On the fast track

By EASportsToday.com
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Updated: April 17, 2017

Calhoun County Track Championships move to Choccolocco Park; Oxford boys, Pleasant Valley girls favored

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

OXFORD — The Calhoun County Track & Field Championship was a fast meet last year in Jacksonville with six broken records, but there’s anticipation of an even faster meet this year when the event moves to Choccolocco Park Tuesday.

A new track is a fast track and the county’s athletes are ready to take advantage of it.

“The new track is absolutely blazing fast,” said host coach Casey Howell of Ohatchee. “It’s by far the best track we’ve run on since I’ve been coaching (five years). It’s brand new. It’s soft. We ran on it a couple weeks ago and some of the times we haven’t hit since, so it’s a very quick track.

“There’s a reason the records are the records for the county. If they’re going to be broken it will be at this meet. With the combination of a perfect track and the opportunity to be a county champion you will see everyone’s best.”

In a virtual meet tracking the top performances of the year, the Oxford boys and Pleasant Valley girls are projected as runaway winners in the meet. PV coach Brad Hood isn’t buying into the projections.

“No way we are 50 better than the others in the county,” he said. “Too many good teams, coaches and athletes to buy into that.”

At least seven seed times and distances among the athletes in the meet are equal to or better than the current meet records: Oxford’s Trevon Sanders’ in the boys 110 hurdles (15.47), Oxford’s Shania Vincent in the girls 100 (12.32), Anniston’s Hunter Rouse in the boys 300 hurdles (4-.44), Oxford’s Laquavious Ford in the boys 200 (21.99), Piedmont’s Megan Mohon in the girls pole vault (9-3), White Plains’ Matthew Moore in the boys pole vault (14-0), and Pleasant Valley’s Rachel Faucett in the girls high jump (5-5).

Of course, external factors could play a role in how many records fall Tuesday. There is inclement weather forecast for the day and event officials have said with sectionals next week they will do everything they can to get the meet in that day.

Among the things to look for: Moore to assault Wil Mitchell’s county record of 12-10 and make a bid for 14 feet — he’s already hit the mark twice this season – he probably won’t even enter the competition until the bar is at 12; Ford to leave the meet as the County’s Fastest Man; and Pleasant Valley’s Rachel Faucett to break her high jump record. She cleared 5-4 Friday.

CALHOUN COUNTY TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP
Tuesday’s Schedule
9 a.m. – 4×800 Relay.
9 a.m. – Boys Shot, Girls Discus, Boys Long Jump, Girls Triple Jump.
10:30 a.m. (rolling schedule) – 1600, 4×100 Relay, 100/110 Hurdles, 800, 100, 400, 300 Hurdles, 200, 3200, 4×400 Relay.
10:30 a.m. – Boys Discus, Girls Long Jump, Boys Triple Jump, Girls Shot.
Noon – Boys High Jump, Girls Pole Vault, Boys Javelin.
1:30 p.m. – Boys Pole Vault, Girls High Jump, Girls Javelin.

GIRLS MEET
Virtual Meet: Pleasant Valley 164, Oxford 91, White Plains 90, Jacksonville 76, Ohatchee 63, Alexandria 61, Anniston 59, Piedmont 40, Saks 28, Wellborn 22, Donoho 5, Weaver 3.

Projected winners
100: Shania Vincent, Oxford
200: Shania Vincent, Oxford
400: Rachel Faucett, Pleasant Valley
800: Alyssa Hudgins, White Plains
1600: Trinity Roberts, Pleasant Valley
3200: Trinity Roberts, Pleasant Valley
4×100: Oxford
4×400: Pleasant Valley
4×800: Pleasant Valley
100 Hurdles: Ryleigh Randall, White Plains
300 Hurdles: Ryleigh Randall, White Plains
Shot put: Aniyah Robinson, Jacksonville
Discus: Taylor Spradley, Alexandria
Long jump: Rachel Faucett, Pleasant Valley
Triple jump: Alex Gomez, Oxford
High jump: Rachel Faucett, Pleasant Valley
Javelin: Lulu Jackson, Piedmont
Pole vault: Brenna Harris, Pleasant Valley

BOYS MEET
Virtual Meet: Oxford 171, Anniston 103, Pleasant Valley 81, Ohatchee 80, White Plains 76, Piedmont 55, Weaver 55, Jacksonville 49, Saks 17, Alexandria 12, Donoho 3.

Projected winners
100: Laquavious Ford, Oxford
200: Laquavious Ford, Oxford
400: James Johnson, Jacksonville
800: Matisse Miller, Pleasant Valley
1600: Matisse Miller, Pleasant Valley
3200: James Haynes, Anniston
4×100: Anniston
4×400: Pleasant Valley
4×800: White Plains
110 Hurdles: Trevon Sanders, Oxford
300 Hurdles: Hunter Rouse, Anniston
Long jump: Dave Russell, Oxford
Triple jump: Cardavion Myers, Piedmont
High jump: Desmond Cooley, Oxford
Javelin: Cameron Ray, Ohatchee
Shot put: Clay Webb, Oxford
Discus: Austin Snelling, Ohatchee
Pole vault: Michael Moore, White Plains

MEET RECORDS
(through 2016 meet)
BOYS
100: 10.67, Darrell Malone, Jacksonville 1985
200: 21.99, C.J. Savage, Piedmont 2015
400: 49.18, Ricky Davis, Jacksonville 2005
800: 1:59.88, Michael Brooks, Anniston 1985
1600: 4:30.24, Morgan Silvers, Oxford 1991
3200: 10:01.14, Morgan Silvers, Oxford 1991
110 hurdles: 15.77, Giovanni Mosley, Weaver 2016
300 hurdles: 41.22, Tyrone Gray, Jacksonville 1986
4×100: 42.61, Oxford 1999
4×400: 3:32.95, Anniston 1986
4×800: 8:32.34, Anniston (Edward Montgomery, James Haynes, Quinterious Croft, Zebedee Lunsford) 2016
High jump: 6-7, Debron Johnson, Anniston 1992
Pole Vault: 12-10, Wil Mitchell, Piedmont 2016
Long jump: 22-10, Da’Monta (Tae) Miller, Anniston 2016
Triple jump: 46-3, Gerod Striplin, Oxford 2005
Shot put: 49-10.5, Kevin Harris, Jacksonville 1999
Discus: 151-5, Don Johnson, Saks 2004
Javelin: 165-00, Giovanni Austin, White Plains 2007

GIRLS
100: 12.49, Victoria Rimpsey, Oxford 2011
200: 24.73, Shalitha (KeKe) Swain, Piedmont 2006
400: 56.54, Jamaka Wall, Oxford 2005
800: 2:23.06, Janet Hollingsworth, White Plains 1987
1600: 5:38.31, Rebecca Hearn, Jacksonville 2016
3200: 11:53.12, Rebecca Hearn, Jacksonville 2015
100 hurdles: 14.86, Kari Green, Piedmont 2016
300 hurdles: 47.76, Latasha Sturkie, White Plains 2008
4×100: 48.44, Oxford 2011
4×400: 4:03.00, Saks (Whitney Logan, LaTonya McCain, Brittany Siders, Ashley Tramel) 2005
4×800: 10:35.856, Pleasant Valley (Bridgett Green, Brittany Green, Dana Green, Emily Hulse) 2001
High jump: 5-2, Keara Scott, Weaver 2014
Pole Vault: 9-1, Macy Hanson, Piedmont 2016
Long jump: 17-5.5, Denise Peters, Jacksonville 1998
Triple jump: 37-2, Melba Goggins, Anniston 1992
Shot put: 37-7, Quanetria Bolton, Anniston 2012
Discus: 117-10, Brianna Calhoun, Oxford 2015
Javelin: 106-7, Laneshia Anderson, Ohatchee 2007