Patriots’ golfers are on the rise

By Roger Lee

North Charleston – Fort Dorchester entered the Region 7-AAAAA Boys Golf Championship Match at the Wescott Plantation a bit of an underdog but finished as the 2024 Region Champion.

The Patriots finished with a team score of 312 to capture the region title. West Ashley placed second with 318 points, followed by Ashley Ridge with 324 and Summerville with 330.

While the Patriots have had success in the past, and even qualified for the state tournament last season, it had been several years since Fort Dorchester finished on top of the region.

“Four years ago we had five seniors graduate and our coach stopped coaching golf so when Coach (Steve) LaPrad asked me to take over we didn’t know if we were going to have anyone show up for tryouts,” Fort Dorchester coach Kenny Walker said. “We had six kids tryout and ended up with five and three of them are still with us. We started at zero and have been able to get a little better each year. We took our lumps for a few years, but these guys worked hard at it and they’ve surprised me with how much they’ve improved so I’m ecstatic for them.”

Junior Lucas Johnson finished with an impressive round of 70 to claim Low Medalist honors and be named the Region 7 Boys Golfer of the Year. Jon Graham finished only two strokes behind. Trailing for the Patriots were Trip Walls (78), Christian Thibault (92) and Parav Patel (94). Graham and Walls were also named to the 2024 All-region Team.

“We’ve been competitive all season but we were always like two strokes off,” Johnson said. “These guys work their tails off but things just weren’t clicking in matches. Finally we just had everything click and it couldn’t have come at a better time.”

Fort Dorchester went on to qualify for the 5A Boys Golf State Championship, but didn’t have its best performance there. The Patriots finished in 16^th place. Graham led the Fort with a two-round score of 158 to place 36^th individually.

Track and Field

Fort Dorchester placed 11^th during the Class 5A Boys Track and Field Championships.

Jalen Barry, a Gamecock commit, won the Javelin with a 192-05.00 mark. Monty Johnson placed second in the 200-meter Dash with a 21.48 time and placed sixth in the 100. Micah Anderson placed 10^th in the 100 and seventh in the 200. Charles Watson placed sixth in the Javelin.

The Patriots placed seventh in the 4x100 Relay.

The Fort Dorchester Girls placed 12^th. Lailah Holman placed second in the High Jump with a 5-01.00 mark. Malayia Morrow placed third in the 400 with a 56.54 time. Kyleigh Moore placed third in the Javelin with a 121-01.25 mark. Dalayasia Dotch placed ninth in the 400 Hurdles. Saniyah Joyner placed fifth in the Discus. Leah Nugent placed ninth in the Shot Put.

Fort Dorchester was the runner-up for both the boys and girls Region 7 Championships. Claiming an individual region championship for the Patriots were:

Women’s 100 Hurdles: Cailyn Webber

Men’s 100: Monty Johnson

Men’s 4x100 Relay Team

Women’s 400: Malayia Morrow

Women’s 400 Hurdles: Dalayasia Dotch

Men’s 200: Micah Anderson

Women’s High Jump: Lailah Holman

Men’s Pole Vault: Christian Krueger

Women’s Shot Put: Leah Nugent

Women’s Discus: Saniyah Joyner (FD)

Men’s Javelin: Jalen Barry (FD).