Hammond Gears Up for More Success

By WORTHY EVANS

Special to the HSSR

Columbia -As Hammond gets ready for the 2024-2025 academic and athletic year, much will remain the same: the school’s culture of discipline and perseverance that begins in the classroom and spreads throughout the athletic fields, courts, and arenas.

Also, a really good football team is getting ready to power through another season, with pre-season practice about to kick off.

The Skyhawks (11-2 in 2023) won their seventh straight SCISA state championship and 21^st in the history of the school. Head coach Jon Wheeler, entering his fourth year as head of the program, has continued the team’s winning ways under former head coach Erik Kimrey, and has added some facets of excellence on his own. This fall the team welcomes offensive coordinator Rick Reetz, who was the head coach at Heathwood Hall in 2023 and led Porter Gaud football for 10 years.

“He’s a great teacher, in the classroom as well as on the field,” Hammond athletic director Jeff Barnes said. “He’ll be teaching fifth-grade science and will be a great asset to the team on and off the field.”

The Skyhawks kick off the season with Christ Church Episcopal at Edens Stadium Aug. 23.

Edens Stadium got a major facelift last year with the installation of turf and an improved track surface. The field is marked for football, soccer and lacrosse.

“They all get good use of it,” Barnes said. “We have also upgraded the sound system and put in a new scoreboard that has blinking lights. It will be fun for us.”

Other facility improvements are under way and taking place south of the railroad tracks—over the bridge. A new group of tennis courts with a locker room and a covered viewing area is being built that will join the softball field that is already in place. Future projects may include a field and small stadium for soccer and lacrosse. That idea is in line with the school making more use of the property south of the tracks that has several basic softball and baseball fields and a parking area.

“We’re hoping to finish up the tennis courts at the start of the season, and the next step is getting more of a game atmosphere on the south campus where our softball field is, and move some sports down there to make fuller use of that area.”

Hammond swimming has two new head coaches. Victoria Kwann will be the girls head coach and John Metts will be the boys head coach. They join a head coaching corps that Barnes said is at the core of bringing discipline and hard work from the classroom to athletics.

“We ultimately want to build a coaching culture of hard work and accountability, and through those skills we hope to be competitive in all of our sports. Some more than others, but we hope to build a culture of discipline and hard work, and when our athletes build on that foundation, the better they will be.”

For at least the past few decades, that philosophy has worked, most recently with the softball program (18-6 in 2023) under head coach David Beacham. The Skyhawks went from winless in 2019 to reach the SCISA 4A state championship series last spring. They fell in two games to Laurence Manning, but Barnes credited the turnaround to the girls’ work ethic and persistence through the years under Beacham’s leadership.

“Our softball program under Beacham has really blossomed under his process,” Barnes said. “They were getting run-ruled in a lot of games just a few years ago and that’s a statement to all the work they’ve done. They could have given up on that process but they didn’t. LMA was the better team, but I’m super proud of the girls for competing.”

The boys soccer team has also had a lot of tests of its mettle. The Skyhawks went 1-6 to start the spring season before fighting its way back into the standings and facing down SCISA power Cardinal Newman in the state championship match for the second straight year. They fell 4-0 to the nationally ranked Cardinals, who captured their fifth straight state crown, but 20-year-head coach Adrian Pinasco will always have his team fight above their weight limit, Barnes said. 

“You’re not going to find a guy who gets better work out of players than Adrian Pinasco,” Barnes said. “He gets the most out of every player he has. It’s amazing what he can do with what he has.”