Ten York And Lancaster County Schools Compete At Eye Opener In Spartanburg

Ten high school programs from York and Lancaster counties ran at the 2026 Eye Opener cross country meet in Spartanburg, and four of them placed inside the top five of their division.

The meet was held at the Roger Milliken Center, with results posted for Saturday, Sept. 5. Runners were divided among a Championship race, an International race and junior varsity races, so local teams did not all face the same field. Coaches choose which race to enter, and the split means times are comparable across the day but team placements are not.

Fort Mill High School, Catawba Ridge High School and Nation Ford High School represented the Fort Mill School District. Rock Hill High School and South Pointe High School came from Rock Hill Schools, Clover High School from the Clover School District and Indian Land High School from the Lancaster County School District. Riverwalk Academy, Westminster Catawba Christian School, Lake Wylie and the York County Trailblazers homeschool program also fielded teams, and York High School sent one runner.

Fort Mill girls third and Catawba Ridge fourth

Fort Mill posted the highest local finish of the day, taking third out of 41 teams in the International girls race with 198 points.

Sophomore Lauren Allen ran 19 minutes, 52.2 seconds, senior Kaylee Rovenstine 20:01.2 and senior Mia Zook 20:04.4, putting three runners in the top 30. Junior Bailey Nolin (20:36.9) and sophomore Isabel Morstad (21:17.7) closed the scoring, with the five separated by 1:25.5.

Catawba Ridge placed fourth out of 45 teams in the Championship girls race with 278 points. Junior Olivia Gillespie was 18th overall in 21:25.8. Junior Morgan Hartley (23:07.8), junior Dorothy Artley (23:13.0), sophomore Adele Beard (23:31.7) and junior Karley Johnson (23:32.2) completed the scoring, with Beard and Johnson finishing a half second apart.

South Pointe took 26th in the International race, but had the fastest local girl on the course. Senior Libba Faircloth finished ninth overall in 19:18.8. Nation Ford was 20th, Clover 33rd and Lake Wylie 39th.

Rock Hill placed 37th in the Championship girls race. Sophomore Caroline Ardis led in 22:24.5.

Haley leads local boys

Fort Mill senior Hudson Haley posted the fastest time by any York or Lancaster County boy, running 16:11.2 for 21st in the International race. He led the Fort Mill boys to fifth with 261 points, backed by junior Owen Ware in 16:22.1 and senior Ben Madej in 16:59.4.

Catawba Ridge was 12th in the same race with 406 points behind sophomore Lincoln Smith in 16:35.5 and senior Ryan Pierson in 16:44.1. Nation Ford took 15th with 442, led by freshman Sparsh Vaghani in 16:47.3 and backed by a five runner spread of 1:11.8. South Pointe was 16th with 445, paced by sophomore Hunter Willis in 16:31.9.

Clover finished 31st and Lake Wylie 37th. Clover senior Chase Hensley was the team’s clear leader in 16:20.6, the second fastest local time of the day. York senior Ellis Spencer ran 16:50.8 as an individual entry with no team score.

In the Championship boys race, the York County Trailblazers took eighth with 276 points. Junior Elijah Duncan was sixth overall in 16:56.3. Riverwalk Academy placed 16th, Westminster Catawba Christian 26th and Rock Hill 33rd.

Indian Land runs the tightest pack in the field

The Indian Land boys finished 11th out of 51 teams in the Championship race with 378 points, and did it with the smallest gap between first and fifth scorer of any team entered.

Sophomore Liam Ramsdill led in 18:32.0. Senior Mitchell Bergman ran 18:55.1, sophomore Robert Demastus ran 18:57.0, freshman Sathila Mudalige ran 18:57.6 and eighth grader Beckett Bender matched him at 18:57.6. The five finished within 25.6 seconds, less than half the spread of any other team in the race. Spartanburg, which took sixth, had the next tightest at 1:01.8.

The Indian Land girls took 25th in the Championship race with 646 points. Freshman Zoe Halm was the top finisher in 23:22.8, followed by sophomore Charleigh Moore in 23:30.2.

Indian Land was the only Lancaster County school entered.

Fort Mill wins junior varsity girls by a point

Fort Mill won the junior varsity girls race with 59 points, one better than Lexington. Seventh grader Sloane Brunelli was third overall in 22:59.7 and junior Chloe Henson was fourth in 23:02.2. It was the only team win by a local school at the meet.

Fort Mill was second in the junior varsity boys race with 93 points, Catawba Ridge seventh, Nation Ford 18th and Lake Wylie 29th. Rock Hill, Riverwalk Academy, Indian Land and Clover also entered junior varsity squads.

Full results for every division are posted through the meet’s timing provider. Schedules are available on each school’s athletics pages.

Local Team Results Box

Scoring five for each York and Lancaster County team in the varsity races. Overall place, name, grade, time.

Championship Boys

York County Trailblazers, eighth, 276 points
6. Elijah Duncan, junior, 16:56.3
42. Luke Stralow, senior, 18:18.5
75. Ethan Akins, junior, 18:51.0
77. Luke Mendenhall, junior, 18:52.5
83. Jack Anderson, senior, 18:56.6

Indian Land, 11th, 378 points
53. Liam Ramsdill, sophomore, 18:32.0
80. Mitchell Bergman, senior, 18:55.1
84. Robert Demastus, sophomore, 18:57.0
85. Sathila Mudalige, freshman, 18:57.6
86. Beckett Bender, eighth grade, 18:57.6

Riverwalk Academy, 16th, 570 points
69. August Farrand, junior, 18:44.8
74. Collen Boozier, sophomore, 18:49.5
130. Declan Love, freshman, 19:38.5
151. Blake Willis, sophomore, 19:58.7
183. Kyran Kelly, sophomore, 20:18.3

Westminster Catawba Christian, 26th, 767 points
38. Nathan Wiegman, senior, 18:14.4
112. Caleb Satterwhite, sophomore, 19:25.8
191. Hollis White, junior, 20:22.1
192. James Lindsay, junior, 20:25.1
332. Noel DePuy, junior, 22:32.6

Rock Hill, 33rd, 905 points
113. Logan Worden, sophomore, 19:27.4
197. Raylan Anderson, freshman, 20:28.7
216. Jackson Kuhn, seventh grade, 20:43.3
227. Cade Arehart, eighth grade, 20:51.0
257. George Hane, junior, 21:14.2

Championship Girls

Catawba Ridge, fourth, 278 points
18. Olivia Gillespie, junior, 21:25.8
62. Morgan Hartley, junior, 23:07.8
68. Dorothy Artley, junior, 23:13.0
80. Adele Beard, sophomore, 23:31.7
81. Karley Johnson, junior, 23:32.2

Indian Land, 25th, 646 points
73. Zoe Halm, freshman, 23:22.8
78. Charleigh Moore, sophomore, 23:30.2
184. Ruby Sauer, sophomore, 25:45.2
187. Mollie Pope, junior, 25:47.6
196. Isabella D’Alessandro, sophomore, 25:55.5

York County Trailblazers, 26th, 685 points
5. Harmony Fuller, junior, 20:00.8
77. Adeline Smith, sophomore, 23:28.2
181. Isabel Shaw, junior, 25:43.6
212. Jocelyn Spivey, junior, 26:10.3
319. Hannah Horton, sophomore, 29:46.3

Rock Hill, 37th, 857 points
43. Caroline Ardis, sophomore, 22:24.5
158. Ellie Hodges, sophomore, 25:10.6
251. Nataly Smarr, sophomore, 27:02.5
263. Emma Jamieson, junior, 27:21.0
281. Harper Daigle, senior, 27:47.9

International Boys

Fort Mill, fifth, 261 points
21. Hudson Haley, senior, 16:11.2
30. Owen Ware, junior, 16:22.1
66. Ben Madej, senior, 16:59.4
85. Ian Zook, freshman, 17:14.0
93. Jacob Audley, sophomore, 17:19.6

Catawba Ridge, 12th, 406 points
38. Lincoln Smith, sophomore, 16:35.5
46. Ryan Pierson, senior, 16:44.1
95. Tyler Merrigan, junior, 17:22.7
129. William Kowalski, junior, 17:49.4
149. Landry Macdonald, junior, 18:01.1

Nation Ford, 15th, 442 points
50. Sparsh Vaghani, freshman, 16:47.3
89. Alex Royall, junior, 17:17.0
101. Robert Saddler, senior, 17:25.2
111. Richard Bailey, eighth grade, 17:35.7
146. Alejandro Luna, freshman, 17:59.1

South Pointe, 16th, 445 points
36. Hunter Willis, sophomore, 16:31.9
62. Reece Adams, senior, 16:58.3
122. Copeland Crawford, junior, 17:43.2
137. Evan Rogers, freshman, 17:53.3
141. Noah Frazier, junior, 17:55.3

Clover, 31st, 809 points
29. Chase Hensley, senior, 16:20.6
192. Landon Skogsberg, senior, 18:26.9
215. Jack Baker, senior, 18:41.6
226. Chris Delgado, senior, 18:50.1
236. Todd Ward, sophomore, 18:55.1

Lake Wylie, 37th, 973 points
94. Maitland Vanourny, sophomore, 17:20.0
148. Gavin Burton, junior, 17:59.8
264. Aiden Lomas, junior, 19:12.6
319. Mason Berryhill, freshman, 19:44.6
321. Nicolas Galante, eighth grade, 19:45.2

York, individual entry
55. Ellis Spencer, senior, 16:50.8

International Girls

Fort Mill, third, 198 points
25. Lauren Allen, sophomore, 19:52.2
27. Kaylee Rovenstine, senior, 20:01.2
29. Mia Zook, senior, 20:04.4
48. Bailey Nolin, junior, 20:36.9
79. Isabel Morstad, sophomore, 21:17.7

Nation Ford, 20th, 590 points
45. Haley Garcia, senior, 20:32.1
86. Eva Mabey, freshman, 21:23.6
125. Karson Woodring, junior, 22:00.1
183. Annabelle Clemente, freshman, 22:47.5
187. Sofia Gibbs, freshman, 22:49.8

South Pointe, 26th, 693 points
9. Libba Faircloth, senior, 19:18.8
92. Ella Hopkins, junior, 21:29.1
158. Eden Bryant, freshman, 22:22.5
247. Lydia Thompson, senior, 23:58.4
256. Kaydence Williams, sophomore, 24:12.9

Clover, 33rd, 815 points
90. Nadia Andrews, senior, 21:28.0
123. Kaya Best, senior, 21:59.1
208. Lily Kanbr, eighth grade, 23:05.2
211. Ryley Fetty, seventh grade, 23:06.2
251. Scarlett Verdino Jenkins, sophomore, 24:04.0

Lake Wylie, 39th, 961 points
178. Erika Holley, junior, 22:44.2
192. Madeline Bessman, junior, 22:53.7
203. Eva Quintana, freshman, 23:01.3
240. Emerson Riha, eighth grade, 23:44.2
243. Lucinda Woodard, eighth grade, 23:52.3