2023: Triumph and heartbreak: Sports stories that define the year

Editor’s Note: Sports writer Phil Bowman shares his thoughts on the top 10 sports stories reported in The Daniel Island News in 2023. 

 

Flying Fish champs: Twenty years after the program was born, the Daniel Island Flying Fish were crowned champs of the City Swim Meet. In July, coach Rose Van Metre’s squad defeated Snee Farm, 2,832.5-2,818.

 

“It was a nail-biter the entire meet,” Van Metre continued. “The most important thing was to keep the momentum up. We were so pumped up for every event.”

 

Junior Golf: Daniel Island was on the international golf map when the 75th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship was contested on Daniel Island in July.

 

The tourney features an incredible alumni group headed by Tiger Woods. Two local golfers, Matt Moloney of Bishop England and Rowan Sullivan of Porter-Gaud, competed in the event.

 

Blue-chipper: Philip Simmons football standout Troy Stevenson became the school’s first blue-chip recruit his senior season. He was considered one of the top five seniors in the state and was selected to play in the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas. He signed with Georgia Tech on Dec. 20.

 

Forfeit: The Bishop England girls lacrosse team, ranked No. 3 in the nation and seeking its seventh straight state title, was bounced from the playoffs and had their 98-game winning streak halted due to an ineligible player.

 

Carlisle Cup: Bishop England and Philip Simmons continued to have elite athletic programs. Both schools finished in the top five in the 2022-23 Carlisle Cup standings.

 

The Bishops finished second in Class AA behind Oceanside Collegiate Academy. Meanwhile, Philip Simmons had a strong showing in its first year as a Class AAA entry. Philip Simmons, the smallest school in the class, finished in fourth place in the Carlisle standings.

 

State champs: Bishop England and Philip Simmons collected quite a stash of gold, as the Bishops won six state championships in 2023 (second half of 2022-2023 school year and first half of 2023-2024 school year) while the Iron Hoses claimed two. Iron Horses titles were for girls cross-country and girls track and field. Bishop

England won titles for girls cross-country, boys volleyball, girls volleyball, boys golf, girls swimming and girls track and field.

 

COCO: The Credit One Charleston Open featured another incredible field, including local entries Shelby Rogers and Emma Navarro. Ons Jabeur was crowned the champ with a victory over Belinda Bencic. The Charleston Open was named the WTA 500 tournament of the year for the second year in a row.

 

Emma Navarro: Charleston’s Emma Navarro had quite a college tennis career, winning the NCAA singles title in 2021. In 2023, she spent the year climbing the WTA charts moving from the 200s to World No. 32 to end 2023. She posted a 64-24 record this year.

 

Iron Horse football: Philip Simmons had another memorable season, posting a 10-2 record while finishing second in Region 7-AAA. While there were many stars, running backs KJ Asbury and Sharod Williams had the most impressive numbers. Asbury set school records with 2,017 rushing yards and 27 TDs while William gained 1,270 yards while scoring 18 TDs.

 

BE gets new AD: Bishop England announced Bill Warren as its new athletic director. Warren served as co-AD for the 2023-24 academic year along with Paul Runey, who will step down from the position at the end of the school year. Warren spent nearly 30 years with the Rock Hill School District.