Pair of Golden Tigers, Vina’s Easterling find podium as local track & field athletes compete at state meet
Local track and field student-athletes competed at the AHSAA outdoor track and field championships over the weekend as four schools—Belgreen, Russellville, Tharptown, and Vina—had competitors qualify for the state meet.
Belgreen, Tharptown, and Vina competed at the Class 1A-3A meet held at Oliver Woodard Stadium in Cullman, while Russellville traveled to Gulf Shores for the 4A-7A state championships.
In Cullman, Belgreen’s Lilliana Willingham was the sole representative of her school. She finished 17th in the girls’ triple jump.
Tharptown also had one qualifier, Angel Garcia, who placed in two final events. He took 11th in the boys’ 3200-meter run with a time of 10:49.45 and 15th in the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:03.31.
Vina was the third team from Franklin County to compete at the 1A-3A championships and made a good showing of it. The Red Devils had five individuals appear in final heats and Lindie Easterling, a seventh grader, reached the podium. Easterling, racing in the girls’ 3200-meter run, took home silver with a time of 13:16.71.
Samantha Elders and Makenzie Elrod also competed in girls’ events, placing 16th and 18th, respectively, in the 100-meter hurdles.
Christian McCarley and Cai Lawler, who qualified for three final events, competed in the 1A boys’ meet. McCarley finished 21st in the 1600-meter run, while Lawler placed 9th and 16th in the 300-meter and 110-meter hurdles. Lawler was in the final heat of the boys’ triple jump, as well, and came in 15th place.
Down in Gulf Shores, Russellville had 10 individuals and two relay teams compete in final heats of the Class 5A championships.
The top performance came from senior EJ King, who grabbed silver in the boys’ high jump with a mark of six feet, six inches. Freshman Darron Jones also got to the podium with a third-place finish in the boys’ 110-meter hurdles, finishing the race in 15.45.
Charley Wilson and Sam Wilson competed in the girls’ and boys’ shot put finals. Charley took 21st in the girls’ event and Sam 11th in the boys’.
Three RHS athletes participated in the triple jump finals: Keira Cruse finished 17th in the girls’ final and Jason Noel and Gavin McDaniel finished 18th and 23rd, respectively.
Angeleah Smith, in a three-way tie, grabbed eighth in the girls’ high jump, and Cade Parker finished 15th in the boys’ javelin throw final. Skyler Ergle had a 15th-place finish in the boys’ 300-meter hurdles.
The Golden Tigers’ two relay teams were the boys’ and girls’ 4x400-meter relay teams. The girls from RHS finished in 15th place and the boys earned a fifth-place finish.
As a team, Russellville’s boys’ track and field team came in 13th place overall and the girls in 28th place.