Riverside HS Photo
Cate Ambrose won a pair of individual championships at the South Carolina High School League track and field championships Saturday.
Riverside HS Photo
Cate Ambrose, Rachel Lentz, Mikie Harris and Abigail Smith won the state championship with a time that was three seconds short of the all-time state record.
Riverside accumulated 61 points, just behind champion Wando (76.33) and J.L. Mann (73).
The Riverside state championship girls 4x800 relay team of Rachel Lentz, Mikie Harris, Abigail Smith and Cate Ambrose recorded the second fast time in the state competition. Their time of 9:28.50 was just short of Wando’s record of 9:25.40 set in 2012.
The girls 4x1600 team has received an invitation to the New Balance National Championship, June 17-19, in Greensboro. The 4x800 have been invited into the Emerging Elite division.
Ambrose also won individual championships in the longest individual races of the meet – the 1600-meter race and 3200 meter run. That gave Ambrose a total of three state championships.
Ambrose won the 1600 in 5:02.93 and teammate Jessie Crowley finished fifth in 5:14.74.
It was almost a Riverside sweep in the 3200 with Ambrose leading the way in 11:37.68. Teammates Jessie Crowley finished just over a second behind for runnerup at 11:38.97. Riverside’s Carter Marchbanks was fourth (11:45.30), and Ashley Fallow was sixth (12:00.24).
The prowess of Riverside’s long distance team was displayed in the cross country season when eighth grader Jessie Crowley won the state AAAA championship to lead Riverside to the team title.
Crowley, Fallow (junior), Marchbanks (sophomore), Ambrose (junior) and Emma Spencer (senior) were the runners on the cross country championship.
Eric Cummings, Riverside track and field coach, said the season was successful. He highlighted the season’s performances:
• 11 school records
• 15 on all-State
• Girls team third place at State (highest finish ever)
• 6 Region II-AAAA champions
• 15 all-Region
• 6 All-Greenville County champions
• 6 first-team and 1 second team all-Upstate
• Multiple invitational winners
• Girls team runnerup in County and Region
• Personal records too many to count