Gilmans lead way as Seahawk boys win 4th straight cross country title

Hilton Head Island’s Ben Gilman became a two-time individual champion, leading a 1-2 finish with younger brother Sam that propelled the Seahawks to a fourth consecutive boys’ crown Saturday at the state meet in Columbia.

Ben Gilman crossed the finish line in 15 minutes, 49 seconds at the Sandhills Research Center, five seconds ahead of his brother. Three more Seahawks were among the top 17, good enough to edge Eastside for the Class 4A crown and notch their seventh state title in the past eight years.

“These kids had to really put their heart into it, no question,” Seahawks coach Bill Wrightson said.

The Hilton Head girls weren’t so fortunate, as a depleted squad finished an excruciatingly close third that left them unable to extend their string of titles. Eastside wrested that crown away, two points ahead of Daniel and six ahead of the Seahawks.

“I know it was a huge disappointment for the girls,” Wrightson said, noting the team was without one top runner in Miyah Shatz and last year’s state runner-up Mallory Liggett slowed by illness.

Isabel Muehleman paced the Hilton Head girls with an eighth-place finish, with five runners finishing among the top 20. Even with that, it left them just shy of adding to their string of championships. Eastside and Daniel each had a pair of top-5 finishers.

Until Saturday, both Hilton Head squads had finished first or second in the state for eight straight years.

“That’s why I was hoping we could at least get second,” Wrightson said. “The girls did a fabulous job, but we just came up a little bit short.”

Unlike last year’s victory when he took control from the beginning, Ben Gilman used a late surge on an incline to put some distance between himself, his brother and Eastside’s Noah White. Sam Gilman ran third for much of the stretch before passing White in the final strides.

But the team title, Wrightson said, really was decided by the pursuing runners. Nahuel Coronel crossed in 15th, followed immediately by teammates Ryan Moosbrugger and Josh Williams that sealed the outcome. The Seahawks finished with 51 points, 12 ahead of Eastside.

“It was going to be those other three guys that decided it,” Wrightson said, “and that’s pretty much the way it was. They performed as we hoped and expected.”

The Hilton Head girls might have completed a third straight double with a full complement, but couldn’t overcome what Wrightson called “three really bad breaks.”

A knee injury has kept Shatz sidelined in recent weeks and Liggett has been slow to recover from illness. Factor in the long training break caused by Hurricane Matthew, and it added up.

“Two of those we could overcome; three we could not,” Wrightson said.

Tori Herman placed 12th for the Seahawks, followed by Sarah Cooke (13th), Liggett (16th) and Esther Anderson (20th).

CLASS 3A

Madison Lewellen led a trio of May River girls with top-20 finishes as the Sharks took third in the team competition behind runaway champions Palmetto, which placed all five runners among the top 16. Bluffton took fifth.

Lewellen, a junior, finished fourth overall (20:00), followed by freshman Emma Peluso in 12th and seventh-grader Victoria Sosa 18th. But the Sharks were nipped in a close race for second by Seneca, which placed all five of their runners in the top 30.

Bluffton’s Perla Jimenez was fifth overall (20:06) with teammate Kelsey Brandt right behind (20:10).

Bluffton placed eighth in the boys’ competition, with John Sutay (17:44) coming home in 23rd. May River was 10th, paced by Huff Campbell in 21st (17:41). Powdersville took home the team title.

This story was originally published November 5, 2016 at 8:06 PM with the headline "Gilmans lead way as Seahawk boys win 4th straight cross country title."