BLYTHEWOOD/FAIRFIELD – Last weekend’s storms, which wreaked havoc across the Midlands, also spurred a shuffle in upcoming athletic schedules at area high schools. Football fields are drenched, and with many schools remaining closed throughout the week, no practices have been held.
Blythewood High School has moved Friday’s football region opener at Spring Valley to Monday, Oct. 12, at 7:30 p.m. No makeup date was announced at press time for the Blythewood-Westwood volleyball game, originally scheduled for last Tuesday.
Fairfield Central’s long anticipated football showdown with Newberry will not be played Friday. At press time, Athletic Director Terrell Roach said the game was tentatively rescheduled to Saturday, but a kickoff time was not available. A makeup date for last Tuesday’s volleyball match at Newberry was also not available at press time.
Richard Winn Academy saw the biggest schedule changes. While the Eagles will play football Friday at Wardlaw Academy as scheduled, last week’s game at Carolina Academy will now be played on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. The football game at W.W. King Academy, scheduled for Oct. 23, has been cancelled entirely. Last Tuesday’s volleyball match against Ben Lippen has also been scrubbed and will not be rescheduled.
Westwood’s football schedule was still in limbo at press time. The one thing athletic director Jason Powell knew for sure Tuesday night was that this week’s region opener at Lugoff-Elgin would not be played on Friday night.
Readers are encouraged to visit the web pages of individual schools for updates. Changes will also be posted on The Voice’s webpage, blythewoodonline691.broadstreet.us/, as they are received.
Westwood coaches and trainers show grave concern as junior defensive back Mark “MJ” Mickens is carted off the field Friday after being injured during the Redhawks’ home game against Clover. Mickens suffered a neck injury, according to a statement issued by Richland 2 Tuesday, and underwent surgery earlier this week. The District said Mickens was in stable condition as of Tuesday morning.
“Our team, Westwood High and our entire district continue to keep MJ and his family in our thoughts and prayers,” Westwood head coach Rodney Summers said. “We will continue to support MJ and his family throughout his recovery process.”
The family is posting updates on his condition via Twitter @pausetive1.
Daniel Hayes and Craig Rummel outside the Blythewood Recreation Center on Boney Road. Saturday, they launch the Blythewood chapter of F3 Nation, a free workout and fellowship program for men.
BLYTHEWOOD/WINNSBORO – It begins in the predawn darkness, when first light is but a rumor. The morning’s fist birds are warming up in their arboreal alcoves, the air not yet filled with their flitting chorus. As the sunrise splits the horizon and spills its first rays, painting the landscape in an ethereal glow, the shadows appear on the grounds of the park.
The shadows, vague at first, begin to take form, the shapes of men rising before them. Men from all walks of life, of all ages, shapes and sizes. Men of all faiths and convictions. And they are all here for the same reason – to be better than they were the day before.
That is, essentially, the bottom line of F3 (Fitness, Fellowship and Faith) Nation: to improve from day to day.
Born in Charlotte on the first day of 2011, the men-only workout and fellowship group has grown to include chapters across the Southeast. In 2013, a group was formed at The Sandlot on Clemson Road; last month, at Fortune Springs Park in Winnsboro. And, beginning this Saturday, Blythewood Park on Boney Road will host its first workout.
The Saturday workouts are the “late” workouts, beginning at 6:30 a.m. and lasting about an hour, but that doesn’t make the boot camp style sessions any less challenging. Especially if it’s your first time.
“My first exercise was awful,” said Blythewood resident Daniel Hayes, 27. Hayes, an N.C. native who moved to Blythewood in 2013, helped spearhead F3’s presence in Blythewood along with Craig Rummel.
“I didn’t finish anything,” Hayes said of his first workout in Finlay Park in Columbia in 2013. “I almost threw up. It was a very humbling experience.”
Humbled though he was, Hayes was hooked, he said, and began attending the boot camp sessions three days a week at The Sandlot, where participants go through a series of “body weight” exercises – pushups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, etc. – eventually finding his way to one of the running groups that meet two to three days a week.
“I was never much of a runner before F3,” Hayes said. “I used to actually make fun of long-distance runners. But I just completed my first half-marathon in Columbia last March.”
Since joining F3, Hayes said he has dropped about 30 pounds from a body that was “a mess” and years beyond the shape he was in as a three-sport high school athlete.
But like many other F3 participants, Hayes found something besides just improved physical health. The husband and father of three girls found the second F – Fellowship.
“I was out of shape,” Hayes said, “but I was also looking for something more than the four females I live with. I don’t get a lot of male interaction much, besides at work. I don’t get to goof around and be a guy in my house. Now I get up early in the morning and workout with other guys, cracking jokes, having fun while getting stronger along the way.”
The fellowship augments the fitness, according to F3 organizer Jason Reynolds, a 35-year-old Citadel graduate from Columbia. F3 provides a setting where men can get together with other men, share their stories, their struggles and remind each other what it means to be a Man.
“What the founders in Charlotte (Tim Whitmire and David Redding) discovered was that as they got older, they had fewer and fewer male friends,” Reynolds said. “They had the husbands of their wives’ friends, fathers of their children’s friends, men they saw at church; but these were only by-name, in-passing acquaintances. They weren’t really close friends. There weren’t a lot of guys they could really talk to about their trials and tribulations.”
But through the shared experience of the workout, Reynolds said, men form a real, lasting bond. And in this boys-only environment, men can talk freely and openly.
The third F in F3 Nation – Faith – is a little more subtle, Reynolds said.
“F3 is not an evangelical group,” he said. “The Faith aspect lies a little below the surface. We’re not affiliated with any specific religion. But we’ve found that when you fellowship with other men in these workouts, you realize we’re here for a purpose – to be a good father, a good husband, a good friend, good employer or employee. You realize you have responsibilities and expectations to live up to.
“We’re 100 percent inclusive,” Reynolds added. “We’re open to all men of any fitness level and all faiths.”
For Hayes, the F3 experience has strengthened his faith, he said.
Each workout ends with a huddle-up as the workout leader (assigned on a rotation from among the participants and designated as “The Q”) offers a prayer, inspirational words of encouragement or a scripture reading. When it came his turn as The Q, Hayes found himself in uncharted waters.
“I had never prayed in front of a group of people before,” Hayes said. “It made me uncomfortable. I wasn’t strong enough in my faith to do that.”
Before long, however, the experiences of the workout had transformed him more than just physically.
“Now, for me to have the courage, the faith and the mental capacity to lead a devotion to a group of guys, 95 percent of whom are older than me, that’s a huge change,” Hayes said.
If You’re Ready
The Winnsboro group holds boot camp workouts Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:15 – 6 a.m., and Saturdays 7 – 8 a.m. at Fortune Springs Park. The run group meets Monday and Wednesdays at 5:15 a.m. at the Town Clock.
Blythewood’s group holds its inaugural meeting this Saturday at 6:30 a.m. at Blythewood Park, 126 Boney Road. Additional boot camps are slated for Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:30 – 6:15 a.m., also at the park.
Hayes suggests that first-timers invest in a pair of lightweight latex gloves, as workouts incorporate the surrounding environment and may include hefting the odd cinder block or pushups or other activities against picnic tables or the curb of the parking lot. And, Hayes said, be prepared to be challenged.
“It’s going to hurt,” he said. “The type of exercises we do, you’re engaging muscles you don’t normally use. I’ve seen CrossFit guys show up and not be able to finish the workout.
“But the point is to keep moving, keep doing something,” Hayes said. “The point is to make yourself get better, and the only way to get better is to keep coming back.”
COLUMBIA – University of South Carolina head coach Boo Major of Blythewood was named Coach of the Year Monday by the National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA).
It is the second year in a row that Major has been named National Coach of the Year. The Gamecocks won the 2015 National Championship on April 18 in Waco, Texas, upsetting No. 1 Georgia to win the title.
“I am very humbled to receive this award from my coaching peers,” Major said. “Along with our riders, I share this award with my assistant coaches Ruth Sorrel and Hillary Dobbs who did a tremendous job coaching our girls and preparing them to compete at a high level. I’m also proud to share this with our school president Dr. Pastides and athletics director Ray Tanner, and all of our support staff at the University of South Carolina that do so much work behind the scenes support our program.”
The Gamecocks, who train and hold home events at One Wood Farm in Blythewood, went 12-5 this season while winning their third national title. South Carolina was the only team this year to beat all three conference champions (Fresno State, Baylor, Georgia) during the regular season. The Gamecocks also beat the three conference champions in a span of 36 hours in Waco to win the national championship.
Major, who just completed her 18th season at the University of South Carolina, has led the Gamecocks to three national championships (2005, 2007, 2015), three hunt seat national championships (2005, 2006, 2007) and two Southeastern Conference championships (2013, 2014). In 2014, she became the first University of South Carolina coach to lead a Gamecock team to back-to-back SEC titles, a feat matched this past season by Dawn Staley and the women’s basketball team. Major was named SEC Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2014.
BLYTHEWOOD – Former BHS Bengal and Pro Bowl cornerback for the Arizona Cardinals Justin Bethel is partnering with singer-songwriter Patrick Davis, also a Blythewood native, in the inaugural JB&PD Pro-Am Fore the Cure celebrity golf event, slated for April 26-27 at the Cobblestone Park Golf Club in Blythewood.
The two-day event will bring together country and rock-n-roll musicians, professional athletes and world-renowned coaches to raise money for the American Cancer Society. A morning practice round will be held on April 26, followed by an exclusive evening of music and food for sponsors and participants at The Music Farm in Columbia.
For information on sponsorship or playing in the Pro-Am you can email the organizers at JBPDforethecure@gmail.com.
To purchase general admission tickets to the tournament visit http://www.eventbrite.com/e/justin-bethelpatrick-davis-celebrity-pro-am-tickets.
To learn more about the American Cancer Society or to get help, call anytime, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.
BLYTHEWOOD – The S.C. Diamond Invitational, Blythewood High School’s 10-team, five-day baseball tournament, kicked off with four games Tuesday and is in full swing heading down the weekend stretch.
In its fifth year, the Invitational continues to draw some of the top teams in the state at the Class 3A and Class 4A level. This year’s tourney features 4A’s top-ranked Summerville High School, along with Belton-Honea Path High School, tops in 3A. Other ranked teams include Greenville Senior High Academy (fourth in 4A), Wren High School (fifth in 3A), River Bluff High School (eighth in 4A) and the hometown Bengals (seventh in 4A).
Also joining the competition this year are Wren, Lexington, Socastee and Mauldin high schools, all out of the 4A ranks.
As in years past, this year’s tourney features a plethora of baseball talent destined to play at the collegiate level. Players bound for the University of S.C., Clemson, The Citadel, the College of Charleston, Furman University, USC-Lancaster, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Newberry College and Spartanburg Methodist College all grace the field at this year’s Diamond Invitational.
The Invitational opened with a pair of games Tuesday, featuring Blythewood and Lexington in the nightcap, followed by four games Wednesday. Thursday (April 2), action gets rolling at 9:30 a.m. with Summerville and Belton-Honea Path opening a day of five games. Blythewood will once again hold down the final slot of the day, facing Greenville at approximately 7:30. Friday will also see five games as the final standings begin to shake out. The evening will also feature a home run derby and base-running competition at 6:30. Games begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, leading up to the tournament championship game at 6 p.m. A full schedule of games is below.
All games will be played at Blythewood High School. Fans can get a tournament pass for $25, while individual day tickets are $7.
Jessie Stidham watches her shot fall Thursday against Dorchester. (Photo/Robert Buchanan)
SUMTER – Before the 2015 season began, the Richard Winn Academy Lady Eagles set a goal to return to the SCISA Class A state championship game. Thursday night, the Dorchester Academy Lady Raiders were the last team in their way.
Richard Winn’s great team play led them to a 53-27 victory over the Lady Raiders to advance to the 2015 SCISA Class A state title game. The Lady Eagles started the game on a 6-0 run as they used their full-court pressure to generate points. Dorchester Academy used their length to slow down the output of RWA’s potent scorer Jaycie Johnson, who poured in 40 points in a dominant performance against Curtis Baptist in the quarterfinals. The Lady Raiders made an effort to make sure to contain Johnson on the offensive end. But Richard Winn’s team play helped lead the Lady Eagles to a 17-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Turnovers plagued the Lady Raiders early in the second frame, fueling a 6-0 RWA run to open the quarter. Dorchester Academy continued to fight, however, as they cut the lead to single digits near the end of the half. Jessie Stidham then stepped up and destroyed the Lady Raiders’ momentum, burying a jumper at the buzzer to give the Lady Eagles a 29-16 halftime lead.
The Lady Eagles kicked the third quarter off with a 7-0 run as they began to run away with the game, benefiting from a suffocating defense that stifled Dorchester Academy’s offensive production. While the Lady Raiders kept Johnson under wraps, they could not stop Richard Winn’s overall ball movement on offense. The Lady Eagles used a 12-4 scoring run to end the third with a 41-20 lead as their goal to return to the title game became 8 minutes from reality.
Dorchester Academy scratched and clawed, but could not match the Lady Eagles’ all-around team chemistry as Richard Winn ended the final frame on a 12-7 run to advance to the championship game.
“I could not be more proud than my team right now,” REWA head coach Jason Haltiwanger said. “We stated at the beginning of the year we wanted to hoist that trophy up for our fans and for our school. Now we are a game away from making that a reality.”
The Richard Winn Lady Eagles will face Holly Hill Academy for the Class A SCISA state title Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Sumter Civic Center at 11 a.m. RWA: 17-12-12-12 – 53 Dorchester: 6-10-4-7 – 27 RWA: Jessie Stidham 17, Jaycie Johnson 4, Bailey Taylor 4, Cassidy Branham 6, Alyssa Atkerson 17, Emily Brigman 5. Dorchester: Julianna McAlbany 13, Julia Smoak 12, Kindal Gray 2.
BLYTHEWOOD – The fifth annual Jonathan E. Meincke Memorial Golf Tournament, benefiting the late Dr. Meincke’s favorite charity, the Wounded Warrior Project, will tee off Friday, Nov. 7 at the Country Club of South Carolina at Crickentree. Meincke founded Blythewood’s Companion Animal Hospital in 1993 and hovered over it until his untimely death Jan. 23, 2010.
The Captain’s Choice tournament will begin at noon with a shotgun start. Wilson Car Sales of Winnsboro has agreed to provide a new automobile as this year’s hole-in-one prize. A complimentary dinner will be served during the awards ceremony at the conclusion of the tournament. For more information, please call 786-2320.
WINNSBORO – Richard Winn Academy proudly announces the launching of an athletic Hall of Fame. The first annual Hall of Fame induction will take place during halftime of the home football game this Friday, Sept. 12, at Ruff Field. The kickoff for the football game featuring the RWA Eagles versus Charleston Collegiate will be at 7:30 p.m.
The inaugural Hall of Fame inductees include Carol Caughman Turner, Beth Reid, Mike Robinson and Jena Barnett Johnson.
Carol Caughman Turner was a member of the inaugural girls’ basketball team, playing from 1968-1971. Serving as team captain, she also was selected as Most Valuable Player. After graduation, she was one of the first Lady Eagles to go on to play basketball at the collegiate level, playing for Baptist College.
Beth Reid began her high school basketball career as a seventh grader in the 1970-1971 season and was member of the inaugural softball team in 1973. She achieved numerous individual and team awards. Beth also continued her basketball career playing at the College of Charleston. After college, she returned to her Alma Mater to serve as teacher, coach and later as Head of School. In 1985 coach Reid led her basketball team to RWA’s first girls’ basketball state championship.
Mike Robinson came to Richard Winn in 1978 as a teacher and coach. Over the years he served as head basketball coach for both girls and boys as well as golf and assistant football coach. Coach Robinson was a part of five state championships and three state runners-up teams while at RWA.
Jena Barnett Johnson was a member of the varsity basketball program from 1980-1985 and a member of the softball team from 1980-1984. In basketball she was selected as All Conference for four years and Player of the Year for three years. During her high school career she scored 2,300 points and was named as an Honorable Mention All American. Jena went on to play basketball at Clemson University.
A Tale of the Grail – Dr. John Nicholson, Bobby Arndt and Rufus Jones proudly show off the Ridgeway High School state championship trophy that the school’s 6-man basketball team brought home in 1935. The trophy was recently found after it went missing in 1960. (Photo/Barbara Ball)
Title Trophy Turns Up After 54 Years in Exile
RIDGEWAY – The Ridgeway Cardinals, the former Ridgeway High School’s 6-man basketball team, made their town proud in 1935 when they brought home the state championship trophy for Class C schools.
“It was the only time Ridgeway High School had ever won a state championship and the whole town was proud,” recalled Rufus Jones whose dad, Rufus Baxter Jones, played guard on the team.
Indeed, the folks in Ridgeway were proud of their boys. And the sports reporter for the Winnsboro newspaper at that time, A. B. Fennell, was euphoric in his story about the game.
“Displaying a brilliant-brand of basketball, the Ridgeway class C basketball team defeated Mt. Croghan at the University of South Carolina annual high school basketball tournament. The score was 39 to 23. The Ridgeway floor game was superior to that displayed by the Mt. Croghan team, and this was the biggest factor in their favor,” Fennell wrote.
But when the Fairfield County schools were consolidated in 1960, and all the county’s students were sent to the new Winnsboro High School (now Fairfield Central High School), the prized trophy went missing and was never seen again, until recently when Ridgeway resident Sarah Arndt was cleaning out her attic searching for treasures to sell in the Big Grab Yard Sale this weekend.
“She brought down this trophy and showed it to me and said, ‘What is this?’” her husband, Bobby Arndt, told The Voice.
After examining the slightly battered pewter trophy, Arndt realized it was the missing 1935 championship trophy. His mother, Frances Arndt, a first-grade teacher in the Ridgeway School for over 30 years, had apparently saved it from being discarded when the school was abandoned after the consolidation and eventually packed it away. Upon her death, the trophy passed to her daughter Sarah among boxes of household items.
Arndt immediately contacted Ridgeway brothers Rufus and Minor Jones to tell them that he had their dad’s trophy. Then he contacted retired Ridgeway dentist, Dr. John Nicholson, whose grandfather, A. R. Nicholson, had been both coach of the championship team and principal of the school in 1935.
The players’ names were engraved on the trophy: brothers Lawton and Billy Harley, Robert Hinnant, Rufus Baxter Jones, W. D. Watson, Arthur Heins and coach A. R. Nicholson.
Billy Harley, a cousin of Rufus and Miner Jones, is the only member of the team still living. He moved to Clemson several years ago where he lives with his son, Little Billy.
Arndt, Nicholson and Rufus Jones recently met at Ridgeway’s City Gas & Oil Café (formerly Stevie D’s) to pose for pictures with the trophy and make plans for its future safekeeping.
“As soon as the story about the trophy comes out in the paper,” Jones said, “Little Billy is going to drive down here and pick up the trophy and the newspaper and take them back to Clemson for his dad to see. Then he’ll return it and we’re going to put it in the Ridgeway Museum in The Century House where it can stay on display.”
“It has a few dents in it,” Jones said, examining the trophy closely, “but otherwise it’s in good shape to be 79 years old.”
