1A-4A State Report

Altamont sweeps 1A-4A

Within the first eleven minutes of the state championship meet, American Christian's Joy Griffith set the weekend's standard of excellence, and seventy-seven events later it remained untouched.

The Patriot senior started off the meet Friday with a new all-class record in the 3200m run, 10:59.80. The time makes Griffith the first Alabama runner to break the eleven-minute mark in indoors. Later Friday night, she added a second title in the 800m dash, and came back Saturday with another state record, this time finishing the 1600m run in 5:12.51.

Edra Finley of UMS-Wright had an impressive string of individual performances, too. Finley won four of her five events- the long jump, 55m hurdles, 400m dash, and the high jump, and placed fourth in the 55m dash to total 44 individual points for the meet.

In team action, The Altamont School of Birmingham won both the men's and women's championships. The Altamont women outscored UMS-Wright 104 to 82 for their championship, while the men's team tallied 87 points to runner-up Leeds' 66.