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Now the Seahawks proved they're there to stay.
The boys and girls each captured Class 3-A state titles at Sandhills Research Center in Columbia on Saturday morning.
The girls team, which slipped to second in the state rankings a week ago, edged out Daniel to successfully defend its state title. The Seahawks shattered last year's school record time in the process to become the fastest team in Hilton Head High history.
Sara Manesiotis took second overall among individual runners with a time of 18 minutes, 31 seconds -- five seconds behind Daniel's Sinead Haughey. Faith Lifer (4), Emily Crick (8), Nikki Schoning (19), Rosie Dungan (23), Abi Short (34) and Avery Fine (65) rounded out the Seahawks' lineup.
"We broke the record by a mile, and we had to make every second of it to (win) it," Seahawks coach Bill Wrightson said in a phone interview Saturday afternoon. "The girls had to squeeze every second out of their bodies."
The Seahawks finished with 52 points, only six ahead of Daniel's 58, and didn't find out until the results were announced they had in fact won. Bluffton finished sixth overall at 200, led by Vannica Williams, who placed 17th.
"We just wanted it a lot more this year once we saw we were behind Daniel (in the rankings)," Manesiotis said. "I feel like we earned it more so than last year."
The Hilton Head High boys dominated the field with five of the top 19 places, led by Jack Manesiotis, Jack Felix and Mackenzie Johnston, who finished second, third and fifth, respectively. Spencer Wallace (15), Michael Brewer (19), T.J. Melanson (39) and Alex Couch (75) rounded out the boys' state championship lineup.
Senior Aaron Ramirez of Woodmont won the race by nearly 20 seconds with a time of 15:45.
Battery Creek finished seventh overall, paced by Rhakeem Brown, who placed 18th, while Bluffton took 10th. Ryan Blizzard took 54th overall to lead the Bobcats.
"I didn't even need to see the results. I knew we won right away," Wrightson said. "Considering all the training we missed this year, that's impressive. Obviously all the kids ran really well. There were several keys."
That certainly includes Brewer, who finished 19th despite running the last two miles of the race without one of his shoes. Brewer was spiked on his heel early in the race, causing his shoe to slip off his foot. Rather than stopping to pick it up and costing himself valuable time, Brewer elected to continue running and finish the race with only one shoe.
"A very heroic thing to do," Wrightson said. "I don't know how he did it."
In the Class 4-A race, Beaufort High took 17th in the boys' race. Tim Aune finished in 22nd place. The Beaufort girls also took 17th overall. Wando won the Class 4-A girls meet, while Lexington won the boys meet.
STATE MEET RESULTS
Saturday, Sandhills Research Center in Columbia
Class 3-A
Boys team
1. Hilton Head High 41, 2. Wade Hampton 69, 3. Daniel 137, 4. J.L. Mann 159, 5. Chapin 204, 6. Belton-Honea Path 205, 7. Battery Creek 222, 8. Riverside 239, 9. Woodmont 278, 10. Bluffton 290.
Girls team
1. Hilton Head High 52, 2. Daniel 58, 3. Riverside 118, 4. J.L. Mann 155, 5. Wade Hampton 186, 6. Bluffton 200, 7. Eastside 203, 8. Chapin 233, 9. Travelers Rest 302, 10. South Aiken 306.
Boys individual
Battery Creek -- 18. Rhakeem Brown 17:07, 26. Mark Rennix 17:17, 34. Demetrius Smalls 17:37, 76. Ronald Wayne 18:15; 86. Raymond Wayne 18:29.
Bluffton -- 54. Ryan Blizzard 17:59, 60. Taylor Paul 18:04, 63. Landon House 18:05, 66. Harris Reeves 18:08, 72. Clark Sinclair 18:12, 87. Joshua Tierney 18:33, 152. Adam Warner 20:05.
Hilton Head High -- 2. Jack Manesiotis 16:04, 3. Jack Felix 16:14, 5. Mackenzie Johnston 16:22, 15. Spencer Wallce 16:55, 19. Michael Brewer 17:08, 39. T.J. Melanson 17:43, 75. Alex Couch 18:14.
Girls individual
Battery Creek -- 56. Courtney Wright 21:23
Bluffton --17. Vannica Williams 19:58, 30. Brittany Fulton 20:22, 39. Scottie House 20:58, 58. Alex Bailey 21:24, 63. Madison Putich 21:30, 71. Casey Witkowski 21:59, 97. Kio Yoshida 22:47.
Hilton Head High -- 2. Sara Manesiotis 18:31, 4. Faith Lifer 18:41, 8. Emily Crick 19:27, 19. Nikki Schoning 20:01, 23. Rosie Dungan 20:10, 34. Abi Short 20:39, 65. Avery Fine 21:36.
Class 4-A
Boys
Beaufort High -- 22. Tim Aune 16:55, 96. Taylor Mason 18:09, 110. David Butt 18:24, 111. Steven Pasternak 18:25, 115. Darrin Sawn 18:38, 133. Luke Norton 20:08, 134. Matthew Born 20:24.
Girls
Beaufort High -- 94. Madeline Aune 22:22, 96. Olivia Fawcett 22:23, 97. Caitlin Howe 22:33, 101. Ashley Zapp 22:41, 114. Briana Hohmann 23:39, 116. Teylor Phetkamyat 23:56, 122. Rebecca Fisher 25:16.
