XC Teams Run Strong

The Philip Simmons and Bishop England cross country teams recently competed in the 41st annual Eye Opener, which was held at The Milliken Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

 

The first Eye Opener was held in 1984 with five teams and 54 runners and was hosted by the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind.

 

The tournament grew and grew and eventually moved to the Milliken Center, where it has continued to grow and has become one of the best and most prestigious meets in the Southeast.

 

The two-day event was held over the Labor Day weekend and featured two high school divisions, junior varsity and college runners. More than 3,700 runners crossed the finish line. 

 

There were two varsity divisions, International and Championship, to make the field for each race smaller.

 

The Iron Horses and Bishops competed in the International Division, which is more competitive than the Championship Division.

 

The Iron Horse boys finished in fourth place in the International Division. Christ Church was crowned champion, while Greer Middle Collegiate was runner-up. The Bishop boys finished in 13th place in a race that featured 49 teams.

 

The Iron Horse girls finished in ninth place as North Lincoln High School topped Fort Mill High to claim the top spot. The Bishop girls held down 16th place in a race that featured 38 teams.

 

Matthew Perry led the Iron Horses to the boy’s fourth-place finish with a time of 16 minutes and 17.60 seconds over the 5K course. Trent Manning, Grady Castiglia, Stone Sweatman, and Brian Stambaugh all finished in the top 100 in a race that included 496 runners.

 

Laura Perry led the Iron Horse girls to a ninth-place finish with a time of 19:21.10. Keziah Varner, Stella Winiger, Ronel St. Germaine, and Flynn Taylor finished in the top 100. 

 

The Bishops’ Nora Brahim was the top local runner in the girls’ International Division with a seventh-place finish. The senior posted a time of 18:45.90. Siena D’Agostino finished in the top 100.

 

Connor Good led the Bishop boys to their 13th place finish with a time of 16:09.40. Jackson Muller and Gabe Hislop finished in the top 100.

 

IRON HORSE VOLLEYBALL

The Philip Simmons volleyball team enters Region 6-AA play this week with a 12-game winning streak and a 15-1 record.

 

That’s pretty much par for the course for coach Jay Watterworth’s program. Watterworth is closing in on 400 victories at the school, while the team set a school record with 41 victories in a season last fall, topping 38 wins in 2023. 

 

The team’s only loss this season was to the Grimsley Whirlies, a high school out of Greensboro, North Carolina, in a tournament held in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

 

The Iron Horses won the Porter-Gaud Invitational with a victory over West Virginia power Hedgesville High School, a team that posted a 43-5-1 record last fall.

 

The Iron Horses will host a tournament at the end of September.

 

“It gives us some good competition and hopefully prepares us for a deep playoff run,” Watterworth said.

 

Philip Simmons was scheduled to play its first region game against Woodland High School at home on Sept. 9. The team travels downtown to Burke High School two days later.