By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

PELHAM – The 2016 Shelby County Championships took place at Pelham High School on April 18 and saw 11 different schools from Shelby County compete. The only AHSAA schools in the county that did not take part in the meet were Spain Park and Indian Springs, as the other 11 schools all sent athletes who scored points. The Pelham girls and the Thompson boys were the big winners at the meet, each team winning their respective meets by more than 65 points.

Emmanuel Tait won the 100-meter dash for Thompson, tying the meet record, and also won the 300-meter hurdles, setting the meet record in that event. Tait now holds the meet record in the 110-meter hurdles, the 300-meter hurdles and the 100-meter dash. Andrew Jetzel won the 800-meter run, Brandon Lee, Christian Anderton and Jacob Wyatt finished one, two and three in the 3200-meter run, Craig Clark won the 110-meter hurdles and placed second in the 300-meter hurdles, the Thompson 4×400-meter team set a meet record, Ryan Colley and Freddie McSherdon finished one and two in the pole vault, Nick Mobley won the shot put and Victor Turek set a meet record in the discus to round out the top finishers for Thompson, which scored 219 points.

Helena placed second in the boys meet with 138 points. Justin Stuckey won the high jump for the Huskies, while Curtis Woods placed second in the high jump and won triple jump as well. Kourtney Moore placed second in the triple jump and Cade Pugh placed second in the shot put and second in the 200-meter dash also for Helena.

Donovan Ross won the 200-meter dash and Dorian Austin won the 400-meter dash to lead Pelham, Sean Drummond won the 1,600-meter dash for Oak Mountain, Kyle Harrell won the long jump for Calera and Ashton Dominque won the javelin throw for Briarwood to round out the boys’ event winners. James Berryhill placed second in the 110-meter hurdles to lead Chelsea, Joseph Cordoza placed second in the long jump to lead Montevallo, Deon Carter placed second in the 400-meter dash to lead Shelby County, Wiley Boone placed third in the long jump for the Westminster School at Oak Mountain and Elixie Lovely placed fifth in the triple jump and was the only athlete from Vincent to score points.

The Pelham girls won the girls’ varsity meet by 66 points, beating second-place Thompson 217 to 151. Erin Hines won the 200-meter dash, the 100-meter hurdles and the long jump, and placed second in the javelin throw to finish with a meet-best 38 points. Mary Grace Strozier won the 1,600-meter run and the 800-meter run while her younger sister Katie Strozier won the 400-meter dash and placed second in the 800-meter run as well. Allison Jordan won the 300-meter hurdles, Emily Shaw set a meet record in the high jump, Alex Ladewig set a meet record in both the pole vault and the triple jump while Emorie Long also set a meet record in the javelin throw to lead the Lady Panthers.

Sarah Owen and Alandria McCurdy led Thompson’s second-place effort. McCurdy finished first in the 100-meter dash and second in the 200-meter dash while Owen finished first in the shot put and second in the discus. Lauryn Dancy also finished second in the 400-meter dash and the Thompson girls’ 4×100-meter relay team set the meet record as well to lead the Lady Warriors.

Kirsen Gardner won the discus and placed second in the shot put for Helena while Quiana Moore placed second in the 100-meter dash and Claire Vaughn placed second in the 1,600-meter run. Maddie Hoaglund won the 3,200-meter run for Westminster, Courtney Ivey placed third in the 100-meter dash and sixth in the 100-meter hurdles for Chelsea, Marjorie Head placed third in the 1,600-meter run and second in the 3,200-meter run for Shelby County, the Oak Mountain 4×400-meter relay and 4×800-meter relay placed first and second, respectively, Leigh Ann Mathews placed fifth in the 100-meter dash for Briarwood, Olivia Marling placed fourth in the long jump for Calera an Zsaria Dukes placed sixth in the shot put to lead Montevallo.