Bishop England boys’, girls’ track teams finish in top 10

The Bishop England High School track and field teams were up to the task, competing in a field of 35 teams at the Class AAAA state championships for the first time after decades at the Class AA and AAA levels.

 

The boys’ team, which finished in ninth place last spring in Class AA, finished in sixth place with 41 points – just seven points away from finishing third in the meet, which was contested May 16 at Lower Richland High School.

 

Seneca High School won the boys title with 54; Wren High School was second with 53, and South Pointe High School was third with 48.

 

The Bishops girls finished tied for sixth, as both the Bishops and Westside High School tallied 40 points. Gray Collegiate Academy was crowned champ with 61 points, while Daniel High School tallied 58, and Seneca 50. 

 

“Both teams competed extremely well,” coach Tony Colizzi said. “The competition was stiff, but our athletes stepped up to the challenge of moving up to the 4-A level.”

 

Junior Katie Griffin led the BE girls, capturing a gold medal in the pole vault, clearing 3.35 meters (11 feet).

 

It marked the second year in a row that Griffin earned all-state status. Last spring, she won a silver medal in the event.

 

“Katie had a great day at pole vault,” Colizzi said. “When the bar moved from 10 feet 6 inches to 11 feet, Katie was in second place. Clearing 11 feet on her first attempt put her into first and when her competitor did not clear 11 feet, Katie won the gold medal.”

 

The Bishop girls won four other medals, all bronze.

 

Nora Brahim earned a pair of bronze medals in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs. It marked Brahim’s fifth appearance at the state championships. Her brother, Marc, competed in his third state championship meet.

 

The BE girls’ 4x800-meter relay, with runners Grace Buss, Avery Lobb, Addy Wood, and Caroline Wilson, finished third.

 

Olivia Allen earned the other medal of the day, finishing third in the 400-meter dash.

 

Connor Good was the only member of the boys’ team to medal.

 

Good, who is only a sophomore, claimed a gold medal in the 3,200 run with a time of 9 minutes 36.50 seconds, while finishing third in the 1,600.

 

Coach Jeff Weiner retires

Jeff Weiner, the man who put the Bishop England High School girls’ lacrosse team on the national map, retired on May 15.

 

Weiner was named coach in 2010 and inherited a team that went 4-8 the preceding year. The Bishops needed only three years to reach the first of 10 state championship matches.

 

The Bishops won seven state titles under Weiner, who had a 226-36 record at BE and produced 19 All-Americans since 2014. The Bishops earned their first state title under Weiner in 2016.

 

While the Bishops had to forfeit games and missed the state playoffs in 2023, they won 118 consecutive games on the field from 2017 to 2025.

 

Weiner lived on Long Island, New York, and spent more than three decades in the telecommunications industry before retiring to the Lowcountry. 

 

He also served as an assistant at Wando High School prior to taking the BE job.