Record breaker

By EASportsToday.com
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Updated: February 6, 2016

Piedmont’s Green endures a few anxious moments before smashing the 1A-3A girls indoor 400 mark and winning two other events

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

Karri Green went through every emotion imaginable in the run-up to her state championship race in the girls 1A-3A 400 Saturday morning, but when it was over she was overcome by the best emotion of all.

Green, Piedmont’s fabulous senior sprinter, set the state record in her first event of the day with a time of 57.19 seconds on the fast track at Birmingham CrossPlex.

She later won the 60 (7.98) that eluded her last year and 60 hurdles (9.22), giving her an even dozen state titles indoor and outdoor in her career and has the spring season still to come.

“Today was just a great start for outdoor,” she said. “I never even thought about (the number of titles she’s won) until you asked. It’s pretty cool.”

But she almost didn’t make it to the first race Saturday. Between taking a little longer to eat the breakfast of champions at the hotel and her dad taking a wrong turn on the drive to the complex, she got to the warm-up area less than 10 minutes before the start.

“I got here maybe eight minutes before the start and was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve barely got time to warm up,’” she said. “I was freaking out and everything. I was just nervous and anxious. Once everything got going I was pretty fine.”

But her anxiety hadn’t subsided when she got to the line. That breakfast of champions – oatmeal, bacon, yogurt and biscuit – was starting to work on her mind as well as her stomach.

“I walked up to the starting line thinking I shouldn’t have eaten all this food,” she said.

But once the gun went off, she was gone. She beat the old 1A-3A record, set by Lincoln’s Shelbi White in 2014, by seven-tenths of a second.

“When I saw the time I was like, ‘Yeah,” she said. “I didn’t think I was running that fast.”

They have a word for that. It’s called effortless.

“There’s a lot of hard work and preparation to go with that God-given talent,” Piedmont coach Mark Mitchell said. “When you’re trying to break a state record or beat somebody else, it’s going to come down to who works the hardest. She has some God-given ability and then she trains hard and uses it the right way.”

Green’s three wins helped the Piedmont girls finish fifth in the Class 1A-3A team race.

TEAM SCORES
GIRLS
1A-3A: 1. American Christian 86.33, 2. Bayside Academy 58.5, 3. Winfield 54.5, 4. Cottage Hill 52, 5. Piedmont 46, 16. Ohatchee 7, 18. Pleasant Valley 4.

4A-5A: 1. St. Paul’s 108, 2. UMS-Wright 61, 3. Catholic Montgomery 45, 3. Columbia 45, 19. White Plains 3.

6A: 1. Pelham 98, 2. Homewood 88, 3. Walker 60, 15. Oxford 5.

BOYS
1A-3A: 1. Winfield 122, 2. American Christian 93.5, 3. Cold Springs 51, 11. Piedmont 13, 15. Pleasant Valley 8.

6A: 1. Opelika 138.5, 2. Northridge 62, 3. Homewood 58, 12. Oxford 14.

CALHOUN COUNTY FINALISTS
(Top 8 score points)

GIRLS
CLASS 1A-3A
60: 1. Karri Green, Piedmont, 7.98.
400: 1. Karri Green, Piedmont, 57.19; 13. Victoria McRaney, Ohatchee, 1:10.10; 19. Autumn Mayo, Pleasant Valley, 1:13.32.
800: 11. Kourtney Shuler, Ohatchee, 2:40.85; 16. Victoria McRaney, 2:43.62; 22. Autumn Mayo, Pleasant Valley, 2:54.39.
1600: 18. Jayda Fair, Ohatchee, 6:21.35; 22. Bella Hammonds, Ohatchee, 6:43.26.
3200: 12. Victoria McRaney, Ohatchee, 13:27.06; 13. Jayda Fair, Ohatchee, 13:33.17.
60 Hurdles: 1. Karri Green, Piedmont, 9.22.
4×200: 2. Piedmont, 1:56.39.
4×800: 8. Ohatchee, 12:04.73.
High jump: 5. Brenna Harris, Pleasant Valley, 4-8.
Pole vault: 4. Megan Mohon, Piedmont, 8-6; 6. Macy Hanson, Piedmont, 8-0; 11. Brenna Harris, Pleasant Valley, 7-0.
Long jump: 10. Autumn Mayo, Pleasant Valley, 13-2.
Shot put: 3. Courtney Poole, Ohatchee, 30-5¼; 11. Madeline Crider, Ohatchee, 21-7¼.

CLASS 4A-5A
400: 19. Alyssa Hudgins, White Plains, 1:06.16; 38. Briar Poytress, White Plains, 1:11.53.
4×200: 13. White Plains, 2:02.27
4×400: 10. White Plains, 4:46.59.
4×800: 11. White Plains, 12:06.67.
Pole vault: 6. Savannah Yates, White Plains, 8-0.
Long jump: 23. Megan Crossley, White Plains, 11-6½.
Triple jump: 12. Megan Crossley, White Plains, 26-11.

CLASS 6A
400: 19. Morgan Adams, Oxford, 1:06.16; 23. Brooklyn Chatman, Oxford, 1:07.69.
800: 22. Toni Coley, Oxford, 2:44.43.
4×200: 7. Oxford, 1:52.73.
4×400: 10. Oxford, 4:29.31.
4×800: 10. Oxford, 11:38.61.
Shot put: 6. Sierra Davis, Oxford, 31-07¼

BOYS
CLASS 1A-3A
400: 9. Seth Pope, Piedmont, 54.37.
800: 12. Quinton Thornton, Pleasant Valley, 2:07.64; 23. Tucker Vernon, Pleasant Valley, 2:20.16; 25. Tim Kidd, Piedmont, 2:23.71.
1600: 13: Quinton Thornton, Pleasant Valley, 5:00.10; 17. Daniel Gladen, Pleasant Valley, 5:05.82; 24. Blake Noah, Ohatchee, 5:21.10; 26. Gabe Hammonds, Ohatchee, 5:21.91; 30. Tim Kidd, Piedmont, 5:28.10; 31. Justin Escamilla, Piedmont, 5:41.91.
3200: 12. Matisse Miller, Pleasant Valley, 11:00.75; 17. Blake Noah, Ohatchee, 11:31.85; 18. Daniel Gladen, Pleasant Valley, 11:33.22; 20. Gabe Hammonds, Ohatchee, 11:42.54.
60 Hurdles: 10. Tucker Vernon, Pleasant Valley, 10.76; 15. Tyler Hester, Ohatchee, 11:24; 16. Reagan King, Pleasant Valley, 11.30.
4×200: 8. Pleasant Valley, 1:43.07; 12. Piedmont, 1:44.97.
4×800: 6. Pleasant Valley, 9:07.19; 9. Piedmont, 10:24.20; 10. Ohatchee, 10:30.58.
Pole vault: 1. Wil Mitchell, Piedmont, 12-0; 15. Matthew Pfledderer, Piedmont, 9-0.
Long jump: 5. Reagan King, Pleasant Valley, 18-3½; 12. Tucker Vernon, Pleasant Valley, 15-3.
Shot put: 4. Krae Keener, Piedmont, 42-8½; 9. Cameron Ray, Ohatchee, 38-9; 16. Blake Headrick, Piedmont, 34-3; 17. Taylor Glass, Pleasant Valley, 32-11; 18. Giovanni Miller, Pleasant Valley, 32-6 ½.

CLASS 4A-5A
400: 20. Will Lee, White Plains, 54.72.
1600: 21. Will Lee, White Plains, 5:07.95.
4×200: 13. White Plains, 1:42.47.
High jump: 9. Michael Singleton, White Plains, 5-6.
Pole vault: 9. Matthew Moore, White Plains, 9-6.
Long jump: 21. Michael Singleton, White Plains, 16-6¾.
Triple jump: 14. Michael Singleton, White Plains, 35-7¼.
Shot put: 12. Austin Henninger, White Plains, 39-3.

CLASS 6A
60: 3. Antuan Crowder, Oxford, 7.11; 5. Laquavious Ford, Oxford, 7.15.
400: James Elrod, Oxford, 56.89.
800: 18. Jeremiah Burns, Oxford, 2:12.02.
4×200: 5. Oxford, 1:33.98.
4×400: 11. Oxford, 3:47.82.
4×800: 9. Oxford, 9:11.69
Triple jump: 9. Shane Denman, Oxford, 38-2.

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