Pelham, Helena compete in Ice Breaker event

Published 11:57 am Wednesday, January 10, 2018

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

BIRMINGHAM – We are right in the thick of the 2018 track and field season and one of the biggest regular season events of the year took place at the Birmingham Crossplex on Saturday, Jan. 6, as several teams flocked to the Ice Breaker Invitational.

Helena and Pelham were two of those teams that saw strong success at the event and below their efforts are highlighted.

Pelham

Pelham’s girls had several highlights throughout the day and it started with Meredith Bass, who finished in 14th in the 3,200-meter race with a time of 12:35.17

Katie Strozier picked up the girls’ first top-10 finish as she finished in eighth in the 400-meter dash with time of 59.78 seconds.

As a team, the girls performed well in two relay races by finishing in sixth in the 4X400-meter relay with a time of 4:17.60 and in third in the 4X800-meter relay with a time of 10:12.60.

Both of the Long sisters got into the action as well with strong performances in several events.

Erin Long finished in eighth in the 60-meter hurdle finals with a time of 9.71 seconds, while also finishing in sixth in the high jump finals with a distance of 5 feet to grab two top-10 finishes at the event.

She slid just outside of the top 10 in the triple jump finals with a distance of 33 feet 7 inches, which was good enough for a finish of 13th.

Just behind her in the triple jump finals was Alex Wilkins in 17th and Sarah Guthrie in 24th.

Guthrie and Erin’s sister Emorie Long also fared well in the high jump finals with finishes of 22nd and 27th, respectively.

In the boys’ events, Adam Keller was the main standout. He had a strong race in the 3,200-meter finals finishing with a time of 10:06.77, which was good enough for ninth place and a top-10 finish.

Helena

Helena’s Allison Tanner had a strong day at the event as she picked up two top-20 finishes. She finished in seventh in the girls high jump finals with a distance of 5 feet, which was 4 inches behind the winning distance. Tanner also finished in 19th in the girls long jump finals with a distance of 15 feet 4 inches.

Kirsen Gardner had a strong performance in a separate field event as she took home sixth in the shot put finals with a distance of 34 feet 7.5 inches.

For the boys, Blake Vaughn was a highlight as he seems to be in every event he competes in. The senior finished in 14th in the 1,600-meter finals with a time of 4:41.43 and 23rd in the 800-meter finals with a time of 2:09.83.

The Huskies performed well in the high jump finals as well posting two top-10 finishes and three top-15 finishes.

T.J. Funches took eighth in the event with a distance of 6 feet, while Jonah Hyde finished in 10th with a distance of 6 feet as well. Just behind was Connor Tiffin in 15th with a distance of 5 feet 10 inches.

In the long jump finals, Jonah Hyde and Jordan Wallace finished in 18th and 19th, respectively. Hyde had a distance of 19 feet 1.5 inches, while Wallace hit 19 feet on the nose.

Both had improved performances in the triple jump finals as each picked up a top-10 finish. Wallace finished in sixth with a distance of 43 feet 6 inches, while Hyde took 10th with a distance of 41 feet 2 inches.