The Pinewood cross country teams are shaving times off their finishes as the season moves into its third week and their meet schedule picks up.
The teams ran in last week’s West Ashley Invitational and in the Coaches Classic, one of the state’s biggest high school meets, held last Saturday in Columbia.
At West Ashley, Katherine Gore finished first for the Pinewood girls and seventh overall among the varsity runners.
Taylor Katsanis finished first for the Pinewood boys. In a meet that featured several 4A schools, the girls’ team finished 10th out of 15 teams, and the boys’ team was 11th out of 13 teams.
About a third of the Panther runners shaved time from their meet a week earlier at Hammond, Coach Monica Kimbler noted.
The Coaches’ Classic drew more than 2,500 runners who competed in several different races, and again several Panther runners realized faster times than at West Ashley. Pinewood teams ran in the Championship series, with the girls finishing 37th out of 46 teams and the boys 36th out of 43 teams.
Ryan Colucci led the boys with a time of 19:26; Jake Birdsong ran 20:46; Garrett Shields ran 21:52, Adam Elligett ran 22:20; Dustin Pfaehler finished in 25:21; Hayden Smith ran in 25:32; and Michael Trevillian ran a 25:32.
In the girls’ race, Gore finished first on the team with a 21:53 time; Abby Mandel was second with a 26:18; Charlotte Holt ran a 28:32; Emma Bouyea ran a 28:47; Alyssa Padgett ran a 29:14; Taylor Combs ran a 30:51; and Taylor Strickland ran a 31:44.
“The runners are dropping their times each meet, as they should be,” Coach Kimbler said. “We got a late start with our training this season, and we have a lot of new runners. They’re showing great improvements after just three meets. We are on pace for a successful season.”
Volleyball… dig it
The Lady Panthers have seen a strong start to the 2009 season. The Panthers competed in the Porter Gaud Invitational and finished fourth in the Silver Division.
Senior Monet Scott and Junior Patrice Matthews have been a force at the net from the middle position.
"Both players have a tremendous reach with great leaping ability. They are our first line of attack and both girls command the net,” Coach Tracy Orvin said.
Noelle Clower and Jasmine Simmons continue to bring the heat from the outside hitter positions. This allows setter Bailey Mennetti to run an offense that keeps the Panthers on the attack.
Defensive specialist Kelsey Orvin and Zoe Holman have kept the Panthers on their toes with awesome digs and consistent passing.
"It is nice to see the depth of this team continue to grow as Junior Sarah Edwards and Freshman Maria Corella continue to step up the temp for the Panthers both offensively and defensively," Orvin said.
The Panthers also played in a tri match last week and defeated Battery Creek 25-21; 22-25; 25-20 and also beat Hanahan High School 25-15; 26-24.  
Swimming
The Panther boys’ swim team continued its winning streak at the Ashley Hall Invitational Swim Meet.
The boys swept the relays with firsts in both events. Marty Liner, Michael Tibbs, Florian Vogt and Alex Grossman finished first in the 200-yard Medley Relay with a time of 2:00.65.
David Soyka joined Tibbs, Vogt, and Grossman to take first in the 200 Free Relay (1:46.53).
Leading the boys in points was Michael Tibbs with a first-place finish in the 200 IM (2:20.19) and a second in the 200 Free (2:02.95).  Florian Vogt dropped time to place second in the 100 Free (55.82) and took third in the 100 Fly.
Placing second in the 50 Free, Alex Grossman made a strong showing with a time of 26.32.
Sophomore Marty Liner contributed a third-place finish in the 100 Back and a placed sixth in the 200 IM.
Darien Hernandez is showing tremendous improvement and placed fourth in the 200 IM and fifth in the 100 Fly.
David Soyka dropped over seven seconds to swim a personal best and place sixth in the 100 Free. Also contributing points were Taylor Greene with a sixth-place finish in the 200 Free and Carter Welch with a sixth-place finish in the 100 Fly.
Cassidy Latham scored a second-place finish in the 100 Breast (1:24.44). Freshman Hanna Heil sprinted her way to a fifth-place finish in the 100 Free.  Hayley Dyer placed sixth in the 50 Free.