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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

BIRMINGHAM – The Chelsea Hornets made history on Saturday, Feb. 1 as the girls indoor track and field team found itself atop Class 6A with a map trophy colored in Chelsea blue.

Chelsea won the 6A girls indoor track and field state championship at the Birmingham CrossPlex, prevailing in a high-profile battle with Mountain Brook to claim the team title.

The Hornets secured 86 points on the day, topping the Spartans’ total of 76 points to take first place. In addition, three county teams came in the top seven as the Briarwood Christian Lions earned fifth place with 38.5 points and the Pelham Panthers took seventh place with 25.25 points.

In addition, multiple athletes from Briarwood, Calera, Chelsea, Helena, Pelham and Spain Park finished in the top eight to secure All-State honors.

Chelsea’s Ty Cason and Mia Dunavant went one-two in two separate events as they helped fuel the Hornets’ team title.

In the girls 400-meter run, the pair came in a near photo finish. Cason took first place with a time of 57.37 seconds and Dunavant earned second with a time of 57.41 seconds.

As for the girls 800-meter run, Cason won with a time of 2:13.52 while Dunavant was four seconds behind her with a season-best time of 2:17.51.

Cason’s state titles were the third and fourth of her track and field career after she won the indoor 1,600-meter run and outdoor 800-meter run in Class 7A in 2024.

In the same 800-meter race, Pelham’s Emily Wester came in third with a personal record of 2:18.55 and Janelle Ramos earned eighth with a personal-record time of 2:24.89.

All three of Chelsea’s girls relay teams came in the top three of their races while the girls 4×200-meter relay team secured another state title.

The team of Kamryn Hudson, Dunavant, Addison Foster and Tamarah Rice set a team record with their first-place time of 1:44.72.

The Hornets came in second in the 4×400-meter relay with a time of 4:04.87, a team record for Dunavant, Foster, Kennedi Simpson and Rice. Brylee Bryant, Evie Scroggins, Edwards and Hannah Quick also set a record with their third-place finish of 9:56.30 in the 4×800-meter relay.

Briarwood’s Mary Grace Parker won the first state title of her track and field career in the girls 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:08.21.

She led another all-county podium as Cason came in second with a time of 5:11.49 just mere milliseconds ahead of Wester, who secured a personal-record time of 5:11.78 to take third.

In addition, Ramos took eighth with a time of 5:29.31 and the Lions’ Allie Hale was just behind her in ninth with a time of 5:29.57.

Parker came in second in the girls 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:17.56. Chelsea’s Juliette Edwards earned fourth with a personal-record time of 11:33.91 and Hale took ninth with a time of 12:10.40.

Spain Park’s Isaac Battles came in third in the boys 400-meter run with a personal-record time of 50.24 seconds. Calera’s Elijah McKoy also earned All-State honors with a sixth-place time of 50.53 seconds.

Pelham’s Emma Grace Howard earned fourth place and Briarwood’s Emma Kerley took fifth place in the girls high jump after they earned marks of 5-00.00, or 1.52 meters, along with three other athletes. Pelham’s Sofia Ballesteros came in eighth after clearing a mark of 4-08.00, or 1.42 meters, alongside four other competitors.

Rice came in fourth in the girls long jump with a mark of 16-10.50, or 5.14 meters. Briarwood had two more top-eight finishes thanks to personal records from Doss and Kerley. Doss came in fifth with a mark of 16-08.00, or 5.08 meters, and Kerley earned seventh with a mark of 16-03.75, or 4.97 meters.

Rice also took fourth in the girls triple jump with a personal-record mark of 36-04.00, or 11.07 meters. Doss came in fifth with her own personal record of 35-11.75, or 10.97 meters, Kerley earned sixth with a mark of 35-10.25, or 10.93 meters, and Howard took ninth with a personal record mark of 35-02.00, or 10.72 meters.

Chelsea’s Hudson Williams finished in fourth place in the boys 3,200-meter run with a personal-record time of 9.44.50, and Briarwood’s Whit Thornton came in eighth place with his own personal record of 9:53.19.

Chelsea’s Jacob Adeema secured fourth place in the boys high jump after joining two other athletes in clearing a mark of 6-00.00, or 1.83 meters.

Helena’s Michael Sestili earned fourth in the boys pole vault after clearing a mark of 13-06.00, or 4.11 meters. Graydon Moran took sixth place with a mark of 12-06.00 and Chelsea’s Wyatt Irvin finished in 10th place with a mark of 12-00.00

Helena’s Abigail Parsons earned fifth place in the girls high jump after clearing a mark of 9-06.00, or 2.90 meters, along with two other athletes.

Chelsea’s Addison Foster came in sixth in the girls 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.65 seconds.

Pelham’s Anthony Sanders finished in sixth place in the boys 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.56 seconds.

Spain Park took sixth place in the boys 4×800-meter relay with a time of 8:35.39, Chelsea’s Carson Campbell, Anden Peek, Luke Dollar and Jeremiah Kirkes finished in ninth with a time of 8:41.77 with a team record and Pelham’s Kaleb Jones, Robert Lewis, Mycah McWaters and Cole Hollingsworth got a team record in 10th place with a time of 8:47.75.

Spain Park’s Jame Thompson came in seventh place in the boys long jump with a mark of 20-07.75, or 6.29 meters, and Chelsea’s Niles Cummings finished in eighth place with a mark of 20-05.75, or 6.24 meters.

Cummings also came in seventh place in the boys triple jump with a personal-record mark of 43-09.00, or 13.34 meters.

Pelham’s Kennedy Taylor finished in eighth in the girls shot put with a personal-record mark of 33-08.25, or 10.27 meters, to earn All-State honors.

McKoy took ninth place in the boys 800-meter run with a time of 2:00.72.

Spain Park’s Jovan Taylor secured ninth place in the boys shot put with a mark of 44-04.00, or 13.51 meters.

Chelsea’s boys 4×400-meter relay team came in 10th place with a time of 3:39.68, a team record for Ryker Mattes, Torrey Rice, Conner Campbell and Hudson Williams.