CULLMAN – After the first day of the Alabama High School Athletic Association Track & Field Meet at Oliver Woodard Stadium, two local schools find themselves in contention for a state championship with plenty of running and field events left to finish on Saturday.
The St. Bernard Lady Saints were ahead of Whitesburg Baptist after six events with 36.5 points in the 1A division to 33 for the school from Huntsville.
St. Bernard had a productive first day, scoring 49 points. The Saints trail Marion County through seven events by seven points. The Red Raiders created some breathing room and have 56 points going into Saturday's finale.
Cold Springs is second in Class 2A with 24 points, while Lafayette jumped to the lead with 33 points through four events.
Helping the St. Bernard Lady Saints get to the top of the 1A leaderboard was Leah Mami with a winning time of 5:17.97 in the 1,600-meter run.
Teresa Gamble and Anna Faulk earned third place finishes in the high jump and pole vault that got the Lady Saints 11 points to go with Mami's 10 from the 1,600-meter.
St. Bernard also had points scored for fourth and fifth place finishes in other running and field events.
The Saints' Dominic Paulter set a 1A event record in the pole vault with a jump of 13-feet. Paulter then took home second in the triple jump with a distance of 41-feet and three-quarter inches.
St. Bernard's 4 X 800-relay team of Casey Guthrey, Marshall Rosenhoover, Marco Tona and William Sciaroni crossed the finish line first with a time of 8:40.53.
C.J. Lang and Jared Stanley gave Cold Springs first and second in the 1,600-meter with times of 4:43.33 and 4:44.52. That lifted the Eagles in getting points when needed after Lafayette jumped out to a fast start, especially in the speed events.
A pair of Holly Pond Broncos had second place finishes in field events Friday in Class 3A. Melissa Clingman was runner-up in shot put at 32-feet, 9 and a half inches while Matt Cahoon completed a throw in the javelin for a distance of 173-feet to claim second in his class.
The meet resumes Saturday at 8 a.m. with field events while the running competition will get back active at 9 a.m. The championships in each classification will come to a close around 3 p.m.
This is the second consecutive year the AHSAA has held the smaller classifications on the Cullman High School campus. One more year is left in the current contract.
