Russellville’s Barnes grabs gold in Class 5A javelin state championship

Russellville High School’s Tait Barnes stood atop the podium and received a gold medal for his performance when the AHSAA Outdoor Track and Field State Championships were held earlier this month. 

Barnes, a senior, took the top spot in the Class 5A boys’ javelin throw, coming in at a mark of 170 feet, eight inches or 52.01 meters. Barnes outdid the silver medalist by nearly three feet.

“I was definitely surprised. I really wasn’t expecting it at all,” Barnes said. “I didn’t know if I could get first, but I definitely felt like I had it in me to get on the podium. That’s what I was aiming for.”

Barnes, who has been competing in javelin since last year, said the gold medal felt like a good reward for his many hours of preparation and training.

“It felt great to win it and get to stand on top of the podium,” he said. “All the time spent practicing, every Sunday I’ve been going to Samford getting javelin lessons, working out and doing arm exercises, so it felt really good for the hard work and effort to pay off.”

“We’re really proud of Tait and what he was able to do, winning gold in javelin,” Boatwright added. “He’s a hard worker and he puts a lot of time and effort into it. He’s very deserving, and we’re just really proud of his success.”

Other competitors for the Golden Tigers on the boys’ side were sophomore Cameron Phinizee, who ran in the 100-meter dash; sophomore Skyler Ergle in the 110-meter hurdles; junior EJ King, who just missed out on a medal with a fourth-place finish in the high jump; senior Shiloh Willis, who finished 21st in the shot put; and junior Cash Crumpton, who finished 11th in the long jump and eighth in the javelin.

“What’s pretty remarkable about Cash Crumpton is he’s only been doing javelin for about three weeks,” Boatwright said. “He picked it up, you know, just trying to prepare for another meet, a decathlon he was going to, and now he’s eighth in the state in javelin. That’s pretty wild.”

Russellville finished 14th in the 5A boys’ team rankings.

The Golden Tigers also had two state competitors on the girls’ side: junior Keira Cruse finished 11th in the long jump and 12th in the triple jump, and fellow junior Ari Willingham competed in the girls’ 100- and 200-meter dashes.

“We had some top 10, top 15 finishes, which I’m really proud of,” Boatwright said. “To be honest, I wasn’t expecting that. I know that we’ve got talent, but I also know the type of athletes that are coming from schools down in the south of the state and the middle part of the state, and they’re really good athletes. To have brought the number we did down there and do as well as I thought we did, it’s very cool. I’m really proud of these kids.”

Now that the outdoor season is over, Boatwright said he’s excited to see what the Golden Tigers can do in the years to come. Many of the athletes who have competed at a high level for Russellville this season are juniors or younger, Boatwright said, and he said there’s no shortage of enthusiasm among them.

“The buy-in has been what I’m most proud of and it’s been a huge success factor,” Boatwright said. “I think this year set the foundation for the future and now we can kind of know our expectations.”

“A lot of these kids are playing other sports or it’s their first year competing, and I think the excitement is there for all these athletes involved,” he added. “You can see it in them that want to push for that next PR or that first place finish or that school record or that qualification. If they didn’t get the time or the distance they wanted this year, they come to me and say, ‘Coach, I’m going to get it next year.’ That’s exciting to me and that buy-in has been awesome.”

The state champion Barnes concurred and said the head deserves his due, as well.

“I think (Boatwright) is just starting and the future is looking good,” Barnes said. “(The program) is definitely on the rise. He put us to work this year and made us compete hard. He pushed us hard in practice and at all our meets to really do our best. I think it can only go up from here.”

Franklin County’s other schools also sent student-athletes to compete in the Class 1A-3A state meet in Cullman on May 3-4.

Belgreen sent Briseyda Luna, Alexa Gault, Tanisha Clay, and Lilliana Willingham to Cullman. Luna and Willingham both finished 11th in their respective girls’ events, the 1600-meter run and the triple jump. 

Tharptown sent Jessie Mitchell and Angel Garcia with Mitchell finishing 22nd in the boys’ 400-meter dash while Garcia took 14th in the 3200-meter run.

Vina’s Makenzie Elrod and Kaylee Davis both competed in the girls’ 100-meter hurdles and Manny Alitriste jumped in the boys’ triple jump.