Top ranked Philip Simmons cross country squads conquer region

The Philip Simmons High School cross country teams both lived up to its No. 1 state rankings by dominating the Region 8-AAA championships, which were contested at The Phil last week.

The Iron Horse girls’ team had a perfect score of 15 at the region championship led by the top-ranked seventh-grade runner in the state, Laura Perry, who turned in a time of 18 minutes and five seconds over the 5K course.

Perry, and teammates Josie May, Avah Mallek, Emmy Wood, and Lilah May, rounded out the top five earning all-region status. The Iron Horses topped Hanahan by a 15-60 score.

The Iron Horse boys’ team won the title with a 24-62 victory over Beaufort. North Charleston finished third with 66 points.

The Iron Horses were led by Pierce Walker’s gold medal time of 16:17. Joey Wright and Ian Mullaney earned all-region honors.

The Iron Horses will compete in the Class AAA state qualifier on Nov. 5 at Newberry College.

The Bishop England boys’ and girls’ team also shone in the Region 7-AA championships, which were held Oct. 19 at Timberland.

The boys topped Academic Magnet 29-48 with Timberland third with 51 points.

Justin Hafner claimed first with a time of 15 minutes and 16 seconds over the 5K course.

Charlie Tessier was fourth, JJ Romano sixth, March Brahim was in eighth place and Gabe Hislop was 10th. 

The Bishop girls won their meet with a 23-65 victory over Academic Magnet. 

All seven of the Bishop runners placed in the top nine to win going away. Nora Brahim claimed gold with a time of 18:14. Madison Riley was fourth, Marlee Asmer fifth and Grace Buss sixth. Nini Clarke, Bo Rosato and Olivia Seymour were in the top nine.

BE in Cici’s Invitational 

Bishop England’s boys’ and girls’ team both competed in the Cici’s Sandhills Invitational last Saturday and both teams fared well, each finishing in third place.

The BE boys were without three runners but still had a strong finish placing third out of 24 teams.

Justin Hafner claimed the gold medal with a time of 16 minutes and nine seconds over the 5K course. Hafner won by 26 seconds even with a wrong turn which caused him to run an extra 50 meters. JJ Romano placed 11th, Gabe Hislop 21st, Joseph Condon 27th while Alex Salleroli was 93rd. 

The BE girls competed without their top two runners but were still impressive finishing third out of 18 teams. BE missed out on second place by one point.

Freshman Grace Buss finished eighth overall with a time of 20:21 to lead the Bishops. Marlee Asmer was 23rd, Nini Clarke 26th, Bo Rosato 27th and Olivia Seymour was 38th. 

Next up for BE is the state qualifier, which is slated for Nov. 5 at Newberry College.