AHSAA INDOOR TRACK: Aaron leads Catholic to third-place finish
By TIM GAYLE
Catholic senior Catherine Aaron won the 800, 1600 and 3200-meter events in the 1A-3A Alabama High School Athletic Association indoor track state meet on Friday to help the Knights to a third-place finish in the state.
Jeremiah Cobb finished first in the 400-meter dash and second in two other events to help the Knights take second place in the boys’ division.
Catholic’s pair of top-three finishes were the highlights for the River Region in the state indoor meet at the Birmingham CrossPlex on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, along with a seventh-place finish by Montgomery Academy in 1A-3A girls.
Aaron accounted for more points than any other team in the River Region, garnering 10 points for each first-place finish. She won the 800 with a time of 2:27.24, .74 better than runner-up Elle Ingram of Montgomery Academy. Aaron was also first in the 1600 with a time of 5:28.58 and first in the 3200 with a time of 12:07.75.
Her Catholic teammates earned some points as well. Haylei Mason was second in the 60-meter hurdles, Ann Cobb was seventh in the 60-meter dash and third in the 400 and Shannon Kille and Jamie McGuire were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the high jump. The 4x200 relay team was first, the 4x400 team was fourth and the 4x800 team was seventh.
Other Knights who competed in their events but failed to earn points included Jessica Hankins, 11th in the 60-meter dash and 12th in the 400-meter dash; Jamie McGuire was 11th in the long jump; and Haylei Mason was 14th in the long jump.
Mobile Christian won the 1A-3A title with 79.5 points, followed by Westminster-Oak Mountain with 75 and Catholic with 70. Montgomery Academy was seventh with 28 points.
Ingram finished fifth in the 1600 and Isabella Johnson was second in the shot put to account for much of Montgomery Academy’s total, along with the sixth-place finish of the 4x200 team and the fourth-place finish of the 4x800 team. Other Eagles who competed but failed to earn points included MJ Brown and Cydney People, 10th and 12th in the 60-meter, respectively; Tara Samant, 14th in the 400; Mary Lee Kelso, 13th in the 1600; and Brie McClendon, 11th in the shot put.
For the boys, Cobb was second in the 60-meter and a member of the second-place 4x200 relay team, along with his first-place finish in the 400 to help the Knights earn second place with 57 points, far behind Winfield’s championship total of 99 but ahead of third-place Mobile Christian with 49.
Other top finishes by the Knights included Andres Lemuz, who was seventh in the 800 and fifth in both the 1600 and 3200; Titus Franklin’s fourth-place finish in the 400; the 4x400 relay team’s second-place finish; Ronald Clarke’s sixth-place finish in the triple jump; and eighth-place finishes by E.J. Babies in the 60, the 4x800 relay team, Cannon Bach in the triple jump and long jump and Shawn Sponsler in the high jump.
Trinity’s third-place finish by the 4x800-meter relay team earned the Wildcats all of their six points in the state meet.
Among those competing but failing to earn points were Catholic’s Henry Skala in the 800 and 1600; Trinity’s Carter Younger in the 800; Trinity’s Chappell Hill and Jackson McIntyre in the 1600; and Trinity’s John Thomas Mathison in the 3200.
In the 4A-5A boys, which wrapped up Friday, UMS-Wright won the championship with 116 points, followed by Bayside Academy with 65. Pike Road was tied for eighth with 18 points, Brew Tech was in 19th with nine points and LAMP followed with eight points. St. James was 23rd with seven points and ACA was 32nd with one point.
Sylvester Smith picked up most of the Patriots’ points with a second-place finish in the 400 and a fifth-place finish in the 60. Teammate Dylan Payne was seventh in the 400 and fifth in the 800 to account for the remaining six points.
Brew Tech’s Christian Sanders was fourth in the 60-meter hurdles and eighth in the long jump, while Julian Fenderson was eighth in the 60-meter dash and the 4x400 team was seventh.
LAMP picked up its points with a fifth-place finish by Landon Perdue in the 3200, while Agustin Lemuz was sixth in the 1600 and eighth in the 800.
St. James earned its points with a third-place finish by Lucas Huckabee in the shot put, while ACA picked up its only point with an eighth-place finish by AC Walters in the high jump.
In the 4A-5A girls, UMS-Wright won the title with 50 points, edging Bayside Academy with 49.5. Brew Tech was third with 38.5, Tallassee was tied for eighth place with 21 points, St. James was tied for 30th with four points and Pike Road was tied for 36th with one point.
For Brew Tech, Kaycee Oliver was first in the triple jump, Allison Bowen was second in the shot put, Lauren Parker was third in the 60-meter dash and long jump, Berkeley Wright was seventh in the high jump and Oliver was eighth in the 400. The Rams’ 4x200 and 4x400 relay teams both finished sixth.
Chloe Baynes earned the Tigers all of their points, placing second in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.61 seconds, finishing second in the triple jump with a leap of 33 feet, 3.50 inches and placing fourth in the long jump at 16 feet.
Kendall Hardaway’s fifth-place showing in the triple jump earned the Trojans their four points.
Pike Road earned its lone point with an eighth-place finish by Gabriel Stephens in the 60-meter dash.
The area’s larger teams didn’t fare as well, with a 14th-place finish by Wetumpka’s 4x800-meter relay team the only input from the area in 6A and Donald Harris’ 7.02-second finish in the 60-meter dash earning Jeff Davis two points in the 7A competition.