Local track athletes successful at state meet

By Staff
Scot Beard
GULF SHORES – Franklin County track athletes put on an impressive performance at the State Track Meet last week, earning seven titles, five runner-up finishes and three third-place finishes.
The Vina girls track team finished third overall in Class 1A, while the Russellville boys team finished fifth in Class 5A.
Russellville's Micah McCulloch led the way with wins in three events. He finished first in the high jump, long jump and triple jump. Belgreen's Katelin Barber won two titles. She set the Class 1A state record in the 100-meters to claim that event before winning the 200-meters.
Vina's Emily Davidson earned the Class 1A title in the 3,200-meter run while Red Bay's Cody Tucker won the Class 2A 100-meters for the final title among Franklin County athletes.
Earning individual second place finishes were Vina's Heather Thorn in the 3,200-meter run, Vina's Claudia Townsend in the triple jump and Red Bay's Tucker in the javelin throw.
The 4Vina girls 4×800-meter relay team of Davidson, Jessie Norwood, Fallyn Shotts and Thorn finished second in the event.
The Russellville boys 4×100-meter relay team of McCulloch, Nathan McAllister, Jermaine Bates and David Hamilton finished second in the event.
Earning third place finishes were Davidson in the girls 1,600-meter run, Belgreen's Katy Britton in the javelin throw and Russellvillle's Brent Calloway in the high jump.
Not counting the athletes that finished in the top three of an event, there were 22 other athletes to earn a Top-10 finish at the state meet.
In other team standings, the Belgreen girls finished seventh while the Tharptown girls finished 13th in Class 1A.
In boys action, Tharptown finished 16th while Belgreen and Vina tied for 18th place. Red Bay was 13th in class 2A.