COLUMBIA -- Lennel Elmore’s athletic exploits at Allendale-Fairfax have rightfully earned him the nickname of “Superman.”

Even by his lofty standards, Saturday’s performance at the S.C. Track and Field State Championships at Harry Parone Stadium along with his senior teammate Michael Kirkland could only be described as beyond “super.” The Tiger duo each came away with four gold medals to help Allendale-Fairfax cruise to a second straight Class A boys’ track and field title and ninth in school history.

“We run a very disciplined program,” said Allendale-Fairfax head coach Wayne Farmer, who won his third state title since 2005. “Our kids know what we’ve got to do. We demand a lot out of them and they buy into them. They understand that we love them, but we’re going to push them as hard as we can. We don’t like to finish second.”

Elmore lived up to his prediction to Farmer by sweeping all three jumping events -- the long jump, triple jump and high jump. The South Carolina State signee, who plans to pursue both football and track at the Orangeburg university, also won gold with the 4x100 meter relay team.

“I was very close last year,” Elmore said. “I just had it in my mind ‘Hey, get it this year’.”

“They’re going to get a guy that can play,” Farmer said about Elmore heading to SCSU. “They’re going to get a guy that’s determined. He may not look that big in size, but he’s tough. They got a ballplayer when they got him.”

Not to be outdone, Kirkland pulled a similar sweep in the long distance efforts. The Benedict College-bound senior proved dominant in the 800, 1600 and 3200 meters and was part of the state championship 4x800 meter relay team.

“He just runs with a lot of confidence,” Farmer said. “He feels like that this is his stuff to win. That’s how he feels.”

In combining for 60 of Allendale-Fairfax’s 139 total points, Elmore and Kirkland even outdid second-place Lamar by two points. On the day, the Tigers took top honors in nine of the 17 events, losing out on a 10th gold medal in the 4x400 meter relay to Bamberg-Ehrhardt.

“It’s easy if you make it easy,” Kirkland said. “You put in hard work, you get something out of it. You put in slack work, you get nothing out of it. Every day we had to push ourselves to go hard and harder and harder to be the best at where we’re at today.”

While Allendale-Fairfax celebrated a repeat trophy, defending Class 2-A boys’ champion Woodland was more than pleased with claiming the school’s second runner-up trophy. Leading the way for the Wolverines was Andrew Johnson, who medaled in all three jumping events.

For the second straight year, Allendale-Fairfax missed out on a rare classification sweep. The Lady Tigers settled for third place, eight points behind champion Johnsonville and six behind runner-up Lamar.

The Woodland girls also placed third in Class 2-A behind perennial champion Bishop England and runner-up Emerald. Leading the Lady Wolverines was Te’shell Britt, who won gold in both the discus throw and shot put.

Another school with multi-gold medalists was Pelion with Nevada Minard and Shane Kyzer, who each won gold in the 1600 and 3200 meters. Their efforts helped Pelion place fourth and eighth, respectively, in the girls and eight-team standings.

Other T&D Region gold medal winners were Edisto’s Marcus Young (100 meters), Woodland’s Andrew Johnson (long jump), Pelion’s Erik Mobley (shot put) and Allendale-Fairfax’s Bashaud Joyner and Shanace Isaac (both in the 400 meter hurdles). 

-- T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5547.

T&D REGION TOP S.C. TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP TOP FINISHERS

CLASS A

(BOYS)

Long Jump: 1. Lennel Elmore (Allendale-Fairfax) - 22-02

High Jump: 1. Lennel Elmore (Allendale-Fairfax) - 6-06.00

Triple Jump: 1. Lennel Elmore (Allendale-Fairfax) - 45-05.50; 2. Antonio Frederick (Allendale-Fairfax) - 44-02.75

800 meters: 1. Michael Kirkland (Allendale-Fairfax) - 2:02.39; 3. Eliakim Kirkland (Allendale-Fairfax) - 2:04.17

1600 meters: 1. Michael Kirkland (Allendale-Fairfax) - 4:36.27; 2. Eliakim Kirkland (Allendale-Fairfax) - 4:42.15

3200 meters: 1. Michael Kirkland (Allendale-Fairfax) - 10:40.87

Shot Put: 3. Jeffrey Rivers (North) 47-09.25

4x100 meter relay: 1. Allendale-Fairfax - 42.82

4x800 meter relay: 1. Allendale-Fairfax - 8:21.79

200 meters: 4. Phillip McCreary (Hunter-Kinard-Tyler) - 22.30

400 meters: 2. Terry Close (Bamberg-Ehrhardt) - 48.96; 3. Phillip McCreary (Hunter-Kinard-Tyler) - 50.51; 4. Sam Inman (Allendale-Fairfax) - 52.50

400 meter hurdles: 1. Bashaud Joyner (Allendale-Fairfax) 58.73; 2. Bobby Elmore (Allendale-Fairfax) - 1:00.53

4x400 meter relay: 1. Bamberg-Ehrhardt - 3:26.95 ; 2. Allendale-Fairfax - 3:27.67

(GIRLS)

Discus Throw: 4. Kelsey Ritari (Bamberg-Ehrhardt) - 95-06

Shot Put: 3. Chandra Priester (Allendale-Fairfax) - 34-00-00

Triple Jump: 2. Shaquavia Springer (Allendale-Fairfax) - 34-07.50; Shanace Isaac (Allendale-Fairfax) - 34-06.00

4x100 meter relay - 2. Allendale-Fairfax - 50.34

4x400 meter relay - 2. Allendale-Fairfax - 4:16.81

4x800 meter relay - 2. Allendale-Fairfax - 10:45.28

100 meter hurdles - 2. Shanace Isaac (Allendale-Fairfax) - 15.35

100 meters - 3. Zapporah Sutton (North) - 12.46

400 meter hurdles - 1. Shanace Isaac (Allendale-Fairfax) - 1:05.97

200 meters - 3. Zapporah Sutton (North) - 26.36

1600 meters - 2. Chelsee Driggers (Bamberg-Ehrhardt) - 5:53.96

3200 meters - 4. Chelsee Driggers (Bamberg-Ehrhardt) - 13:48.10

CLASS 2-A

(BOYS)

Long Jump: 1. Andrew Johnson (Woodland) - 23-04

Triple Jump: 2. Andrew Johnson (Woodland) - 46-06.50

High Jump: 3. Andrew Johnson (Woodland) - 6-04.00

Shot Put: 1. Erik Mobley (Pelion) - 49-09

4x100 meter relay: 2. Edisto - 43.25

4x400 meter relay: 3. Woodland - 3:27.95

4x800 meter relay: 3. Woodland - 8:38.97

110 meter hurdles: 4. Justin Wolfe (Woodland) - 15.52

100 meter dash: 1. Marcus Young (Edisto) - 10.81

1600 meters: 1. Shane Kyzer (Pelion) - 4:31.55

3200 meters: 1. Shane Kyzer (Pelion) - 9:54.91

800 meters: 4. Darrell Johnson (Woodland) - 2:07.50

200 meters: 3. Marcus Young (Edisto) - 22.42

(GIRLS)

Discus Throw: 1. Te’shell Britt (Woodland) - 120-03

Shot Put: 1. Te’shell Britt (Woodland) - 38-06.75

4x100 meter relay: 2. Woodland - 49.98

4x400 meter relay: 4. Edisto - 4:17.49

4x800 meter relay: 3. Pelion - 10:23.23

1600 meters - 2. Chelsee Driggers (Bamberg-Ehrhardt) - 5:53.96

1600 meters - 1. Nevada Minard (Pelion) - 5:29.81; 4. Alex Kyzer (Pelion) - 5:43.54

3200 meters - 1. Nevada Minard (Pelion) - 12:15.87; 2. Alex Kyzer (Pelion) - 12:40.17

100 meters - Chalita Johnson (Woodland) - 12.60

200 meters - 3. Chalita Johnson (Woodland) - 25.76

CLASS 3-A

(GIRLS)

100 meters: 4. Crystal Robinson (Lake Marion) - 12.24

4x100 meter relay: 4. Lake Marion - 49.51

CLASS 4-A

(BOYS)

800 meters: 3. Eric King (Orangeburg-Wilkinson) - 1:58.23

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