Golden girl
- Updated: May 8, 2016
Piedmont’s Green closes stellar high school career with four more gold medals and two broken records
Piedmont senior Karri Green proudly displays the four gold medals she won at this year’s Class 3A state championship meet.
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
CULLMAN – Even after the stadium announcer made it a point to say during the medal ceremony “in her final race,” it still hadn’t hit Karri Green that the end had come.
Calhoun County’s golden girl of track and field wrapped up a brilliant high school career that started just running for fun in the Class 1A-3A state championship meet Saturday and she went out with a bang.
For the second year in a row she won four events and broke two 3A state records in the process. It started Friday when she broke her own record in the 400 with a 56.59, then she completed the sweep with three wins and another record Saturday.
She won the 100 hurdles (14.90), 300 hurdles (46.04) and 200 (24.97), and broke the record in the 200. Her 40 points helped Piedmont finished sixth in the 3A girls standings.
“It’s a bittersweet moment,” she said shortly after coming off the podium for the final time. “It hasn’t kicked in yet that I’m not going to be here next year.”
But it’s not like she was hanging up the spikes after Saturday. From here she’s going to a bigger stage, running for UAB. It’s for that reason she wasn’t overly upset when the day ended.
“I guess that’s why after each race I was like I’m going to cry and then I don’t,” she said. “I guess it’s because I know I’m still going to be running.”
With this week’s medal haul, her collection of gold at state championships over the last three years now totals 11 outdoors and 16 combined with her indoors titles. Only a stumble in the 400 her sophomore year kept her from sweeping her individual events three years in a row.
The margins in the 300 hurdles and 200 was so wide, she could’ve looked back a couple times to see who was following her.
But you can’t convince her it wasn’t close.
“Every time I run I think somebody’s breathing down my neck,” she said.
Green came into the week with a goal of winning four and breaking two records. The 200 was the only race standing in her way and even though it marked the end of an era she had a calm about it as she stepped into the blocks.
“I didn’t feel any pressure, I felt totally relaxed,” she said. “I just told myself you’re going to run a 24 — and I did.”
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