the roster, the 2nd Annual Sandlapper Classic produced thirteen new meet records and a whopping nine new stadium records. While Pendleton H.S. sophomore “Team USA” hurdler Jasmin Stowers was again the media darling, James Island’s Raymond Eurie stole the show on route to winning the Outstanding Boy’s Track MVP Award. Eurie won gold medals in both the 200 meter 400 meter dashes and added a bronze medal in the 110 meter high hurdles. Even more impressive, Eurie shattered the stadium records in both gold medal events, beating the silver and bronze medalists soundly in each race. Last year’s MVP, Marcus Pope from Andrews, again made a great showing but after being disqualified for a false start in the 110 hurdle finals the perennial gold medalist took a rare back seat to the James Island star. Pope is the reigning state champion in both boys hurdle events and also holds the Wildcat Stadium record for each, so Eurie’s MVP victory should fuel him well in the race for the state crowns in his top events.In the team competitions, both the 2007 boys and girls team champions were forced to settle for second this year. The Wando boys team flexed considerable muscle to outrun Atlanta, GA’s Miller Grove High School (86.5 to 66) and the Northwestern girls edged the Summerville girls by just one half a point (86 to 85.5). But with a strong third place showing by the Greenwave boys team, Summerville High School repeated as Combined Team Champions. Meanwhile the West Ashley Wildcats’ boys and girls teams finished a strong 6th and 7th respectively.

On the hometown front, the lady Wildcat’s put familiar faces on the track to win a fist full of silver medals. Individually, two-time All-State honoree, Nodia Robinson (Sr.) took the silver in the 800 meter run and Jessica Gallagher (Jr.) took the silver in the 100 meter hurdles. Gallagher looked especially impressive running side by side with 6-time State Champion Stowers for a good portion of the race, and though Jasmin pulled away over the final hurdles, all agree that finishing second to the nation’s 3rd ranked high school hurdler is certainly an achievement to celebrate. Robinson and Gallagher joined 3-time State Finalist Amber Caparas (Sr.) to lead the girls to silver medals in both medium relays, with state finalist Lauren Bass (Sr.) and Breanna Grant (Jr.) each earning a silver medal as the fourth member of the 4×800 and 4×400 meter relays respectively. For the Wildcat boys, Jr. Donovan Pinkney won the silver medal in the discus, sophomore David Melton took the silver in pole vault, Sr. Deandre Gray took the bronze in the long jump, and the boys 4×100 relay squad of Deshawn Mazyck (Sr.), Rashaad Mack (Sr.), Gray, and Dana Brown (Jr.) won the bronze.

Check back soon for complete final results sheets, photo galleries, and video!

The Day after the BIG event…

What a day. If you attended the meet as an athlete or coach or spectator or sponsor, surely you are resting today! Wow. Due to the computer issues that sprung up late in the afternoon, we hope you can bear with us as the Meet Directors take the day to ensure the accuracy of their scoring and work towards publishing the final results, hopefully later today. Meanwhile photo galleries and video clips will be posted across the week, with some photos going online later today, so please be sure to check back throughout the week. We have more than 1000 images to post, and we want you to see every shot… especially the one’s that show you or your favorite team in action. Congratulations to Wando H.S. for winning the Boy’s team Championship trophy, to Northwestern H.S. for winning the Girl’s team Championship, and to Summerville H.S. for defending their Overall School Championship with a 2nd consecutive victory. MVP award winners will be named after all results are confirmed, so please check back Wednesday when these honors are finalized. Until then, enjoy the beautiful Southeastern weather! Here in Charleston, our perspective is still very golden. Cheers!