Russellville outdoor track & field team has strong showing in final meet before sectionals

On Saturday, April 18, in its final meet before the Class 5A Section 4 meet, the Russellville High School varsity boys’ and girls’ outdoor track & field teams competed at the Florence Pre-Sectional, putting together a strong performance to end the regular meet season.

As a team, the RHS boys finished in second place, behind the host Florence High School, with 116 points; meanwhile, the Lady Golden Tigers claimed third place among 11 teams with 87 points, just two points behind second-place Sheffield.

The Golden Tiger teams ultimately came away from the meet with 20 medals, including eight gold medals.

On the boys’ side, Russellville had four student-athletes grab gold: senior Connor Devaney, junior Jasen Noel, freshman Hunter Kastberg, and junior Sam Wilson.

Devaney’s first-place finish came in the boys’ 100-meter dash as he completed the race in 10.89 seconds. Gold medals for Noel, Kastberg, and Wilson all came in field events with Noel taking first in the triple jump (38-10), Kastberg taking the top place in the pole vault (9-0) and Wilson topping the podium in the shot put (42-3).

Other notable finals finishes for the RHS boys included silver medals for Jamarkus Mitchell (200m dash), Darron Jones (110m hurdles), and Skylar Ergle (300m hurdles). Pascual Felipe ended up in third place in the 1600m run, Julyun Francisco brought home a bronze in the long jump, and Elijah Dunstan finished third overall in the javelin throw. Wilson also had a third-place mark in the discus final.

On the girls’ side of the meet, Russellville managed to grab gold in four events, including a first place time of 4:46.06 in the 4×400m relay.

Individually, senior Hannah Waldrep found her way to the top of the podium in the 400m dash with a time of 1:04.59, sophomore Angeleah Smith came in second in the high jump final with a mark of 5-2, and Dalila Vidal placed first in the discus throw with a distance of 91-8.

The Lady Golden Tigers also had several others medal at the Florence meet. Silver medal earners included junior Keira Cruse, who had a 16-0 mark in the long jump; sophomore Charley Johnson, who achieved a distance of 31-10.5 in the shot put; and Daimar Valdez, who claimed a time of 19.11 in the 100m hurdles. Valdez also clinched bronze in the 300m hurdles with a time of 51.63, and freshman Lydia Racz finished third, right behind Valdez, in the 100m hurdles with a time of 19.32.

You can view all of Russellville’s results at the Florence Pre-Sectional meet by clicking HERE.

Up next for the RHS outdoor track & field teams is the Class 5A Section 4 meet which will be held in Scottsboro on April 24-25.