By MONTE DUTTON

Helene certainly took the measure of me. I’m not alone, but I’m a little unique.

Everything being out – it still is because in any emergency, the folks on the monied side of town get their stuff repaired first – I drove to Furman for a football game Saturday. I thought it odd there didn’t seem to be any way to get on campus.

Thanks to Clay Hendrix, I got a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit with hash browns in the Paladins’ locker room, so it was totally worth it. Later that night, it was canned tuna and a bagel in the darkness.

I must have passed 10 wrecks on the round trip. The radio stations charged with broadcasting Furman football were apparently not charged. WESC was reporting every five minutes that every failed traffic light was a four-way stop, and every one I passed through was a dumbass game of chicken.

Then I drove back to Clinton and investigated whether or not the Blue Hose were still playing Davidson at home. The presence of, oh, 50 trees uprooted around PC and Thornwell Home was a pivotal clue.

Once I returned home, I discovered my home had been burglarized, though strategically. Gone were a laptop, my wi-fi router, an almost empty quart of bourbon and two battery-powered lanterns. As a result, I found the last flashlight at the Dollar General in Newberry at dusk.

On Monday morning, I discovered Presbyterian had played Davidson at 5 p.m. on Sunday on the Wildcats’ home field. The Blue Hose fell, 48-37.

The good news was, having no TV, internet or cell that wasn’t dead, I finished reading two 400-page-plus works of quality fiction.

And reevaluated my entire life.

The Furman women’s cross country team placed sixth Friday at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course in Madison, Wis.

The unranked Paladin women took down 10 ranked teams at the race, including fourth-ranked Oregon and No. 13 Lipscomb.  Fifth-ranked Washington won the race with 110 points, followed by No. 14 Utah in second with 139 points.  No. 15 Georgetown finished third with 145 points, and tenth-ranked Providence took fourth with 180 points.  Host Wisconsin, which ranks 19th nationally, placed fifth with 182 points, followed by Furman in sixth at 209 points.

Junior Carly Wilkes led Furman with a time of 20:18.4 to finish ninth on the six-kilometer course.  Senior Kaylie Armitage turned in a time of 20:37.6 for 24th place, while senior Sierra Bower was 41st with a time of 20:52.9.  Junior Jenna Mulhern placed 46th at 20:55.3, and senior Nicole Matysik completed the Paladin scorers with a time of 21:21.6 for 89th place.

On the men’s side, the Paladins scored 455 points for 21st place in the loaded field.  No. 2 BYU won the title with 44 points, while fifth-ranked Iowa State finished second with 108 points. No. 20 Wake Forest claimed third place with 150 points.   

Senior Carson Williams paced Furman with a time of 24:06.1, finishing 39th in the 8K race.  Fifth-year student Evan Guzman crossed the line in 24:30.7 for 80th place, and sophomore Chris Knight finished 100th at 24:40.8.

Select members of the Paladin team will compete at the Royals Cross Country Challenge in Charlotte, N.C., on Oct. 11.

Ava Augustson and Quinn Morrissey doubled their doubles on Saturday evening to lift the Furman volleyball team to a 3-2 (21-25, 25-18, 25-22, 17-25, 15-12) victory over the UNC Greensboro Spartans in its Southern Conference opener at the Spartan’ Fleming Gym.
Furman improves to 7-5 overall and 1-0 in the SoCon. UNC Greensboro drops to 5-9 and 0-2.

Augustson paced the Paladins with her first double-double of the season on 16 kills and 15 digs. Morrissey contributed her second double-double this year after finishing with 30 assists and a career high 13 digs.
Allie Sweet finished with a match high 21 kills to lead the Spartans offensively. McKenna Timmerman had a double-double of 11 kills and 16 digs. Izora Gragg dished out 45 assists and Chloe Nussbaum recorded 19 digs.

Furman’s match at East Tennessee State scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at 2 in Johnson City, Tenn., has been postponed due to the effects of Hurricane Helene. The match has been rescheduled for Oct. 29 at 6 p.m.

The Paladins return to action next weekend, Oct. 4-5, when they host Chattanooga and Western Carolina in SoCon action.

Furman’s Audrey Ryu is Southern Conference Women’s Golfer of the Week. 

Ryu fired a 4-under 212 (72-71-69) to finish sixth at the Lady Paladin Invitational, which was held Friday through Sunday at the Furman University Golf Club in Greenville, S.C.  A native of Dublin, Ohio, she led Furman to a third-place finish in the 13-team field.

Furman will compete at Old Dominion’s Evie Odom Invitational in Virginia Beach, Va., Oct. 4-6.

Wellpilgrim.com surpassed the 100,000 mark in page views over a week ago and has already exceeded the numbers of the entire 2023 year. At least one story had been posted for 59 consecutive days. … until Helene arrived.

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In the off chance you’d like to read my novels and other books, they’re available on Amazon and many prominent bookseller sites. You can read them on your phones and other devices for a modest cost. I make a bit more if you purchase the actual books, but what I mainly want is for folks to read them.

Read my novel of small-town crime and corruption, Forgive Us Our Trespasses. Download it for $3.99 here, or order it in paperback for $16.95.

Photo galleries are posted on Instagram @furmanatt and @laurenscountysports.

Thanks for putting up with me.