50th Indoor Track State Meet A Success For Both Bob Jones And James Clemens Athletes
BIRMINGAHM- The Alabama High School Athletic Association’s (AHSAA) 50th renewal of the Indoor Track and Field State Championships featured superb individual performances by both City of Madison high school programs as both Bob Jones & James Clemens had athletes take titles. In addition, Liberty Middle School had two of its team members exhibit elite performances each with state record implications.
Jayden Gilbert of Bob Jones tied the Class 7A indoor state meet record in the high jump with a winning leap of 5-feet, 6-inches. Gilbert tied the mark set just two years ago.
James Clemens had two individual state winners. Cadence Huntsinger posted a gold medal distance of 37-feet, 7.5-inches in the girl’s triple jump and Edgerin Watson grabbed gold by posting a mark of 42-01.5 in the boy’s shot put.
Two additional medals were captured by the two Madison high schools. Current Pentathlon state champion John Murray of Bob Jones won a bronze medal with a third place finish in the boys high jump (6-04) and James Clemens sensation Shataeya Ligon took third in the girls long jump (17-09.75). Murray also placed fourth in the 60-meter hurdles and seventh in the long jump.
For Ligon, it was a bitter sweet return to the medal podium after a year absence due to a season-ending ACL injury a year ago.
Team results in Class 7A had Hoover win both the girls and boys state titles. In boys, Hoover was tops with 114.5 points while Bob Jones 13th (16.50) and James Clemens 17th (4). Hoover’s 102 points led the girls while James Clemens was fifth (37), Bob Jones 13th (15) and Sparkman 17th (9).
Dylan Dryer of Liberty set a new eighth grade state record and personal best time of 4:45.86 in the 1600-meter. Dryer also set a new personal record in the 800-meter with a time of 2:10.46 and teammate John Luke Stovall set a personal best with his time of 2:08.39. Both athletes are regarded as some of the James Clemens programs’ up and coming stars and participated in the varsity level competition by way of the James Clemens team, led by head coach Drew Bell.
The 50th annual indoor state meet was at Birmingham’s CrossPlex.
