Westminster fares well at Ice Breaker

Published 11:42 am Wednesday, January 10, 2018

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

BIRMINGHAM – Westminster at Oak Mountain’s track and field program has opened up a new season with high expectations after the girls finished runner-up in both indoor and outdoor last year and the boys won the outdoor state championship.

Both the boys and girls competed at the 2018 Ice Breaker Invitational and each continued to show why they are consistently considered among the state’s elite programs.

The girls ended up with a total of 14 top-20 finishers in six different events, while the boys had five top 5 performances in three different events.

Girls 

Starting in the 1,600-meter finals for the girls, Westminster ended up with four finishers inside the top 20.

Senior Camilla Lemons led the way with a finish of seventh after running the race in 5:53.59

The Knights had two more finish inside the top 15 as Arden McCullough and Katie Wright finished in 13th and 15th, respectively.

McCullough, a sophomore, finished the race with a time of 6:03.32. Wright, who is amazingly just a seventh grader at Westminster, was just behind her teammate with a time of 6:19.24.

The final of the top-20 finishers in the 1,600-meter race was eighth grader Courtney Callahan, who finished with a time of 6:19.24.

Westminster’s girls also fared well in the 3,200-meter race with three more grabbing top-15 finishes.

Freshman Hallie Porterfield led the way with a finish of fourth with a time of 12:22.94. Her strong showing marked a tie for the highest finish of any Westminster runner in both the boys and girls races.

Wright continued her strong day with her second top-15 finish of the night in the event as she took 12th with a time of 13:33.40. Just behind her in 13th was senior Rachel Faulk with a time of 13:34.40.

The next highlight came from Sarah Kate Lipperd in the 400-meter dash. Lipperd, a senior, finished in eighth with a time of 1:04.

As a team, the Knights had one strong finish in a relay race as they finished in fourth in the 4X800-meter relay with a time of 11:11.03.

Sophomore Peyton Metcalf was the other runner to take home a fourth-place finish in the event as she finished the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.98, which was just .79 seconds behind the championship Ashleigh Ivory of Demopolis in a photo finish.

Hannah York, a junior, also fared well in the race taking home 11th with a time of 10.62.

The Knights’ final impressive performance came in the girls 800-meter race as four runners finished inside the top 25 led by Lipperd yet again.

She finished the race in 2:31.94, which was good enough for sixth place and her second top-8 finish of the event.

Lemons was the next highest finisher for Westminster, finishing in 14th with a time of 2:41.06. McCullough and Faulk also had good performances for the second time in the event.

McCullough finished in 19th with a time of 2:45.97, while Faulk took 23rd with a time of 2:48.

Boys

While the boys’ success wasn’t as dominant as the girls, there were three events that Westminster shined in starting with the 3,200-meter run as three runners finished inside the top 10.

The Knights were led by senior Nate Collins as he tied that fourth-place mark set by Metcalf and Porterfield. Collins finished the race with a time of 9:56.82, which was just six seconds behind the winning time.

Just three spots behind Collins was freshman Hunter Wright, who continues his success from the cross country season. Wright finished with a time of 10:32.70.

Daniel Collins also had a strong performance with a 10th place finish. The senior finished the race with a time of 11:00.44.

The boys also had three finish inside the top 50 of the 400-meter dash thanks to Cooper Reynolds (29th), John Richardson (32nd) and Pierce Moffett (45th).

The team also fared well in the 4X800-meter relay finishing in fifth place with a time of 9:01.78.