Photo by Erin Nelson.
Spain Park’s Mackenzie Culpepper, Hoover’s Daisy Luna and McKenzie Blackledge compete in the girls 400-meter dash during the AHSAA Class 7A Section 3 track and field sectionals at Spartan Stadium in Mountain Brook on April 29.
Local high school track and field teams recently concluded the season at the state outdoor meet May 5-7 in Gulf Shores.
Briarwood, Chelsea, Oak Mountain and Spain Park’s teams featured some standout performances. In the team competition, Spain Park’s girls finished fifth, and the Oak Mountain boys were sixth.
Spain Park’s Mackenzie Culpepper had a brilliant showing to cap off her high school career. She won the 400- and 800-meter dashes, while finishing second in the 1,600. She ran the 400 in 56.68 seconds and completed the 800 in 2:12.21.
Keon Buck finished third in the 100-meter dash for Spain Park, while John Landers was second in the pole vault. Connor Blair in pole vault and Jonas Harrelson in discus also scored points for the team.
Spain Park’s Delaney Vickers was fourth in the 800, sixth in the 1,600 and seventh in the 400. The 4x400-meter relay team finished second.
Oak Mountain’s Walker Hughes was the top performer, finishing second in the javelin competition. Devan Moss, Quest Agee and Matthew Womack scored points in the running events, while Ethan Hammett and Mitch Allen also scored points in the field. Catarina Williams, Faith Scardino and Julia Bueche scored for the girls team.
For Chelsea, Cady McPhail was third in the 400 and fifth in the 800. Lily Rigor finished seventh in the 300-meter hurdles, and Alana McCulla placed fifth in pole vault. Miles Brush was third on the boys side in the 3,200 and eighth in the 800, while Matt Gray finished fourth in the 100.
Briarwood had a few athletes score points, led by Riley Margene’s fourth-place finish in the pole vault competition. Bela Doss finished 10th in the 800 and 1,600 races, Mary Grace Parker was ninth in the 3,200, Livy Reebals was ninth in the 100 hurdles, Sallie Montgomery finished fifth in triple jump, and Ansley Murphy was fifth best in pole vault.
