Article by Tim Doerr
Alabama Independent School Association (AISA) held its Junior Varsity State Championship on Saturday, April 6th at Escambia Academy in Atmore Alabama.
Multiple state records were broken including one from 2005! This record breaking day had been anticipated since the first track meet of the season. Personal records by multiple athletes had predicted several older records would be broken. The AISA Junior Varsity State record must be recorded at the state track meet. This rule mimics the varsity level rules.
In Class 1A/2A Boys:
The first broken record for the day was in the 3200-meter run. It was broken by Danny
Doerr of Escambia Academy with a time of 10:58.41. This record was previously held by
Alan Ash with a time of 11:10.15 who also ran for Escambia Academy and set that
record in 2005.
Riley Jones of Evangel Christian broke the state record in the 1600-meter run with a
time 5:02.12 that was set by Alan Ash in 2006 time of 5:10.38.
Later that afternoon Jones broke the 800-meter run state record with a time of 2:14.95
that was previously held by Matthew Hall of Springwood School in 2008 with time of
2:19.
Boys field events also set two new records.
Riddge Crawford of Abbeville Christian Academy broke a record in the long jump with
22'8" previously held by JuJu Curry with a jump of 19' 5.75" set in 2023. London Belcher of Evangel Christian Academy set a new record of 39' in the triple jump. He broke a long standing record from 2007 set by Matthew Rice of Escambia Academy
with a jump of 38'3".
In Class 1A/2A:
Amari George from Abbeville Christian Academy had already made the record book last
year in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.77. This year Amari added her name to the books in two more events. Amari triple jumped
with a 34'2.5" breaking the record of 30'8" held by Emma Ray of Northside Methodist
from 2016. Amari then broke the record of 1:05.94 in the 400-meter by Erica Palmer of Sparta
Academy from 2006 by running a 1:03.70.
In Class 3A:
Eli Wharton of Bessemer Academy broke the 3200-meter run record with a time of
9:49.29. The previous record of 10:57.57 was set by his brother Isaac Wharton in 2023. In the 1600-meter run Eli Wharton ran 4:36.52 setting a new state record previously
held by Don Lee from Tuscaloosa Academy in 2009 with a time of 5:04. Isaac Wharton from Bessemer Academy set a new record in the 800-meter run with a
time of 2:04.08 breaking the time of 2:17.15 set by Christian Mott from Mobile Christian
in 2006.
The final record-breaking event was set in the 4x400 Relay (1600m relay). Bessemer
Academy set a new record in the 4x400 relay with Eli Wharton, Isaac Wharton, Allen
Pardue and Cole Davis recording a time of 3:54.19. The previous record of 4:02:01 was
held by Tuscaloosa Academy since 2010.