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The Seahawks won their third consecutive Class 3-A boys state title Saturday morning at the Sandhills Research Center, edging Wade Hampton of Greenville by six points, while the girls team earned its second consecutive runner-up trophy after winning the state championship in 2008 and 2009.
"I'm extremely pleased," Seahawks coach Bill Wrightson said. "The boys team lost four of our seven varsity runners from last year, and the girls lost three of last year's seven. To come back and do this is pretty special."
Junior Jack Manesiotis was the Class 3-A individual state champion, leading the race from start to finish.
"From about 800 meters on I never looked back," said Manesiotis, who posted a time of 15 minutes, 36 seconds -- 43 seconds ahead of his closest competitor. "I could hear the crowd yelling for the people behind me, but I just didn't look back and gave it everything I had."
Alex Couch and Colton Hennessey finished sixth and ninth for the Seahawks and were named all-state performers.
A crowd of tightly bunched runners at the finish line made determining team scores nearly impossible for coaches. Runners, coaches, and fans waited anxiously for nearly an hour and a half before official results were announced at an awards ceremony. At one point, Hilton Head High coaches received word that the margin between the Seahawks and Generals could be as little as two points, with confusion as to who had actually won. Fort Mill was also in contention. Just 13 points separated the top three schools.
"I quit trying to figure out who'd won the boys' race after a while," Wrightson reflected. "I knew our top three were ahead of Wade Hampton's top three, but after that I wasn't really sure. The suspense makes it sweeter."
The hard-charging Seahawks picked up more than 10 positions in the race's final mile, which Wrightson said is part of the team's strategy.
"We work really hard on having them run the right kind of pace early in the race so they'll have something left at the end. They don't always listen to us, but when they do it works pretty well."
Hilton Head High's girls finished second to top-ranked Eastside, which placed five runners in the top 17.
"I felt like we had to run our best race today and Eastside would have to slip up a little bit for us to have a chance to beat them," said Wrightson. "I thought we'd have a legitimate shot if that happened. We ran pretty close to our best, but they sure did run their best."
"I was definitely pleased with what we did today," said all-state performer Faith Lifer, who finished eighth with a time of 19:37. "We've lost a lot of runners, but we have a lot of young girls that work so hard and push themselves to the limit at every race. I'm very proud of our team."
Carley McGlinn was also named all-state, posting a time of 19:55 and giving the Seahawks five runners in the top 15 of the boys' and girls' races.
In addition to his sixth-place finish, Alex Couch was selected to serve as one of the senior runners delivering the game ball to the Shrine Bowl in Spartanburg on Dec. 17.
"We're going to run a mile each and deliver the ball to the stadium," said Couch. "It's such a great charity event. It's an honor to be chosen."
Both of Bluffton's teams had strong showings on Saturday as well. Scottie House led the girls team to an eighth-place finish with her time of 20:21. The boys finished 11th, led by 21st-place finisher Harris Reeves at 17:14.
Battery Creek's boys finished in 21st place.
Hilton Head High's runners are already excited about the prospect of next season.
"I think this was a rebuilding year," said Ciara McMahon, "so next year I think we can get stronger and faster. If we continue to work hard, we can have another great season."
"We've got a bunch of little guys in eighth and ninth grade and some sophomores with a lot of heart that will be very good," added Sean McMahon.
But even with all of the promise of next year for the team and for himself, Manesiotis is content to focus on this year's triumphs.
"I can't describe this feeling," he said. "It's just too great."
Class 3-A Cross Country Championships
BOYS
Top Team Scores: 1. Hilton Head 61, 2. Wade Hampton (G) 67, 3. Fort Mill 74, 4. Eastside 144, 5. Socastee 217, 6. Travelers Rest 236, 7. Daniel 265, 8. South Pointe 274, 9. Dreher 285, 10. Nation Ford 286, 11. Bluffton 315, 21. Battery Creek 566
Hilton Head (1st)--1. Jack Manesiotis 15:36, 6. Alex Couch 16:36, 9. Colton Hennessey 16:45, 17. Sean McMahon 17:07, 28. Sam Beattie 17:17, 38. Noa Pagatpatan 17:29, 81. Chandler Bolthouse 18:12
Bluffton (11th)--21. Harris Reeves 17:14, 40. Joshua Tierney 17:34, 68. Anthony Chissell 18:02, 101. Tim Neitzel 18:30, 104. Demetrius Smalls 18:35, 107. Daniel Falcocchio 18:36, 124. Clark Sinclair 18:54
Battery Creek (21st)--70. Erik Barbosa 18:03, 113. Ra'Heem Cooper 18:40, 132. Luis Castillo 19:10, 146. Joshua Williams 19:29, 151. Michael Evans 19:34, 160. Jihad Muhammad 20:04, 174. Willie Brown 21:38
GIRLS
Top Team Scores: 1. Eastside 52, 2. Hilton Head 98, 3. Daniel 134, 4. Fort Mill 150, 5. Wade Hampton (G) 187, 6. Blue Ridge 190, 7. South Pointe 209, 8. Bluffton 212, 9. Travelers Rest 242, 10. Chapin 258
Hilton Head (2nd)--8. Faith Lifer 19:37, 12. Carley McGlinn 19:55, 24. Savannah Schepp 20:17, 25. Clara McMahon 20:18, 29. Esther Anderson 20:26, 68. Abi Short 21:25, 94. Michelle Stine 22:23
Bluffton (8th)--27. Scottie House 20:21, 32. Madison Putich 20:33, 48. Casey Witkowski 20:53, 52. Lea Tierney 21:01, 54. Alex Bailey 21:02, 88. Casey White 22:08, 98. Taylor Klitzsch 22:31
Battery Creek (N/A)--92. Alexis Miller 22:16
