BE girls' track and field team captures 12th state title and 'dynasty' status
The athletes who are on the Bishop England girls’ track and field team probably wouldn’t be described as dynamic because they don’t win the glamour events. But one thing is certain.
The Bishop girls have built a dynasty. The Bishops topped Seneca 72.5-47 to capture the High School League’s State Track and Field Championships, which began Friday night and concluded Saturday at Spring Valley’s Harry Parone Stadium.
It was the Bishops’ 12th state title, which is second on the girls’ all-time list, according to Palmetto’s Finest, the High School League’s official record book. Only Johnsonville, with 13, has more.
“I would say that after we won our first back in 2001, I would have never believed that in 2017 we would win our 12th state championship or that we would be called a dynasty,” Bishop England coach Tony Colizzi said. “I would say we are a team with many hard workers and a few great athletes. With hard work, these girls were able to have a great season. The best thing was that the great athletes were also very hard workers and great team leaders. The rest of the team just follows in step with them.”
Colizzi, early last week, predicted that this year’s Class AAA state meet might come down to the 17th - and final - event of the day, the 4x400-meter relay.
But the Bishops claimed the championship with the completion of the 800-meter run, the tenth event of the meet. Patricia George won the event with a time of 2:22.32, while teammates Emma Lawrence and Rhetta Moore claimed fourth and fifth, respectively. That gave the Bishops 19 points in the event.
The Bishops won the final race of the day with a clocking of 4:08.61 in the 4x400 relay. Colizzi praised three distance runners for their efforts: Lawrence, Moore and George. All three ran in the 4x400 relay, 4x800m relay and 800 run.
“Combined, the three scored 39 points for the team,” Colizzi said. “Other seniors who had a great day were Allison Seney in the pole vault, winning that with a vault of 10-6, Ashlyn Ritter was on the winning 4x8 (relay) and ran the faster leg of her career. Mary Grace Furmanchik had a good day in the high jump with a jump of 4-10. Camryn Deames ran a tough 3,200 run on Friday and collapsed 30 feet from the finish line. She then fell two more times before crossing the finish line. Amazing the fight she had to finish and help her team win a state title.”
The Bishops had four seniors who competed in track and field this spring and three reached the big event: Furmanchik, Deames and Moore. Colizzi also praised freshmen George and Emma Albano for their efforts at the state.
The boys’ team scored 62.5 points, which was good for third place. Hanahan won with 97 points and Broome was second with 68. Their lone gold medal of the meet came in the 4x800 relay, with a time of 8:11.45. Aiden Richter won a sliver in the 800 run and a bronze in the 1,600.
The 4x400 relay team finished second while Jacob Wilkins was a silver medalist in the discus.