Fall sports weekly rewind (Oct. 10)

Aynor tournament hit hard by rain

Aynor coach Patrick Wilkinson already considered the girls golf season to be pretty short.

With all the rain and flooding that hit the area recently, it just got more jam-packed.

The annual Lady Blue Jacket Invitational – originally scheduled for last Saturday and Sunday – is being played this weekend at Black Bear Golf Club. However, travel issues and other scheduling obstacles have forced the tournament to be played with six teams instead of the original 18.

Wilkinson said some teams from the Upstate aren’t being allowed to travel. Not that it would be possible to get here anyway.

“They would have to get rental vans or other vehicles to get down here with the flooding in the Columbia area, but there’s no vehicles available,” Wilkinson said. “They couldn’t make it even if the administrations would let them. That really hurt.”

Area teams Conway, Socastee, St. James and Loris joined Aynor in the tournament along with Hilton Head.

Myrtle Beach and Carolina Forest had planned to be in the tournament, but moving it a week made for scheduling conflicts. Waccamaw also was planning to play but cannot because of rules restricting them from competing while school has been out.

“I knew this weekend wouldn’t be good, but I had no choice,” Wilkinson said.

However, just getting some golf in will be key for his and other teams’ players. Wilkinson said his team lost four other matches in addition to the tournament because of the weather.

“We want to give the girls an opportunity to play,” he said. “The girls season seems to be a shorter season than boys’ because you seem to be fighting daylight. With the boys, you start practice the first of February and you go all the way to May. The girls start in August and by the middle of October we’re done.”

Black Bear, where Wilkinson is the head pro and general manager, reopened Thursday but is still dealing with some of the effects of the downpour. He said that during the rainfall several greens and fairways were underwater.

“Everything receded pretty quick” though, he said. “Considering where we were, we’re not in too bad of shape right now.”

In addition to this weekend’s tournament, Black Bear is scheduled to host the Region VIII-AA event on Monday and Tuesday and the Class AA state championships on Oct. 19-20.

“We’ve got a lot of events happening,” Wilkinson said. “It will be a busy week up there trying to get everything ready.”

The Blue Jackets have just two losses on the season, one that is being cut short because of the weather. However, most teams in the state are in the same boat as the biggest part of the season approaches.

“It’s going to be interesting,” Wilkinson said. “Nobody got a chance to practice. Now you’ve got region and then you go right to states. A lot of schools in the upper part of the state are facing the same thing. We’ll just try to get in a lot of practice next week and see how things fall.”

Practice hard to come by for Waccamaw swimming

A week ago, the Waccamaw swim team was in great shape.

Now, a week away from the rescheduled state championships, the Warriors have quite a predicament.

Because school was out all week for Georgetown County, Waccamaw has been unable to practice as it gears up for the most important meet of the season.

“We were ready to do it tomorrow, but the weather kind of put a wrinkle into that,” Warriors coach David Dear said Friday. “We can’t have organized practice so the kids are kind of on their own right now. They’ve been doing some unofficial conditioning. We’re hoping to get back to school so we can get back to practice.”

He said his team captains are organizing the workouts. “Hopefully they’re bonding through it,” Dear said.

Dear said that had his team been able to practice the extra week would have been a blessing.

“If we were having a regular practice schedule – and we knew far enough in advance – we could have adjusted and taken it in stride,” Dear said. “But with it being pushed back a week and (our swimmers) not able to be coached, it’s a bad situation. It’s unprecedented.”

The Waccamaw boys team has again been strong this season, winning most of the area meets. The girls team, which has had limited success in recent years, is showing signs of promise. The Warriors’ girls 200-yard freestyle relay team – Victoria Marinoff, Hannan Mackey, Emma Sullivan and Abbie Darnell – qualified for states, and Mackey and Sullivan also qualified in individual events.

“We’re real satisfied with what the boys and girls are doing,” Dear said. “In fact, this is the first time in eight seasons that we’ve taken a girls relay to states.”

The boys’ 200-yard freestyle relay team – Sean King, Jonah Crosby, John Crosby, Patrick Sullivan – has been seeded first in Class AAA all year, Dear said, and the unit is hoping to bring home gold after finishing .01 back of Dreher a season ago. The Warriors are in good shape to do it despite the fact Sullivan is the only swimmer who was on last year’s unit.

“We’ve got redemption on our mind after missing it by .01 last time,” Dear said. “I think these guys are motivated. We’ve got Patrick Sullivan anchoring that team. … He’s our team captain and he’s just a real talent in the water.”

As a team, the Warriors will try to improve on a sixth-place finish a year ago.

“They all have experience under their belt,” Dear said. “All of them have been at states at least once before. We’ve got experience on our side. I don’t think there will be any surprises.”

While the weather provided a surprise the Warriors didn’t want, Dear believes it will add fruit to his team’s labor once the season is over.

“If these guys pull it off this year we’ll be real proud because they’re doing it on their own,” Dear said of his swimmers’ late-season preparation.

This story was originally published October 10, 2015 at 9:11 PM with the headline "Fall sports weekly rewind (Oct. 10)."