Ridge View girls atop AAAA track and field by themselves

          Columbia – This one belongs to Ridge View High School and no one else. It’s the Blazers, and theirs alone.

         That would be the AAAA track and field state championship. After tying with Westwood for the crown last season, Ridge View won it outright on Saturday at Spring Valley High’s Harry Parone Stadium. The Blazers won with 75 points, outdistancing second place West Florence with 62 while Westwood finished third with 57.

         “It's a great accomplishment, especially since it's my senior year,” said RVHS' Nyla Aiken. “Last year we did tie, so this year it's a different feeling. It's all ours this year. I'm very happy 

           “Last year, it wasn’t just ours, but this year it most definitely is.”

           RVHS head coach Warren Eure admits this title has a wee bit sweeter taste to it.

           “You never want to share,” said Eure, who has guided Ridge View to three state titles overall. “You always want to have just one winner. Westwood last year had a great team, some great athletes. The coaches over there are great friends of mine. At the end of the day, it's always good to make sure when that trophy's coming home, it's coming to Ridge View.”

           The Ridge View girls aren’t sharing the state title with another school, but they are state champions along with the boys team. That’s the first time that’s happened in school history.

           The Blazers girls brought their trophy home by having strong showings in the running events, the sprints in particular. Freshman Destiny Horn won the 100-meter dash in a time of 12.03 seconds. Junior Jayalove Greaves finished seventh in the 100 while senior Dania Staley was eighth to score points.

         Staley finished second in the 400 dash, while sophomore Alahna Valentine was fourth. In the 200 dash, Greaves finished third in the 200 dash and Valentine eighth

Valentine and Staley were also part of the winning 4x400-meter relay team along with junior Arielle Mazique and sophomore Alydia Chatmon. They won in a time of 3 minutes, 58.28 seconds.

The other event won by Ridge View was senior Nala Tobin winning the long jump with a jump of 18 feet, 5.25 inches. Valentine finished second to her Blazers teammate, meaning Valentine placed in all four events in which she competed.

Tobin also finished fourth in the triple jump.

The 4x800 team of Aiken, Chatmon, sophomore Sanaii Dennis and junior Samaria Smith finished fourth. Freshman Sidra Berry finished fifth in the 100-meter hurdles.

“The feeling is awesome,” Eure said. “We knew going into the season we had a chance to run it back. We only lost a couple of seniors from last year, so we knew the team that won it last year was coming back. It's an awesome experience. I'm just happy for the girls.”

Three different athletes won multiple events, Midland Valley senior Morgan Coverson-Springs, Riverside senior Miah Johnson and Westside junior Ayanna Hunt.

Springs won both of the hurdle events, taking the 100 in a time of 14.92 and the 400 in 1:04.67. Johnson won the 800 in a time of 2:14.41 and the 1,600 in 5:03.30. Hunt brought home gold in both the discus and the shot put. She won the discus with a throw of 151-11.50 and the shot with a toss of 40-01.00.

Aiken senior Eliza King broke her own state record in the javelin with a throw of 167-06.25. King bested her record by over 10 feet, winning the event last year with a throw of 156-02.00.

“My goal this year was to break it again; my goal was to throw it 10 feet further,” King said. “My Bible verse this year was Philippians 4:6: ‘Be careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.’ I’ve been praying that for the past year that I hopefully would break my state record, and I was able to do that, and I give all my honor and glory to God.”

Other individual winners were Westside junior Sydnee Wilson in the 200 in a time of 24.69, Westwood senior Ayrianna Moore in the 400 in 55.74, Easley sophomore Acie Vincent in the 3,200 run in a time of 11:08.95, West Florence junior Destiny Mitchell in the high jump with a leap of 05-05, Westside senior Kaydn Purdessy in the triple jump with a jump of 38-06.50 and Lucy Beckham senior Livy Dodd in the pole vault with a vault of 11-06.50.

South Pointe’s 4x100 relay team won in a time of 47.67. It is made up of sophomore Jayla Robinson, senior Amaiya Whitlock, sophomore Amiya Davis and sophomore Kavae Anderson.

James Island won the 4x800 relay in a time of 9:40.77. Team members are junior Alexandra LaRue, junior Kirra Borg, senior Chloe Gilbert and eighth-grader Ivy Christo.

Rounding out the top 10 behind Ridge View, West Florence and Westwood were Lucy Beckham with 55, Westside with 54, James Island with 45, Eastside with 33, Greenville with 32, South Pointe with 31 and Easley with 30.50.