NOVEMBER, 2011

Hello everyone!  I apologize for being so late with the first edition of my “State of Athletics” for HHIHS.  I have been busy diving into my new responsibilities here and try to come up for air every once in a while.  I am slowly getting to know my coaches and my student-athletes and I have met many of our faculty and staff.  It is my hope to get out from behind my desk and visit our teams more often but I have enjoyed the times that I have been able to watch some of our teams in action so far.  I have also met many of you from our community and am looking forward to meeting many more.

Summary of Fall Athletic Season

Our fall athletic season has come to a close and we have had quite a start to this school year.  Our girls’ swimming team, boys’ cross country team, and girls’ tennis team all won the AAA State Championship!  Girls’ swimming are back-to-back state champions, boys’ cross country are 3–time defending state champions, and our girls’ tennis team has won an astounding FIVE state championships in a row.  Our girls’ cross country team finished 2^nd in state and were region champions.  Our volleyball team finished 2^nd in the region and advanced to the 2^nd round of the state tournament.  Our football team finished 4^th in the region and fell to the #2 team in the first round of the state playoffs.  Our girls’ golf team finished 2^nd in the region and 5^th in the AAA state championships.  Our competitive cheerleading team had a great season as well falling just short of qualifying for the state championship.  Overall it was a great start to our athletic year!

Tutoring Program

Thanks to my assistant, Siri Kerr, our tutoring program is off to a strong start with a large population of our student-athletes taking advantage of our after school tutoring program.  Although many are required to attend, many are attending because they want to.  Mrs. Kerr and myself are working with our coaches and faculty weekly to stay on top of our student-athletes to keep them on track or stronger academically.  Our tutoring schedule can be found on our main hallway outside of the main gym and online.

2.0 Policy

There has been a lot of buzz and discussion about our newly adopted 2.0 policy for our student-athletes that will start being enforced in the 2012-13 school year.  There are a few documents from the BCSD that are linked on this website that break this all down specifically or you can contact me with any questions.  The documents are titled: 2012-13 Student Participation–Extracurricular Activities; 2012-13 Student Participation–Interscholastic Activities; Change in Policy for Middle School Students.  Along with the South Carolina High School league rules of having to earn five credits for the entire school year (in addition to all of the other SCHSL league academic requirements), the BCSD has passed the following rules to be eligible for athletics in our school district:

1.        In order for a student-athlete to be eligible to participate in a fall sport, he/she must have met the SCHSL academic standard as normal AND have earned a 2.0 GPA at the end of the school year (final grades on spring report card).  In other words, grades from the student-athletes’ prior academic year will be used for evaluation (not their overall cumulative GPA).  So, if Johnny had a 2.5 GPA for the entire school but maybe has a 1.9 overall cumulative GPA to that point after two years in high school and wants to run cross country the next fall, Johnny is eligible to do so because of his 2.5 GPA for the school year.

2.       In order to be eligible for spring sports, the student-athlete must have met the SCHSL academic standard as normal AND have earned a 2.0 or better in the fall semester that he/she just completed.

3.       Basketball and Wrestling are under the guidelines for fall sports and will NOT be held to evaluation in the fall AND in the spring semester.  In other words, if a student-athlete earned a 2.0 or better the previous year (and met the SCHSL academic normal standards), then he/she will be eligible to tryout for basketball and/or wrestling.  His/her grades will be re-evaluated once the 2^nd semester starts and if he/she does not have a 2.0 at the end of the fall semester, then tutoring will be assigned accordingly.

You can read the official documents that are on our school’s website from the BCSD to get more specific information.

If you have any questions or comments, please send me an email at Mark.Karen@beaufort.k12.sc.us.  I would love to hear from you!

Come on out to see our wrestling and basketball teams this winter!

Congratulations to all of our Spring Athletes and Coaches.  What a wonderful season it has been.   As of this writing, we have already won a State Championship in Boys Track and our Girls Soccer Team just won the SCHSL AAA State Championship in Columbia.  Boys Soccer won two playoff games and the Baseball Team won the District.  Softball made the playoffs, as well as Boys and Girls Lacrosse.    

On another note, I am leaving Hilton Head Island High School in June.  I want to thank you all for the support and volunteer work you have provided to the school these past three years.  We have accomplished many things and the Athletic Program is moving forward at a great clip.  Special thanks to Booster Club President Mike Manesiotis, his wife Sally, my Associates Siri Kerr, Leora Holmes, and my Assistant AD’s Wayne Quinlan and Ken Updike.  Thank you to Mrs. O’Nan,  Debbie Dabule, Social Worker John Smith, and the entire faculty and staff.    Good luck and best of luck to all of the Seahawk family!

Lew Kent

Maraia Tremarelli was the senior MVP of the tournament. She received a $1000 scholarship to the college of her choice. She saved 7 of 11 penalty kicks and only let in one goal the entire tournament.   The Boys Soccer Team recently notched an impressive victory against Academic Magnate.  The win was their 1st vs. a higher ranked opponent in Coach Wayne Quinlan’s tenure. Boys and Girls Lacrosse are doing well and both are heading into the home stretch of their seasons.  The rest of the Spring Sports have or will begin Region play shortly and are looking good! 

Other News:

The Athletic Banquet is set for May 26

Special thanks to all of the volunteer concessionaires!

As the weather turns for the better the Spring Sports Seasons are under way.  Girls Lacrosse opened up their season with a Home win vs. Bluffton.  Boys Lacrosse also opened up with a win on the road vs. Bishop England.  The Spring Sports season officially opens up on March 7. 

Here are the results from the Lower State Wrestling Championships:

Label Lewis (112lbs) 1st Place

Campbell Miller (130 lbs) 1st Place

Chris Ordonez (125 lbs) 3rd Place

Matt Johns (119 lbs) 4th Place

Nick Bautista (215 lbs) 4th Place

Good luck for this weekend’s State Finals in Anderson, SC!

The Booster Club Casino Night and Golf Tournament were a great success!  Many thanks to Greg Viventi and Meg Hendy for their service in organizing and producing these events.  Thank you to all who help make it a great weekend! 

I hope to see you all outside this Spring supporting our great students and coaches!

The dates are set Saturday February 19th and Sunday the 20th!

Brought to you by the Island Rec Center and The All Sports Boosters.

Please join us for a night of fun and a great day of golf. The casino night will begin at 7:00 at the Westin Hotel. There will be a silent auction, food and dancing. On Sunday we will host our annual golf tournament with a shoot gun start at 10:00 a.m. at the prestigious Ocean Course in Sea Pines Resort.

The registration form is located on the Booster Club tab. For more information please contact Greg Viventi at Gregory_Viventi@ml.com. This will be a great weekend of fun and an opportunity to support two outstanding organizations. Packet pick up for the golf tournament will be at the Westin on Saturday. Look forward to seeing you there!

Lew Kent