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<p>Battery Creek High School has promoted varsity girls basketball coach Sarah Hayes to fill its athletic director position vacated by Wayne Alston’s departure earlier this month.</p>
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<p>Alston left after one year at the helm of the Dolphins’ athletics department to take the district AD position for Colleton County schools.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>Hayes should bring stability to the position — she was valedictorian of Battery Creek’s Class of 2002 and a member of the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>“Sarah has worked hard to progress in her career and is just an incredible fit for this position,” BCHS Principal Chad Cox said. “She has an outstanding resume and is truly and example for everyone in the Battery Creek community. She is Battery Creek.”&nbsp;</p>
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<p>After playing basketball and earning dual undergraduate degrees at Brown University, where she was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year as a freshman and Ivy League Player of the Year as a senior, Hayes played professionally in Germany for five years. She returned stateside in 2011 and spent two years as an assistant basketball coach at Carnegie Mellon University before returning to her alma mater in 2013 to teach social studies and coach basketball.</p>
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<p>Hayes led the Dolphins to the playoffs in each of her four seasons as a head coach, including a region title in 2017. She also served as an assistant athletic director the past three years. She also earned a master’s in athletic administration from Ohio University in 2018.</p>
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<p>“I'm excited to have the opportunity to lead the athletic department at Battery Creek High School,” Hayes said. “I’m a proud alum who bleeds blue and gold. The athletic department at our school is moving in the right direction, and I'm proud to continue in our pursuit to be one of the best in the state.”</p>
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<p>One of Hayes’ first orders of business will be replacing herself as varsity girls basketball coach — the Beaufort County School District prohibits athletic directors from also serving as head coaches.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
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