High school sports, April 10: Bluffton’s Neil Blanken sets new discus state best
Bluffton’s Neil Blanken broke his own South Carolina season best in the discus with a throw of 170 feet, 3 inches on Saturday, taking runner-up honors at the prestigious Taco Bell Classic meet in Columbia.
Blanken also finished sixth in the shot put for the Bobcats, while Beaufort’s Savionna Glover produced three top-10 finishes during the meet at Spring Valley High School.
Blanken’s discus throw Saturday went 9 inches farther than his previous best, set at last month’s Bob Jenkins Coaches Classic in Irmo. Even so, that left him more than 4 feet shot of winner Mason Poteat of Draughn High in Lenoir, N.C.
Glover placed sixth in the girls’ triple jump with a distance of 37 feet, 10 inches, also placing eighth in the long jump (17-7 1/4) and ninth in the 100 meters (12.39 seconds).
Beaufort teammate Jackie Barnes was seventh in the pole vault, clearing a height of 11 feet, 6 inches, and Bre-Anna Heyward-White was eighth in the 400 meters (57.50). On the boys’ side, Hilton Head Island’s Ben Gilman placed seventh in the mile (4:26.43).
BASEBALL
Trinity Christian 2, Hilton Head Christian 1: J.D. Monts stroked three hits and John Burke drove home HHCA’s only run, but the Eagles couldn’t come up with the equalizer despite producing nine hits as a team.
Burke’s line-drive single scored Dargan Cherry to pull the Eagles within a run after HHCA loaded the bases on a walk and two errors. John Blackshire followed with a hard ground ball up the middle, but Trinity’s Chase Autry fielded it to throw Connor Handy out at home for the inning’s second out.
Michael Graupner popped out to end the inning, and the Eagles went quietly in the seventh.
Burke and James Bartholomew each had two hits for HHCA, while Blackshire pitched three no-hit innings but walked five.
Colleton River 2, Bluffton 1: Griffin Yeager doubled home the Bobcats’ only run in a pitchers’ duel late Friday night.
Each team produced only three hits, though five walks by Bluffton starter Jordan Kennedy led to Colleton County runs. Jeffrey Hodge and Henry Holmberg collected the Bobcats’ other hits.
SOFTBALL
Whale Branch sweeps doubleheader: Autumn Moon drove home four runs as the Warriors took both ends of a Saturday doubleheader from Orangeburg-Wilkinson.
The Warriors erupted for a 19-8 victory in the opener, as Karen Rivers scored four runs and Jenna Shipley and Shanelle Webb added three apiece. The second game was a 16-8 Whale Branch victory, as the Warriors scored eight times in each of the first two innings.
This story was originally published April 10, 2016 at 12:19 PM with the headline "High school sports, April 10: Bluffton’s Neil Blanken sets new discus state best."