AHSAA TRACK: Miles takes three titles in indoor; Brew Tech wins title; MA girls finish third

Compiled by TIM GAYLE

Presley Miles continued her assault on the record books, adding three more state championships to her resume on Friday in the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s Class 4A-5A state indoor track meet at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

The St. James senior won the 800-meter, 1600-meter and 3200-meter events on Friday, adding three more titles to her list that includes three cross country championships, five events in the state outdoor meet and 11 in the indoor event.

Miles captured first place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:17.85, giving her five first-place finishes in as many appearances in the event. She won the 4A race as a freshman in the outdoor and won both 3A indoor and outdoor titles as a sophomore in 2018-19 and 3A indoor in 2019-20 (the outdoor was canceled by the coronavirus pandemic).  

The Duke signee added first-place finishes in the 1600 with a time of 5:22.24 and 3200 with a time of 11:36.14, her first titles in 4A-5A after competing the last two years in 1A-3A. 

Her accomplishments, along with that of teammate Hannah Richardson, who finished third in the 400-meter and fifth in the 800-meter, and the third-place finish of the Trojans’ 4x400-meter relay team helped St. James to a fourth-place finish in the standings.

Brewbaker Tech won its first state championship with 67.5 points, followed by Whitesburg Christian with 61, Randolph with 50 and St. James with 46. Pike Road finished in a tie for sixth place, while Tallassee finished in a tie for eighth.

Chanice Spicer led Brew Tech with victories in the long jump with a leap of 17-2 and record-setting times in the 60-meter dash (7.47 seconds) and 400-meter run (54.35 seconds). The Rams also won the 4x200-meter relay with a time of 1:44.39, edging Pike Road (145.30), and finished fourth in the 4x400 with a time of 4:25.28, just behind St. James.

Spicer’s teammates Lauren Parker and Kacee Oliver also helped the Rams take home the championship, with Parker finishing fourth in the 60-meter dash and Oliver finishing third in the triple jump and fifth in the high jump.

Jasmine Moore helped Pike Road to its sixth-place finish with a third-place finish in the 60-meter dash and a fourth-place finish in the 400-meter run. Other Patriots recording points included Gabriel Stephens, who was sixth in the 60-meter and eighth in the 400-meter, and Victoria Stephens, who was fifth in the long jump.

Chloe Baynes was the biggest contributor for Tallassee, finishing second in the triple jump, fourth in the long jump and third in the 60-meter hurdles. Alexis Love finished fourth in the shot put with a throw of 29 feet, 4.25 inches, a foot ahead of fifth-place Tanita Thomas of LAMP.

In the boys, UMS-Wright cruised to a state championship with 82 points, far ahead of Parker (64) and Bayside Academy (62). St. James finished 10th with 16 points and Tallassee was 16th with 10 points.

The Trojans picked up all of their points in the shot put, where Connor Owens finished first with a throw of 45 feet, 4.5 inches, and teammate Lucas Huckabee finished third with a throw of 43-9.

Tallassee picked up its points with a third-place finish by the Tigers’ 4x400-meter relay team, an eight-place finish by Ethan Stevenson in the 400-meter dash and a sixth-place finish by K.J. Love in the 60-meter hurdles, just ahead of Elmore County’s Sam Barlet.

MA girls finish third in 1A-3A

Anaya Thomas placed in three events to help Montgomery Academy finish in third place in the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s Class 1A-3A state indoor track meet at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

Thomas won the triple jump with a leap of 34 feet, 4.25 inches, finished second in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.78 seconds and was fifth in the high jump to account for nearly half of the points earned by the MA girls. 

Providence Christian won the 1A-3A title with 87 points, followed by Westminster-Oak Mountain with 76, Montgomery Academy with 54 and Altamont with 50. Catholic placed 13th in the event.

Mattie Freeman was sixth in the 800-meter run and seventh in the 1600-meter; Elizabeth Ray was eighth in the 3200-meter; Isabella Johnson was third in the shot put; Avery Pemberton was third in the pole vault; and Anna Perry was ninth in the high jump for the Eagles in their first event since the untimely death of track coach Michael Floyd last week.

The Eagles’ relay teams also accumulated points in the event, with the 4x800-meter relay team of Marguerite Dillon, Riley Renfroe, Kareena Singh and Freeman finishing third; the 4x400 team of Addi Vinson, Dillon, Perry and Freeman finishing fourth; and the 4x200 team of Perry, Vinson, Pemberton and Cydney Pebble finishing sixth.

Catholic’s points were accumulated by Ann Cobb, who finished fifth in the 400-meter run and eighth in the 800-meter run, and Ellis O’Connor, who was seventh in the 3200-meter run.

In the boys’ division, Catholic’s Hollis Johnson and Trinity’s Jay Tymes provided the local highlights on Friday, with Johnson finishing first in the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:33.31 and second in the 800-meter and 3200-meter events, and Tymes winning the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.06 seconds while finishing sixth in the high jump.

The 60-meter dash was a local favorite in the race between Tymes and Catholic’s Jeremiah Cobb, who finished second at 7.16 seconds, a tenth of a second behind Tymes.

Trinity’s Chappell Hill finished fourth in the 3200-meter, while the Wildcats’ 4x200-meter relay team was second and the 4x800-meter relay team was eighth, allowing for a seventh-place finish in the state meet.

Winfield won the 1A-3A title with 108 points, far outdistancing runner-up Catholic with 88 points. Providence Christian was third (with 45 points) and Ohatchee was fourth, while Trinity was tied for seventh and Montgomery Academy was 11th.

Johnson’s three top-two finishes provided a third of the Knights’ total points, but he had plenty of help. Cobb also finished second in the 400-meter run, while Sam Leslie finished just behind Johnson in third place in both the 800-meter run and the 3200-meter run. Harrison Skala was fifth in the 1600-meter run.

In the relay events, Catholic was first in the 4x800, second in the 4x400 and third in the 4x200. In the field events, Matthew Galvin was fourth in the triple jump, while Matthew Barranco was eighth in the long jump.

All of Montgomery Academy’s points came in the 400-meter run and the relay events. In the 400-meter run, Rick McBride was third and Eli Jernigan was seventh. The Eagles’4x400-meter relay team of Harris Gowan, John Allen Jones, Cooper Horn and McBride was fourth, while the 4x200 team of Jones, Jack Garrett, Jernigan and McBride and the 4x800 team of Horn, Camp Jernigan, Ben Jordan and Stewart Miller both finished sixth.