By: Gerald Doolittle Contributing Writer  Johnston, S.C. – The Wardlaw Academy varsity basketball teams will enter the 2025 portion of the 2024-25 season hoping to be competitive in the tough SCISA Region 3-A. The Girls Division will compete against W.W. King Academy and Richard Winn Academy for the Region title as Newberry Academy, Cambridge Academy and Anderson Christian do not have varsity teams this season. Meanwhile, it looks like Richard Winn Academy and Newberry Academy are the stronger teams in the Boys Division. Wardlaw, Cambridg e, Anderson Christian and W.W. King will battle for the other seeds. Coach Kristina Graves has her Lady Patriots off to a 3-6 start in 2024-25. Her team is led by seniors Maddie DeLoach, Hailey Holmes and Liz Park. The three juniors are Taylor Hill, Katherine Trotter and Brianna McNeil . Rounding out the Lady Patriots roster are sophomores Olyvia Wall and Charlotte Bailey . The freshmen are Lillie Stocum and Kate Griffith . Coach Austin Spurlock hopes his varsity boys can improve on their 1-7 record. His Patriots have dropped several close games thus far. The Patriots should be more competitive with six seniors on the team. The seniors are Colt Bailey, Noah Harper , Collin Holsonback, Michael Martin , Jackson Smoak and Josh Bussey . Bailey and Harper are leading the offense with 112 and 105 points. Rounding out the Patriot roster are Jake Winn (so), Reese Harper (so), Cooper Davis (so) and Andrew Smith (fr).

Willie Kennedy from South Florence, MLB with 29 tackles this season.

By: Gerald Doolittle HSSR Staff Writer Johnston, S.C. – Wardlaw Academy Athletic Director Kathy James has all but one of her coaching positions filled for the 2024-25 school year. She still has the Golf slot to fill. Mark Rodgers will be back for his 13 th season to coach the Varsity Football team. During his tenure the Patriots have won three Region titles along with State titles in 2012, 2016 and 2017. The Middle School football program will have Benji Brown and Ben Bussey preparing the young Patriots for their future varsity years. The Volleyball program will have Lauren Williams Givens at the Varsity level. The middle school coach will be Lexi Quarles . The Girls Basketball program will again be coached by Kristina Graves . She will be busy coaching both varsity and middle school. The Boys Basketball program will again be coached by Austin Spurlock . He will be coaching both varsity and middle school. The Softball program will have Kathy James coaching the varsity. Daniel Bartley will coach the middle school. Morgan Burgess will coach both the varsity and middle school baseball teams. Libby Timmerman will coach the varsity cheer and Miranda Burton will coach the middle school cheer.  Amber Weaghington will coach the Cross-country team.

By: Gerald Doolittle Johnston, S.C . – The Wardlaw Academy campus will start taking on a new look during the 2024-25 school year which will be year number 55 since the school opened in 1970. The Advance Wardlaw Fundraising Campaign has started where upgrades to academic and athletic facilities will be made. The projected cost for this campaign will be around $550,000. Upgrades to Student Technology is on the list. Integrating technology into the curriculum provides opportunities for collaborative and self-directed learning activities that would not otherwise be possible. Technology is ever-changing so to ensure students and teachers have access to the most updated technology devices and tools, funds are needed to purchase new laptops, projection boards for classrooms and printing equipment for student assignments and projects. New metal awnings will be installed to the lower school building, over upper school sidewalks to portable classrooms, and at the school entrances. The benefits will be evident for students, staff, parents and visitors to the school. The football field will have a projected new look with upgrades to the Terrell Miller press box which is over 20 years old. Also, the bleachers on the home side will be upgraded to address safety concerns. The school gym floor is a multi-use space for school athletic events, assemblies and academic ceremonies. The new gym floor will improve the look for the space for hosting these events. A new gym floor will be an improvement for our student athletes and visiting athletic teams. The special project of paving the gym parking lot and upper student parking lot has many benefits for the Wardlaw campus. This will provide safe and clean parking spots for school days and events, improved traffic patterns around the campus, and improved drainage in parking lots. As Wardlaw continues to grow, the need for paving will allow for more parking spaces as well as improved carline access. The new weight room and field house will include a new structure specifically designed for all athletic programs at Wardlaw. The new facility will provide space for indoor workouts and practices, state-of-the-art meeting spaces for athletic teams with seating, lighting, and projection technology, and dedicated weight equipment and space for all athletes. Wardlaw Academy has seen three generations of students since 1970 benefit from the present facilities. With the projected upgrades Wardlaw Academy hopes to serve at least three more generations the next 55 years.