Again! Sam Rich of Catawba Ridge takes cross country state title, plus all 4A results
Sam Rich is a champion again.
The Catawba Ridge senior, who is also the No. 1 runner in South Carolina and boasts the fastest 5K time in the nation this season, won a second-straight title at the cross country state championships in Columbia on Thursday morning.
He ran a 15:20.85, over 30 seconds ahead of the race’s next-fastest runner.
“I’m really excited for it,” Rich said of his title, still collecting his breath after his achievement. “This has been one of the big goals of mine, last year and this year, so to do it two times just shows that all the hard work I’ve put in over the summer and through the season has been paying off. So I’m really excited about it.”
Rich won a cross country state championship and a pair of track and field state championships last year, too — which was the first year he competed at Catawba Ridge. He moved to Fort Mill from the Augusta-area in the summer of 2020.
The 2020-21 South Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year for boys’ cross country officially signed to run at Notre Dame on Wednesday after committing earlier this year. The Fighting Irish boast one of the best running programs in the country.
“Ever since I talked to coach (Sean) Carlson at Notre Dame the first time, I knew it was special,” Rich said Thursday. “And so just seeing how well the guys have done this year and the class we have coming in, I’m really excited to get to be a part of that and build something really special.”
For now, though, Rich is helping build something special in Fort Mill. The senior remains the school’s only state champion, but Catawba Ridge’s running program has been ascending since the school opened in 2019: The Copperhead boys finished second overall as a team at the state championships on Thursday. They ended with 114 points. (Greenville took home the team title with 104 points.)
“They didn’t want to leave here without a trophy, they didn’t want to leave here without that position,” Catawba Ridge head coach David Helms told The Herald post-race. “They wanted to establish themselves that they were a big-time program in the state as a new school. Seeing them celebrate like this, it means a lot.”
Looking at Catawba Ridge’s accomplishments in its three cross country seasons is eyebrow-raising: The school hasn’t yet lost a region championship. It’s had three state championship appearances. It’s always had an All-State runner — senior Josh Silverman notched his third straight top-15 finish on Thursday.
And, of course, it had a good showing on the ultimate stage this year.
“This means the world,” Helms said. “It means you can set something up that’s lasting. If you can set something up this quickly to be successful... that just speaks volumes to the way these kids bought in. They bought in to the program. They bought in to what we were giving them. They bought into the practices.
“And that just tells you that they went all-in with us.”
York, Lancaster, Catawba Ridge have solid showings
The state championship race was held at the Sandhills Research Center in Columbia. The standard cross country race is 5,000 meters, or about 3.1 miles. There were 116 runners in the boys’ race and 121 in the girls’ race.
The 5A, 2A and 1A races will be held in the same place on Friday morning.
Here’s who else impressed in the 4A state championships from York, Chester and Lancaster counties.
▪ Emmanuel Paddyfote of York finished eighth in the race with a 16:39.15. The senior helped the York boys’ team to an eighth-overall finish with 241 points. He was backed up by seniors Grayson Craig (17:51.63), Anthony DeGraw (17:52.94) and Marvin Kearley (18:04.11) — each of whom finished in the race’s top-60.
▪ Silverman of Catawba Ridge came in ninth with a 16:40.01. Others who finished in the top-60 on his team: senior Ty Massey (17:30.19), sophomore Jackson Rozelle (17:33.08), junior Spencer Predmore (17:44.34) and junior Matthew Lopresti (17:54.00).
▪ Matthew Prete of Lancaster ran a 17:01.25 to finish 15th and earn an All-State selection as an individual.
▪ Garrett Brown, a sophomore from South Pointe, ran a 17:51.92 as an individual.
▪ The Catawba Ridge girls finished sixth overall with 199 points — 168 behind James Island, which ended up taking home the state championship crown. The Copperheads were led by Maddy Mack — who finished a team-best 18th with a time of 20:13.16 — and Hayla Banish (21:39.86), Alexandra Cardozo (21:49.90), Shay Studley (21:56.22) and Talia Gluff (22:01.40). They all finished in the race’s top-60.
▪ Senior Chloe Mumaw of York finished with a 21:13.18, leading a York team that finished 10th at the state championships as a team. Eighth-grader Joyelle Graves (21:14.06) and eighth-grader Ava Shook (21:20.09) also placed in the race’s top-60.
▪ Senior Ellie Watson of South Pointe finished with a 21:54.75 to finish 58th at the state championships. The Stallions finished 16th overall as a team.
This story was originally published November 11, 2021 at 1:11 PM.
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