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Getting a bit behind with the reporting. 🙁
Here is a summary of the F. Shea VFW Memorial Inv., full results can now be found on our 2014 Schedule and Results page.
Here is a brief summary.
Team placements:
JV boys were 1st, Varsity boys were 3rd, Varsity Girls were 5th. JV Girls team had only 3 runners and there for was not eligible for team point.
It’s Not too late to be a part of the thriving SHS Cross Country Team!
We have a strong core group of student-athletes & welcome more dedicated, hard working individuals to join our growing program!
Contact Coach Jones via email if interested (njones@madison.k12.al.us).
Don’t let this year’s hard work end so soon!
Below is a list of Meets that athletes may choose to enter themselves in.
There are Two National Athletic organizations that host “series” type meets and several “stand alone” meets.
The two groups are the USATF (http://al.usatf.org/Home.aspx) and the AAU (http://ww3.aausports.org/).
Here is a list of some of the meets and some web sites where you can find more information.
“Stand Alone” meets.
June 21st – Alabama Sports Festival – Samford University, Birmingham
http://www.alagames.net/sport/trackandfield
June 24th thru 28th – USATF Youth Championships, Indiana
June 28th – USATF Youth/Open/Masters Championship meet, Birmingham Southern
http://tinyurl.com/nbswg2z
Alabama USATF info page – http://al.usatf.org/Home.aspx
“Series” Meets
USATF
– USATF JO Championships in Birmingham June 14th,15th Top 8 Qualify for the July 10-13 meet
http://tinyurl.com/oh7fw5u
– USATF Region 6, Champion in Homewood, Al July 10th-13th
– USATF Nationals, Houstan TX July 21 – 27
AAU
– AAU SOuther District Qualifier – June 7th-8th, Montgomery (qualifies you for the District Meet at MTSU)
http://tinyurl.com/plfeqq3
– Regional Qualifier – MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tn July 3rd-4th (qualifies you for the Junior Olympics in Iowa)
http://tinyurl.com/otxbtne
– AAU Club Nationals, Orlando July 7th – 13th (can qualify you for the JO in Iowa)
http://tinyurl.com/pejlk4r
– 2014 AAU JUNIOR OLYMPIC GAMES, Des Moines, Iowa July 28th – Aug 2nd
These meets and organizations are not affiliated with Sparkman High or it’s track team in any way. These are simply FUN events you may wish to pursue on your own. They are all “age group” meets. This means if you are 15, you will probably ONLY be competing against other 15 and 16 year olds.
Hey, you’ve done all the training … Why not go out and see if you can pull in some medals!
With the completion of the 2013-2014 Track & Field season, it is now time to reflect on the accomplishments of our athletes.
Our Varsity Points Leaders for the year were as follows –
The competition for Girls Varsity Points Leaders was a tight one!
Worth mentioning is 8th grader Lauryn Hall. Lauryn is our 4th place, Varsity girls points scorer. She scored 23 points in just two varsity meets! Expect to see her battling for top of the list next year.
This year’s JV Awards for “Most Improved” went to –
Frsh- Glenda Booker & Milan Wall
This was Glenda’s first year to go out for track and she quickly found her niche in the Discus and the Shot. She took 4th in the Shot at the JV Championships with a PR of 27-9 and took 7th in the Discus with a throw of 62-7.5. Glenda also competed for our Varsity squad getting a PR throw of 78-9 in the Discus which claimed a 7th place for her and earned her first Varsity points.
Milan was also new to track but shows great promise in the sprints.
He took 5th in the 200m Dash at the JV Championships and even scored his first Varsity points as part of an SHS SCHOOL RECORD setting 4x400m relay team! He has a PR of 24.96 in the 200m and a PR of 56.56 in the 400m.
This year’s Varsity Awards for “Most Improved” went to –
Jr- Kai Perkins & Soph- Will Kieser
This is Kai ‘s third year on our throwing squad. She throws shot but really excelled in the Discus this year. She improved last year’s PR by 6 feet in the Discus and finished in the points in every single meet she competed in ! Of her 8 competitions, she finished on the podium 6 times and 3 of those were for wins! She qualified for State and had a points scoring finish of 6th there.
Will is another one of our throws team. His second year on the squad, he throws Discus, Shot and new for this year – Javelin. In the Discus he improved last year’s PR by over 16 feet with a throw of 96-7 which scored him an 8th place and earned him his first Varsity points! In the Javelin he threw a season’s best of 108′-9″ earning him his best finish of 11th place.
This years top athlete scholars were 8th- Savannah Wilson & Soph- Luke Kollman
8th grader Savannah Wilson has been mostly a distance runner for our Cross Country Team these last two years but has applied her abilities to the 1600m for Track Season. Her season best was a 7:02.09 at the JV Championships. She currently holds a 98% academic average!
This is Luke Kollman’s first year in Track & Field. He has PRs of 3:05.16 in the 800m and 6:34.52 in the 1600m. More impressively, he holds an Academic 4.52 GPA !
This honor goes out tho the Athlete who excelled not just at meets but everyday at practices, both in their own efforts and in encouragement to their team mates. This years recipient is 7th grader Elizah Vargas.
Elizah has tried his hand at several distances. In the JV Championships he placed 9th in the 400m, 8th in the 800m, and 6th in the 1600m. He even ran the 3200m at this years State qualifier Varsity meet, setting a PR time of 11:45.90
The MVP Awards in JV went to 9th graders Gabrielle Griner & Daryl Bowden.
This is Gabrielle’s third season on the Sparkman Team. She is the three time North Alabama JV Champion in the girls PoleVault and in three years of JV competition, has never lost a meet. She has competed for both the Varsity and JV squads since the 7th grade and has qualified for the State Varsity Track meet all three years. She was second highest girls varsity points scorer and had 7 Varsity podium finishes this year with 1 Varsity WIN. She currently holds the SHS School Record in the Girls Pole Vault at 10′.
This is Daryl’s second season with the Track Team. While he has run in the 110 hurdles and the 400m dash, this season he seems to be finding his niche in the jumps. At this years JV Championships Daryl placed 5th in the High Jump and 1st PLACE in the Long Jump! He also competed for our Varsity Squad and holds the team’s best mark this year in the Long Jump and tied with Jake Russell for season’s best in the High Jump. This year in Varsity he has placed as high as 16th in the High Jump, 12th in the Long Jump and 21st in the Triple Jump.
The MVP Awards in Varsity went to Jr- Kelsey Johnson & Sr- Anthony Parameswaran.
Kelsey started on the Cross Country Team in 2012 and added Track & Field to her repertoire in 2013. She has competed in 11 different events AND the State Heptathlon! She was this years Varsity Girls high points scorer and had 4 podium finishes including 1 WIN. She had a season high 3rd in the Triple Jump, 7th in the 300m Hurdles, and a WIN in the 100m Hurdles. Though excelling in multiple events, the 100m Hurdles have been her forte’. This year she finished in the points in that event during EVERY regular season meet and for the 2nd year in a row, QUALIFIED for the State Track meet in that event. Kelsey owns the SHS SCHOOL RECORD in the Triple Jump (31′-7″), the 100m Hurdles(16.93), the 60m Hurdles(10.47), the Three Mile run (22:42.60) and the Heptathlon (2747 points)
Anthony could have an entire page dedicated to his Track exploits. While he does run the relatively short, 800m – he is mostly a distance runner (1600m, 3200m, 5000m) . However what he does, he does with distinction! In the 1600m this year he ran 8 regular season races finishing with a 5th, five 2nds and two 1sts! He qualified for State in that race and place just outside the points, in 9th, while setting a new SHS SCHOOL RECORD.
In the 3200m race, Anthony competed 7 times, finishing with two 3rds, four 2nds and a WIN! He also qualified for STATE where he finished with a points scoring 6th place, also setting a new SHS SCHOOL RECORD.
Not to totally overlook his efforts in the 800m. He had a 3rd place finish in that race this year and an 8th at the Section Qualifying meet.
Anthony is the current SHS SCHOOL RECORD holder in the 1600m (4:30.65), 3200m(9:54.41), Three Mile(17:24.60) and 5000m(16:15.03).
Anthony has received Academic & Athletic Scholarships to UAH. We will certainly miss him next year … and miss trying to pronounce his last name 😉
The final events in the 2013-14 Track and Field season are the Heptathlon and Decathlon and this year we had three athletes who stepped up to face this rigorous, 2 day challenge!
Participating in 2 or 3 events in one meet is challenging enough for most athletes, but being competitive in 7 (for the girls) and 10 (for the boys) events all in one meet is why they call these “the worlds best athletes“.
For the girls, Jr- Kelsey Johnson again stepped up to the challenge in the Heptathlon. Unfortunately, Kelsey got sick just before the competition and probably should not have even attempted the running events. She struggled through though and of the 61 girls who entered, Kelsey finished 37th with 2692 points. She improved her PR in her Shot put and in her 200m dash time.
For the boys, Jr- Rob Russell was also making his 2nd appearance in the Decathlon.
The bad news is that Rob had suffered an ankle injury in a training accident earlier in the week and though he tried to tough it out, in the end he had to attempted the pole vault (an event he was favored to place 3rd or 4th in and score BIG points) from just a two step run and had to pull out of the 1500m run altogether.
While this was a disappointing outcome for Rob he still managed to improve his PR in the Long Jump and Shot Put and being a JR, he will have a chance to prove himself again next year!
Of the 85 entries in the Decathlon, even injured and totally missing one event, Rob managed to finish 58th.
Our NEW entry in the Decathlon was Freshman Jake Russell (no relation to Rob).
Jake proved what we already know about him and that is, he is a phenomenal athlete!
Of the 10 events included in the Decathlon, he was competing in 8 of those for the first time !
This was only Jake’s 3rd time to ever try the Pole Vault and he not only made the opening height but ended up jumping 8 feet and finished 45th in the 85 man field! He also set a PR in the long jump and in the 1500m Jake finished 5th, setting a NEW SPARKMAN RECORD for that distance!
Of the 85 entries, Jake finished 29th! With more experience under his belt, it will be a lot of fun to see how he does the next 3 years.
Another Track & Field Season has come to an end as the State Track Meet is in the books. (full results)
Our young 4x100m team turned in a clean race, difficult to do under the pressure of the State stage! They finished 22nd.
Jr- Kelsey Johnson ran a clean race as well in the 100m Hurdles but was off her PR by .20 seconds. She finished 22nd.
8th grader- Lauryn Hall ran a faster time in the 100m Dash than she qualified with at Section but was off her best time as well. She finished 16th.
9th grader- Gabrielle Griner didn’t have the day she was looking for in the Pole-vault. She cleared 9′ on her first try but couldn’t quite dial her jump in for the next height of 9-6 and finished in a tie for 12th.
Jr- Rob Russell had a much better day in the Pole-vault. He tied his School Record, PR height of 13 feet and tied just outside the points, for 9th.
Our Stars for this meet though, were Sr- Anthony Parameswaran and Jr- Kai Perkins .
Kai got off her 3rd longest throw of this year in the Discus, beating her Section qualifying throw and earning a 6th place in the STATE! This put her AND the girls team in the points!
Anthony ran two of the best races in his life, setting NEW SPARKMAN RECORDS in both the 1600m and 3200m! In the 1600m, Anthony finished just outside the points in 9th place. However in the 3200m Anthony placed 6th, putting the Sparkman boys on the Score Board!
Over all, of the 143 teams that made it to the State meet, Sparkman finished 28th in the Girls division and our Boys finished 25th.
Anthony Parameswaran
Sr- Anthony Parameswaran is our DOUBLE qualifier!
Anthony qualifies in the 1600m and the 3200m distances and is the current SHS Record Holder for both. Anthony has been a strong presence on the team since his Sophomore year and has done well this year, with over 12 trips to the medals podium(including 3 Firsts) and becoming the team’s top points scorer. He even had a 3rd in the 800m this year and just missed qualifying in that event by 2 places. Despite all of that, this will be his FIRST trip to the State Track Meet. Anthony is currently the 10th ranked 6A boy in the 3200m and 15th in the 1600m.
Rob Russell
Jr- Rob Russell is our other State representative for the BOYS, finishing in a Tie for 2nd in the Polevault. It’s hard to believe that Rob only started pole-vaulting last year. At that time he was scrambling to even make the qualifying height! This year Rob has been to the medals podium for the Polevault, 7 times(including 3 Firsts) and holds the SHS Record for this event. He is our 2nd highest, boys points scorer.
Rob has participated in 3 other events this year and has been pre-paring himself to once again participate in the State Decathlon.
Kai Perkins
Jr- Kai Perkins qualified for State with a medal winning 3rd place in the Discus.
Kai started throwing Discus as an 8th grader, placing as high as 7th in a Varsity meet that year. Since then she has been a consistent source of points for our Senator Girls, finishing in the points all but twice! This year she has been on the medals podium 6 out of 7 times and 3 of those were for Firsts! Kai has also competes in the Shot Put and has thrown the Javelin.
This will be Kai’s first trip to State Competition. She is currently the 4th ranked 6A Girl and 10th ranked Girl overall in the State for the Discus.
Kelsey Johnson
Jr- Kelsey Johnson made it to the State Meet the hard way, by earning a “wild card” in the 100m Hurdles. Kelsey ran a NEW SHS RECORD time in that event at Sectionals but finished 6th.
There doesn’t seem to be an event that Kelsey can’t do if she puts her mind to it! Last year as a Sophomore she entered the State Heptathlon(7 events in just 2 days!) and showed very well.
Kelsey is the owner of FIVE current SPARKMAN SCHOOL RECORDS, 2 of them set just this season! She started running the 100m Hurdles last year and the 14 finals she has run since then … she finished in the points all but 2 times! She was also the SHS Girl’s TOP POINTS SCORER heading into sectionals.
This will be Kelsey’s second trip to the State Track Meet in the 100m Hurdles.
Gabrielle Griner
9th grader Gabrielle Griner, struggled a bit for the first time all year in the Polevault, but still managed to finish 4th and earn her qualifying spot to the State Meet.
Gabrielle has been Polevaulting for Sparkman since she was in the 7th grade. In that time she has been in 21 – Outdoor Season, Varsity meets and has finished in points scoring position for all but 2 of those – both of which were State Track Meets. One of those State Meet trips, (last year) she finished 9th! This last season she has really come into her own, going to the medals podium in every meet she entered except the Section Meet, scoring 5 second place, 1 third and her FIRST Varsity win!
Gabrielle is the current Sparkman Record holder in the Girl’s Polevault. This will be her third trip to the State Track Meet. She is currently the 10th ranked 6A Girl and 15th ranked Girl over all in the State.
Lauryn Hall
8th grader Lauryn Hall is the surprise qualifier for this year. In just her 4th ever time to compete in the 100m dash, she finished 5th – earning her way to the State Track Meet!
Being that she is so new to the team we don’t have much to tell you about her. Her time of 12.57 seconds in the finals was only 3 tenths of a second out of the medal position. She also just narrowly missed qualifying for State in the 200m, finishing 6th in the finals.
Lauryn will is also one of the members of our State Qualifying 4x100m team!
Girls 4x100m Team
Our Girls 4x100m has really done well for themselves.
Though new on the scene, they are turning out times very close to the school record for this event!
As they gain experience with starts and hand-offs, they just might break the school record at State!
(8th) Lauryn Hall – Our 100m, State Qualifier!
(8th)Milan Hunt – This is also Milan’s first year to run track and her 2nd Varsity meet.At this year’s N.A. JV Championship she took 10th in the 100m and 16th in the 200m.
(9th)Aubrey Parker – Aubry ran track for Sparkman last year. As an 8th grader she placed 2nd in the 200m dash at the North Alabama JV Championships and this year placed 4th. This Section meet was her 2nd Varsity competition of the season.
(8th)Alessea Rice – Another of our JV girls that has stepped into the limelight. Alessea placed 5th in both the 100m and 200m at this years North Alabama JV Championships. This Section meet was her 2nd Varsity competition of the season.
The last meet of the 2014 season is over and we had some great results.
(RESULTS)
Over all, Sparkman had 7 NEW SPARKMAN RECORDS! We had 6 individuals and 3 relay teams finish in the points, 3 individuals making it onto the medal podium, 12 NEW PR’s set and 4 individuals and a relay team QUALIFYING FOR THE STATE MEET!
“WILDCARD” UPDATE!!!
11th grader- Kelsey Johnson gets a “Wild Card” bid and is going to State in the 100m Hurdles !!!
12th grader – Anthony Parameswaran placed 5th in the 1600m (a NEW SPARKMAN RECORD) and 2nd in the 3200m.
11th grader – Rob Russell tied for 2nd in the Boys Polevault with a jump of 12′
11th grader– Kai Perkins placed 3rd in the Girls Discus with a throw of 92′-11″
9th grader– Gabrielle Griner placed 4th in the Girls Polevault with a Jump of 9′.
8th grader– Lauryn Hall placed 5th in the Girls 100m dash with a time of 12.67 sec.
Girls 4x100m Relay Team
placed 5th with a 51.23
(8th)Lauryn Hall, (8th)Milan Hunt, (9th)Aubrey Parker, (8th)Alessea Rice
11th grader – Kelsey Johnson. Kelsey ran a 16.93 in the 100m Hurdles Final. Kelsey finished 6th just missing out on a State bid.
12th grader – Devin Edwards ran a 52.23 in the 400m Final, placing 11th.
11th grader – William Otey set a mark of 39′-8.75″ in the Triple Jump placing 15th.
Boys 4x400m Relay Team
3:36.21
(12th)Devin Edwards, (10th)Javaris Hart, (9th)Milan Wall,(9th)Jake Russell
Boys 4x800m Relay Team
8:55.40
(9th)Jake Russell, (7th)Elijah Vargas, (10th)Bailey Herfurth,(12th)Anthony Parameswaran
Girls 4x400m Relay Team
4:35.59
(10th)Tamera Austin, (10th)Bobbie Hargis, (12th)Sharnell Walker, (10th)Kaitlyn Williams
• 8th- Lauryn Hall – 6th, Girls 200m (PR)
• Sr- Anthony Parameswaran – 8th, Boys 800m
We also had 12 other Senators score NEW P.R.s in this meet!
Girls –
• Kelsey Johnson – (16th) 300m/(23rd)Long Jump
• Alessea Rice – (34th) 200m dash
• Kaitlyn Williams – (20th) 400m dash
• Tiyanna Saunders – (11th) Discus
• Sharnell Walker – (37th) 400m
Boys-
• Chase Parker – (28thP) 100m dash
• Kez Johnson – (29th) Long Jump
• Javaris Hart – (22nd) 400m dash
• Milan Wall – (31st) 400m dash
• Devin Edwards – (11th) 400m dash
• Jake Russell – (11th) 1600m
• Bailey Herfurth – (11th) 800m/(10th)3200m
It’s been a great season! Hopefully our State Qualifiers can all set new marks in their events. We look forward to building on this years achievements and doing even better next year!
We have once again reached the point in the season where we find out if all of the hours of training and effort have paid off.
For 6 Senators, their seeding says that if they can hold up under the pressure and repeat their PR, if luck doesn’t suddenly turn against them and if their competitors don’t suddenly have a breakthrough meet … they should earn a place in the State Track Meet.
One of the beautiful things about this sport though, is that ANY athlete could suddenly find it within themselves to drop those extra seconds, to jump a foot farther, to put it ALL into a throw that goes 3 feet farther then they have ever thrown before. For many athletes, it can all suddenly “come together” in one meet and they will move up to the next level.
This weekend could be that meet!
For the Girls –
Jr- Kai Perkins is seeded 2nd in the Discus having bettered her PR this year to 105′-3″. Kai, who has been throwing the Discus since 2011, qualified for State in this event last year and turning in a solid performance this weekend should earn her a trip back.
Jr- Kelsey Johnson is a threat to qualify for State in TWO events but it won’t be an easy task.
In the 100m Hurdles, Kelsey is seeded 5th, the last qualifying spot. Her PR is only .05 seconds ahead of the 6th seeded girl, however Kelsey is only .17 seconds behind 4th. So the difference of one step could assure her a spot or see her miss out!
In the Triple Jump Kelsey is seeded 8th, 2 spots outside qualifying. However, if she can add just 8″ to her PR she could find herself earning a spot to State!
Gabrielle Griner may be just a Freshman, but she is tied as the best Freshman in the state and has two previous years of experience at the State Track meet! With a PR earlier this season of 10′, she is seeded 2nd in the Girls Pole Vault. She can’t afford any bad luck though as the competition is hot on her heals and anything less than her best could put her in a bad spot.
Then there are the new girls.
8th grader Lauryn Hall has suddenly sprinted onto the 100m dash scene in a BIG way! Her PR performance last weekend has her seeded in the 4th qualifying spot.
The 100m is an amazingly tight race though, just a half second is between the first and 8th place seeded girls in this race. If you don’t anticipate the starting gun correctly or even if you breath wrong in the 12.5 seconds that it takes to run this race … you could be out of a qualifying spot! Lauryn is fast but will lack of experience prove a factor?
Freshman Katelyn Ellif has just taken up the Javelin this season but her PR throw of 86-7 has her seeded just 2 inches behind the 5th place qualifier. If any of the girls ahead of her falter or if she rises to the occasion, Katelyn could earn herself her first trip to State!
For the Boys –
Sr- Anthony Parameswaran has been a force to be reckoned with in the distance runs this year but he may have to step up his game to assure himself a trip to State.
In the 3200m he is seeded fairly comfortably in 4th. In the 1600m he is also seeded 4th but the 5th seeded runner is less than a second behind him and the 6th seeded runner is just 4 seconds behind that. Anthony should qualify in these races but he can’t have bad race.
In the 800m Anthony is currently seeded outside of qualifying, in the 7th position. However, he is less than 1.5 seconds behind the 5th seed! If he can dig deep and find that extra second and a half he could be a triple event qualifier!
Jr- Rob Russell has really asserted himself on the Pole Vaulting scene. Rob only took up this event last year, finishing that season with a PR of 10-6 and failing to qualify for State. THIS year, Rob has set the SHS record in this event at 13 feet and is the TOP SEED in our district! Rob shows a lot of confidence with his vault which is good, as our district is crowded with PoleVault talent. The top 8 seeds ALL have jumps of 12′ or better. To qualify for State from our District, a vaulter will almost certainly have to clear 12-6 and do that with no misses.
Rob looks good for a qualifying spot but he will have to be spot on!
Other outside possibilities include 10th grader, Bailey Herfurth.
Bailey’s PR in the 1600m is just .3 seconds outside the 8th seeded runner and only 6 seconds outside of the 5th qualifying spot! Improving your PR by 6 seconds in one meet is quite a challenge but Bailey did that in his last meet! Can he do it again?
9th grader Jake Russell might also rise to the occasion.
Jake’s PR in the 800m run is less then one second behind his team mate Anthony!
If he could shave off that 2.5 seconds it could be Jake that finds himself with an invitation to the big show!
Apart from the ultimate prize of getting pass to the State Meet, this is a regular Track Meet and ALL of our Senator Varsity Track and Field athletes will be competing for points, medals and P.Rs. The action is at James Clemens HS and begins this Friday at 9am and then picks up again Saturday morning at 8am!