State Track and Field: Crane sweeps distance events

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, May 9, 2006

Oak Mountain&8217;s Taylor Crane won both the boys&8217; 1600-meter and 3200-meter runs this past weekend at the Class 6A state track and field championships at Heardmont Park.

Crane won the 1600-meter on Friday with a time of 4:16.08 and the 3200-meter run with a time of 9:19.80.

&8220;I ran by far the best race I have all season,&8221; Crane said after the 1600. &8220;I felt really good.&8221;

Crane got a little help from teammate Ross Laporte in the race. Laporte, who also qualified in the 800-meter dash, paced Crane until the final 600 meters when he allowed his teammate to race ahead for a state title.

&8220;The field we ran in was full of good kickers,&8221; Crane said. &8220;The pace had been slow in the past few races so we decided to pick it up.&8221;

Crane was able to hold off Mountain Brook&8217;s Nicholas Lepley by 0.76 seconds to win the 1600 and finished

nearly 12 seconds ahead of Hoover&8217;s Jeremy Moujoodi (9:31.61).

Crane and Laporte also competed together in the boys&8217; 4×800 meter relay. The Oak Mountain squad finished fourth in the event