By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – Eleven county high schools competed and scored points in the Shelby County Championships at Heardmont Park on March 26. Pelham won the girls’ varsity meet while Thompson took home first place in the boys’ varsity meet.

The Lady Panthers had a number of athletes place first in their respective events. Among them were Erin Hines, who won the 200-meter dash, the 400-meter dash and the long jump, Jordan Allison, who won the 800-meter run and the 300-meter hurdles, Mary Grace Strozier, who won the 3,200-meter run, Amelia Guthrie, who won the high jump, Melanie Taylor, who won the triple jump, Ayala Seaborn, who won the discus throw and Emorie Long, who won the javelin throw. The Lady Panthers scored 223 points on the day to win the event.

The Thompson girls’ team placed second, and the top competitors for the Lady Warriors were Lauryn Dancy, who won the 100-meter dash and placed second in the 200-meter dash, Sarah Owen, who placed first in the shot put and second in the discuss throw and the 4×100, the 4×200, and the 4×800-meter relay teams, which all placed first as well.

Claire Vaughn of Helena was the only athlete not wearing a Pelham or a Thompson jersey to win an event, as she won the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:31.55.

Thompson was just as dominant on the boys’ side of competition as Pelham was on the girls, scoring the same number of points, 223, as the Lady Panthers. Top athletes for the Warriors were Patrick Haywood, who won the 100-meter and 200-meter dash, Andrew Jetzel, who won the 800-meter dash by .24 seconds, Emmanuel Tait, who won the 110-meter hurdles, the 300-meter hurdles and placed second in the 100-meter dash, Brett Blackmon, who won the pole vault, Nick Mobley, who won the discus throw and the 4×100 and 4×400-meter relay teams, which both took first as well.

Oak Mountain High School finished second to Thompson and also had a number of top competitors on the day. Eric LaPorte and Sam Brown placed first and second in the 400-meter dash and Brown also won the high jump, Cole Stidfole and Sean Drummond placed first and second as well in the 1,600-meter run and the 3,200-meter run, respectively, Andrew Day won the shot put, Payton Youngblood won the javelin throw and the 4×800-team came in first as well to lead the Eagles in their second place, 176-point effort.

Wiley Boone of Westminster School at Oak Mountain placed first in the long jump and the triple jump, and was the only non-Eagle or Warrior to win an event.