Porter-Gaud’s Demarest qualifies for cross country nationals

Porter-Gaud’s Brent Demarest never slows down. The energetic cross country runner just keeps going and going and going.

Not only that, his effort and hard work are helping him emerge as one of the top runners in the nation.

The junior added to his impressive cross country credentials over the weekend when he finished 10th at the Foot Locker South Regional meet in Charlotte.

He will travel to San Diego on Dec. 8 for the prestigious Foot Locker National Championship meet.

Demarest became the first athlete from the Lowcountry to qualify for nationals and the first runner from South Carolina since 2007.

Demarest also recently won the AAU state championship in Lexington. He ran a personal-best and school-record 15-minutes flat at Lexington, which was six seconds faster than the time he recorded in Charlotte.

But the course in Charlotte is more challenging. His time of 15:06 was the second-best ever for a South Carolina runner on that course and the best time ever by a junior from South Carolina.

“Brent has run some amazing workouts since (SCISA) state,” Porter-Gaud coach Hugh Knight said. “We’ve worked for a month on his finishing kick, knowing how tightly packed the field would be in Charlotte.”

Signings
Wando baseball player Michael Carpin recently signed to play for the University of Georgia, while teammate Babe Thomas signed with Winthrop.

Carpin, a pitcher, was 5-2 as a junior and led the team with 54 strikeouts and a 2.02 earned run average.

Thomas led the team with a .438 batting average and hit three homers. He was among the state leaders with five triples.

Both standouts played for the Diamond Devils travel team and played in the recent South Atlantic Border Clash.

In other signings, Hanahan wrestler J.J. Johnson signed with Missouri. He was state runner-up (103) as a freshman and again as a sophomore (114), He was a state champ (120) as a junior and earned all-American honors.

Stratford softball players Megan Johnson and Magan Thrower signed with North Greenville and USC Aiken, respectively.

Jeremy Grab of Bishop England signed to play golf at Wofford.

Porter-Gaud volleyball standout Lexie Meyer signed to play at Wofford.

Palmetto Christian Academy’s Haley Hester signed to play at North Greenville.

Fort Dorchester softball player Kaitlyn Kerley signed with Erskine College.

Wando swimmer Victoria Klein signed with West Virginia Wesleyan

Wando golfer Ansley Vaughn signed with Converse College.

All-Lowcountry football
Coaches can nominate players for the 2012 All-Lowcountry football team. Coaches should include a player’s height, weight, position and grade. Coaches should also include season and career stats, along with any honors.

The dealine for nominations is Dec. 10. Nominations should be emailed to pbowman@postandcourier.com

Follow Philip M. Bowman on Twitter: @pandcphil