By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

TUSCALOOSA – Both Pelham and Chelsea competed in the ACA track and field sectional meet from April 24-25 at Paul Bryant High School. The Pelham girls team won the 6A portion of the meet while the Pelham boys team came in fourth. Conversely, the boys and girls teams for Chelsea both came in ninth.

The Pelham girls stole the show in the 6A meet, racking up 220 points, 67.5 points better than second place Northridge. The Lady Panthers had athletes scattered all over the 6A leaderboard. Erykah Hall placed third in the 200-meter dash and fourth in the 100-meter dash, Erin Hines and Jordan Allison placed first and second in the 400-meter dash, while Mary Grace Strozier and Allison placed first and second in the 800-meter run. Strozier also won the 1,600-meter run and the 3,200-meter run, while Lesya Lackey placed second in both events as well. Melanie Taylor placed third in the 100-meter hurdles, while Allison and Hines placed first and second in the 300-meter hurdles.

In the field events, Erin Long finished third in the high jump while Alex Ladewig, Amelia Guthrie and Taylor placed first, second and third in the pole vault. Hines also placed third in the long jump and Taylor finished third in the triple jump. Ayala Seaborn finished second in the discus and Emorie Long finished second in the javelin throw to round out the top three finishers for the Lady Panthers. Courtney Ivy finished fifth in the 100-meter hurdles and sixth in the 100-meter as the only Chelsea athlete to score points at the meet.

In the boys meet, the Panthers team had a number of athletes near the top of the leaderboard as well. Johnathan Traylor finished third in the 400-meter dash, fending off fourth-place finisher and teammate Dorian Jackson by .12 seconds. Peyton Strickland finished third in the 800-meter run, while Robby Letson won the 1,600-meter run and finished second in the 3,200-meter run. Mason Tittle was the only field athlete for Pelham to place in the top three, with a third-place finish in the javelin throw.

Ethan Mitchell of Chelsea finished second in the 1,600-meter run, just .33 second off of Letson’s first-place time, and Derron Harden of Chelsea was the only other Chelsea athlete to score points, with an eighth-place finish in the discuss throw.

A full list of all athletes qualifying for state will be made available later in the week.