The State Track meet is over and while we have a list of results, that list doesn’t really tell the story of the dramas that unfolded.

Fresh. Lauryn Hall was our top finisher and points scorer, bringing home the BRONZE MEDAL for Sparkman in the 200m dash! She did so in the NEW PR time of 25.48 sec.

In the Boys Pole vault, Sr. Rob Russell finish in the points with a tie for 5th. He also tied his SHS record for the event with a jump of 14 feet!

Our Boys 4x800m team  (Soph. Jake​ R​ussell; Jr. Bailey Herfurth; 8th Shafi Muhammad ; Jr. Seth Graham) also scored points with their 8th place finish!

Soph. Gabrielle Griner tied for 10th in the Pole Vault with a height of 9’6″

Sr. Kelsey Joh​nson finished 10th in the 100H and 12th in the 300H finals – both in new PR times!

8th grader Charles Lewis finished 12th in the 200m, just 1/2 a second behind the school record.

Sr. Kai Perkins recovering from a back injury suffered just before the Section Meet, finished 13th in the discus with a throw of 95′

In the 800m – Soph. Jake​ R​ussell finished 13th and Jr. Bailey Herfurth finished 18th – both in new PR times!

Alessea Rice finished 16th in the 100m with a new PR time of 12.98.

Our Boys 4x400m team( (8th)Charles Lewis, (Sr) William Otey,  (10th) Chase Parker, (9th) Xavier Long) were really fast but finished 18th due to an early exchange issue.

Our Girls 4x100m team ( Fr. Lauryn Hall , Soph. Aubrey Parker , Fresh. Alessea Rice, Fresh. Chandler Robinson) finished 4th in the prelims (49:18 Season best) but had a violent mishap in the finals. Fresh. Chandler Robinson was tripped up by another competitor, fell and broke her wrist, yet STILL she finished her leg of the race! In the frustration that resulted though, our young team was DQ’d.

As you can see, a lot of stories here but  all in all one of Sparkman’s best, team showings since 2009 !

State Track & Field, Section Qualifying is over and our SHS Senators had a great meet!
We set 2 NEW SCHOOL RECORDS and came within .01 seconds of two others.
We had 2 relay teams make it to the medals podium and 6 individual medalists including THREE SECTION CHAMPIONS!
… and we had 4 RELAY TEAMS and 10 SPARKMAN SENATORS QUALIFY FOR the STATE MEET!

Here are you 2015 State Qualifiers –
– Girls 4x100m  Team – with a 2nd PLACE finish!
– Boys 4x100m Team – 5th place finish, just 1/100th behind the school record!
– Boys 4x400m – also finishing 5th, .15 of a second behind the School Record.
– Boys 4x800m Team – finishing 2nd and in a NEW SCHOOL RECORD time!

– New Section CHAMPION, Sr. Kia Perkins, with a throw of 103′ 2″ in the Girls Discus.
– New Section CHAMPION, Sr. Rob Russell, with a SCHOOL RECORD jump of 14′ in the Boys Polevault. This is also now the new TRACK RECORD at the James Clemens Facility!
– New Section Champion, Fr. Lauryn Hall, with a 25.86 in the Girls 200m Dash.
– Girls 100m Dash – Fr. Lauryn Hall, 2ND PLACE
– Girls Pole Vault – Soph. Gabrielle Griner, 2ND PLACE
– Boys 200m – 8th Charles Lewis, 3RD PLACE
– Boys 800m – Jr. Bailey Herfurth, 3RD PLACE
– Girls 100 Hurdles – Sr. Kelsey Johnson, 4th place
– Girls 100m – Fr. Alessea Rice, 4th place
– Boys 800m – Soph. Jake Russell, 4th place
– Girls Javeline – Soph. Katelyn Elliff, 5th

Making it on wildcard entries …
– Girls Long Jump – Fr. Lauryn Hall, 6th
– Girls 300 Hurdles – Sr. Kelsey Johnson, 6th

Competition at State begins this Thursday at n00n.
Great Going Senators!
Good luck at State!!!

It was the LAST meet of the regular season and our Sparkman athletes took advantage of the weather and had a good “warm-up” for next week’s, 2 day, State Qualifying meet.

We had 3 NEW SPARKMAN RECORDS set!
– Sr. Kelsey Joh​nson set a new Record in the girls 100m Hurdles (16.51)
– Soph.  Gabrielle Griner set a NEW Record in the Girls Pole Vault with a height of 10′ 6″
– 8th Grader, Charles Lewis actually set the NEW SHS record in the 400m at last Thursday’s JV Championship! In this meet, he came within .07 seconds of breaking it AGAIN!
… and we want to give a shout out to Fr. Lauryn Hall  who came within .12 seconds of breaking the SHS record in the 200m dash!

Congratulations to our medal winners –
– Sr. Kelsey Joh​nson took 2nd in the 100m Hurdles (SR)
– Soph. Gabrielle Griner took 2nd in the Girls Pole Vault (SR)
– Fr. Lauryn Hall finished 3rd in both the 100m and 200m dash(.12 seconds away from the SR)
– Sr. Rob Russell took 2nd in the Boys Pole Vault
– 8th grader, Charles Lewis finished 3rd in the 400m with a new PR time.
– Sr. William Otey took 3rd in the Long Jump
– 3rd place for the Boys 4x100m relay team of  (8th)Charles Lewis, (Sr)​William Otey,  (10th) Ch​ase Parker, (9th) Xavier Long

Also scoring points for Sparkman were –
– Sr. Kelsey Joh​nson, 5th in the 300m Hurdles (PR) and 7th in the Triple Jump
– Girls 4x100m relay team, 4th place –  (9th) Lauryn Hall, (10th) Aubrey Parker, (9th) Alessea Rice,  (9th) Chandler Robinson
– Soph. Chase Parker, 8th in the Boys 100m
– Jr. Bailey Herfurth, 6th in the Boys 800m

The 2015 JV Track Championships are in the books and two of our Senators can now claim the title of North Alabama, JV Track Champions ! (RESULTS here)

– 9th Grader  Lauryn Hall won GOLD in both the 100m dash AND the Long Jump.
– 8th grader  Charles Lewis took GOLD in the 400m Dash

Also reaching the medals podium were;
– Our 3rd place, Girls 4x100m Relay team of (9th) Lauryn Hall, (9th) Milan Hu​nt, (9th)Alessea Rice, (9th) Chandler Robinson
– 8th grader Mathew Compton took 2nd in the Boys Pole Vault
– 8th grader Shafi Muhammad took 3rd in the Boys 400m Dash
– 9th grader Justin Walker took 3rd in the Boys 110m Hurdles
– Our 3rd place, Boys 4x100m Relay Team of (8th) Charl​es Lew​is, (9th)Xavier Long,​ (8th) Han​if Muhamm​ad,  (7th) Khalil Gr​iffin,

Also scoring points for Sparkman were –
– (9th) Chandler Robinson, 5th in the Girls 200m Dash
– (7th) Samantha Griner, 5th in the Girls Polevault
– (7th) Khalil Griffin, 4th in the 400m Dash
– (8th) Shafi Muhammad, 4th in the 800m
– (7th) Jon Keiser, 5th in the Discus Throw

So how do our JV athletes match up with their peers? I’m glad you ask.

– In the 100m dash, Fresh Lauryn Hall is the Top ranked 7A Freshman & 2nd ranked over-all Freshman in the State. She is ranked 10th OVER ALL in the State in that event! In the 200m,  Lauryn is the Top ranked 7A Freshman Girl  and OVER-ALL 8th ranked 7A Girl in the State.  In the LONG JUMP, Lauryn is tied for 8th in 9th grade 7A.
– Chandler Robinson is the 5th Ranked 7A Fresh in the 200m dash and 15th ranked 7A Fr in the state.
– Samantha Griner is the TOP ranked 7th grade girl in 7A Pole Vault and tied as 2nd ranked 7th grade girl Over-All in the State.
– Our JV girls 4x100m Relay team is 3rd ranked in the State

–Charl​es Lew​is is the 2nd Ranked Middle Schooler in the State 400m and TOP ranked 8th grader.
–Shafi Muhammad is the 10th ranked 8th grader in State 400m, 3rd ranked in 7A. He is also 8th ranked 8th grader in state 800m and top in 7A in that event.
– Khalil Griffin is the TOP ranked 7th grader in the State 400m run.
– Justin Walker is the 13th ranked 9th grader in 7A in the 110m Hurdles.
– Mathew Compton is tied for 3rd ranked, 7th grade vaulter in the State & is the TOP ranked 7A, 7th grader.
– Jon Keiser is the 9th ranked 7th grader in State Discus & 2nd rank 7th grader in 7A. In the Pole Vault, Jon is tied for 2nd ranked 7A 7th grader and is tied as 8th ranked 7th grader in the State!
– our JV Boys 4x100m Relay Team is 3rd ranked in 7A.

Congratulations to all our hard working JV Track & Field Athletes!

FINALLY!!! Great weather for a track meet … and our Sparkman Athletes took advantage of it!  (RESULTS here)

We had 4 Gold medals won by 3 athletes!
A total of 15 medals were won by 10 individual athletes and the Girls 100m relay team.

Congratulations to our medal winners!

• Soph. Gabrielle Griner – 1st, Girls Polevault (her 4th WIN this season)
  
• Sr. Kelsey Joh​nson – 2nd in the 100m Hurdles, 3rd in the Triple Jump
• Fr. Lauryn Hall  – 2nd, 100m
  
• Sr. Kai Perkins  – 3rd in the Discus
• Jr.-Bailey Herfurth – 1st, Boys 800m – 1st, Boys 1600m
• Soph. Daryl Bo​wden – 1st, Boys Long Jump, 2nd in the Triple Jump
• Jr. Seth Graham– 2nd in the 1600m, 2nd in the 800m
• Sr. Rob Russell – 3rd, Boys Pole Vault
• Sr. William Otey – 3rd Boys Long Jump
• 8th grader Charles Lewis – 2nd in the 200m
• Girls 4x100m Relay – 2nd, 1) Fr. Lauryn Hall  2) Soph. Aubrey Parker 3) Fresh. Alessea Rice 4) Fresh. Chandler Robinson
  

     NEW Sparkman Records !

• Sr. Kelsey Joh​nson  – ran the 100m Hurdles in 16.64sec. putting her in Milesplit’s “State Elite” standard.
• Fr. Lauryn Hall  – ran the 100m Dash in 12.24sec. This is the 10th fastest time in the STATE this year and puts her in Milesplit’s “National Silver Elite” standings.

We had 13 other Senators finish in the points –
Fr. Lauryn Hall– 4th in the 200m
Sr. Kelsey Joh​nson – 7th in the 800m, 4th in 300m Hurdles & 4th in Triple Jump
Fresh. Tamera Austin – 8th, 300m Hurdles
Soph. Katelyn Elliff – 7th in the Javelin
8th, Charles Lewis – got 5th in the 400m dash
Jr.Bailey Herfurth– 4th in the 3200m
Soph. Daryl Bo​wden – 8th, High Jump
Sr. William Otey – 4th, Boys Long Jump
Mens 4x100m relay team – 6th

Beautiful weather greeted the seven SHS athletes who were entered in our season’s opening “Redcoat Invitational” at Bob Jones High School.
(Results Here)

Those that were in attendance turned in good performances, to include 5 medals, 3 PR’s and a new Sparkman Record!

Congratulations to our medal winners!

• Sr. Kelsey Joh​nson  – 1st, Girls Triple Jump
• Sr. Kai Perkins  – 1st, Girls Discus Throw
• Sr. Kelsey Joh​nson – 3rd, Girls 100 Hurdles
• Sr. Kelsey Joh​nson  – 3rd, Girls 300 Hurdles
•  Jr. Seth Graham – 3rd, Mens 800m

     A NEW Sparkman Record !

• Sr. Kelsey Johnson upped her record in the Girl’s Triple Jump with a mark of 32′- 6.25″

We also had 2 Senators score NEW P.R.s in this meet!
Girls –

• Sr. Kai Perkins  – Javelin Throw

Boys-

• Jr. Seth Graham – 800m AND the 3200m

Noticably missing was our Girls, State Qualifing 100m dash star Lauryn Hall whose slowest recorded time for that event would have won her first here – and our Top ranked pole vaulters who could not compete because Bob Jones failed to ready their pole vault pit in time for this meet. Rob and Gabrielle were seeded 1st in their divisions and could have brought another 10 points to their respective teams.

Up coming Practice –

Next week is finals week. Due to students’ preparing for  tests; and in light of the scheduled half-days, we will practice on MONDAY ONLY(12/15/2014)!

A workout plan for runners to use as a guide. Wherever your holiday travels take you, it is imperative that each student-athlete gets his/her workouts in over the holiday break,

Friday afternoon, Jan. 2^nd 3:30pm – 4:30pm there will be a light workout going into the meet on Saturday.

MEETS

**All meets are at the Birmingham Crossplex, 2331 Bessemer Rd, Birmingham, AL 35208 (Hoover)

**Parking is $3 and every car is charged. Entry to the Crossplex is free to athletes but $8 for others.

**Give yourself PLENTY of time to get there – traffic on I-65 is unpredictable and other events will be going on at the Crossplex so traffic can be heavy.

**¼ inch pyramid spikes only—athletes must go through a spike check before competing.  A set of ¼” spikes will be available for purchase for $5 per pair of shoes at the spike check-in area.

**Only athletes/coaches are allowed in the warm-up area.