Defending 7A Boys' Champs Hoover Lead after Day 2 of AHSAA State Track Championships
GULF SHORES - Class 7A defending champs Hoover held a four-point lead over Vestavia Hills 54-50 after the second day of the 2018 AHSAA Class 4A/5A/6A/7A Outdoor State Track Championships Friday here at the Gulf Shores Sports Complex.
Homewood had 58.50 points to lead in Class 6A over defending champs Opelika, which had 37. Defending champ Scottsboro totaled 53 points and Brooks had 39 in Class 5A boys' competition. And in Class 4A, Winfield led with 47 points over Montgomery Catholic, in second place with 36.
In the girls' competition, UMS-Wright held a comfortable 67-44 lead over last year's 4A champs Montgomery Catholic. In Class 5A, Arab had a slim 44-43 lead over St. Paul's Episcopal and Brooks was third with 42. Defending 6A champion Homewood totaled 64.75 points to take the lead and Pelham was second with 58.50. Auburn's girls held a 1.5-point lead over defending champs Hoover in the 7A girls' competition.
The meet concludes Saturday. The NFHS Network is live-streaming the finals over the NFHS Network's subscriber-based platform at Gulf Shores and Cullman (1A/2A/3A).
Records continued to fall Friday - especially in the 7A competition.
Five athletes equaled or surpassed the Class 7A state-meet record for the high jump in Friday's competition. The record coming into the 2018 championships was 6-06, set by Melvin Hill of Baker in 2015. Baker's Dontavious Hill and Oak Mountain's Trey Allen each cleared 6 feet, 10 inches and now share the new record. Hill won the event on fewest misses, and Allen was second.
Carl Nesbitt of Vestavia Hills also cleared 6-08 while Malik Crandle of Davidson and Chase Fiddler of Bob Jones jumped 6-06.
Other record-setting performances included:
Amaris Tyynismaa, Montgomery Catholic: Broke her second record of the meet with a 10:45.05 time in the Class 4A 3,200-meter run. She set the previous mark (10:53.15) as an eighth grader in 2015. Tyynismaa broke the Class 4A 1,600-meter outdoor record on Thursday.
Marion Humphrey, Hoover: The younger brother of former Hoover track sensation and current Baltimore Ravens defensive back Marlon Humphrey set a new 7A record in the 400-meter dash with a winning time of 47.43 seconds - best of all classes Friday. The previous 7A record (47.94) was set in 2016 by Sparkman's Charles Lewis. Marlon set the current Class 6A indoor 400-meters record (48.11) in 2013.
Nicole Payne, Oak Mountain: Broke the existing Class 7A outdoor 400-meter dash record (55.54) held by Myra Mack of Smiths Station with a 54.04 time. Vennessa Frank of Central-Phenix City was second at 55:13, which also surpassed Mack's record.
Alonie Sutton, Smiths Station: Set her second Class 7A state record in as many days with a winning leap of 19-09.5- in the long jump. Kayla Williams of James Clemens had held the mark (18-10) since 2015. Sutton broke her own 7A triple jump mark Thursday.
Viktor Turek, Thompson: Established a new Class 7A state record in the discus with a winning throw of 178-00.50. The old record (167-06) was set in 2016 by Michael Robinson of Auburn.
Mountain Brook 4x800 Relay Team: The Spartans won the 7A boys' relay with a new class time of 7:47.70, beating the old mark (7:58.18) set by Auburn in 2016 by 10 seconds. Smiths Station finished second Friday clocking 7:52.64, which also broke the previous record.
Other top efforts included:
7A BOYS
POLE VAULT: James Courson of Hoover won the pole vault late Thursday clearing 16 feet, 9 inches - just three inches shy of the state record (17-0) set by Sean Collins of McGill-Toolen Catholic in 2015.
3,200 METER RUN: In perhaps the most competitive race of the day Friday at Gulf Shores, four runners finished with :01.27 between them as Ethan Strand of Vestavia Hills won with a 9:30.26 time. Teammates Bryce Hutchinson (9:30.35) and James Sweeney (9:31.13) finished 2-3 and Mountain Brook's Charlie Slaughter (9:31.53) was fourth.
CLASS 6A BOYS
JAVELIN: Kyle Smith hurled the javelin 195-08 to take first place.
3,200 METER RUN: Will Stone of Homewood completed the sweep of the distance events with a 9:27.82 time.
400-METER DASH: Xavier Rogers of Stanhope Elmore (47.77) clocked the second fastest time of the day (all classes) to win the 6A race.
CLASS 5A BOYS
3,200 METER RUN: Scottsboro's Crawford Hope (9:31.89) and Hayden Judge (9:41.23) finished one-two for the Wildcats to dominate the event.
HIGH JUMP: Fairfield's Christian Smith beat Demarco Campbell of Sylacauga in a jump off to take first place with a 6-07 leap. Both tied at 6-06 and missed all three tries at 6-08 before Smith cleared on his first try at 6-07 and Campbell missed.
400-METER DASH: Demontrae Wilson of Central-Tuscaloosa (49.87) edged Myles Williamson of Guntersville (49.88) by 1/100th of a second in a photo finish to win the event.
JAVELIN (WHEELCHAIR): Nick Walls of Crossville had a 63-04.50 throw in his final attempt - improving from his first throw by almost seven feet, to win the event.
CLASS 4A BOYS
3,200 Meter RUN: Matthew Estopinal of Randolph edged past Tanner King of Northside with a winning time of 9:34.26. King clocked 9:48.12.
CLASS 7A GIRLS
3,200 METER RUN: Thompson's McKenzie Hogue followed her win in the 1,600 meters on Thursday by winning the 3,200 on Friday. She crossed the finish line at 11:00.72.
400-METER DASH (AMBULATORY): Jordan McGuire of McGill-Toolen won the event with a 1:15.74 time.