Iron Horse soccer season living up to expectations
The Philip Simmons High School boys’ soccer team is having another season to remember.
Coach Patrick Gundersen’s squad began the season ranked No. 2 in Class AA in the South Carolina High School Soccer Coaches Association's preseason poll. The Iron Horses have lived up to the expectations with 10 victories in their first 11 games.
The Iron Horses owned a four-game winning streak entering a Region 6-AA clash against Academic Magnet this week and had outscored foes 37-10.
Senior Cris Morales, an all-state selection last spring, is the top point producer with 14 goals and nine assists to account for 37 points. Freshman Will Kelleher and sophomore Charlie Collier are young but talented. Kelleher has tallied six goals and two assists, while Collier has collected four goals and four assists.
The Iron Horses were 21-3 last spring, winning the Region 6-AA championship. They reached the Lower State championship, dropping a 2-0 decision to Academic Magnet.
BE TRACK RECORDS
Bishop England High School is having a solid track and field season with some outstanding individual efforts including Connor Good and Olivia Allen.
Good set the BE boys’ record in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 9 minutes and 31.02 seconds at the recent Electric City Invite, hosted by Anderson University.
Meanwhile, Allen broke her own school record in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.46 at the Bob Jenkins Coaches Classic qualifier, which was held at Cane Bay High School.
Good is a junior who had a big effort at last spring’s Class AAAA state track and field championships with a gold medal performance in the 3,200 and a bronze medal in the 1,600-meter run.
Allen finished third in the 400 dash at the state meet last year.
LACROSSE
The high school lacrosse season is well underway, and the playoffs will begin with first-round games April 27-28. State semifinals will begin May 5 with state championships set for May 8-9.
The Bishop England girls’ team was 7-3 under first-year coach Billy Bitter entering April’s portion of the schedule. Bitter replaced Jeff Weiner, who owned a 226-36 record and led BE to seven state championships. His team recorded an amazing 98-game win streak that ended in 2023.
Bitter has coached at the collegiate and high school levels. He began his coaching career as an assistant at Boston College in 2021, the year the Eagles women’s team won the NCAA title. He served as head coach of Cohasset High School in Massachusetts in 2022 and as Weiner's assistant before being named head coach.
The Bishop boys were 7-4 ending March, with a two-game losing streak.
Meanwhile, the Philip Simmons boys’ team was 0-8 entering April, while the girls’ squad was 3-7.