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The Chelsea Hornets made history with their first home track and field meet when they hosted the Alive at the Hive Meet and took top honors as the girls finished in first place and the boys earned third in the team standings. (For the Reporter/Robert Dean)

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CHELSEA – Wednesday, March 19 was a day that some within the Chelsea Hornets track and field program didn’t think would happen in their varsity careers. However, the school made history and held its first home meet.

The Chelsea Hornets played host to the Calera Eagles, Helena Huskies, Shelby County Wildcats, and Vincent Yellow Jackets among others for the inaugural Alive at the Hive meet at Chelsea’s football stadium.

“I believe that the meet went well,” Hornets track and field coach Trey Lee said. “A lot of coaches and a lot of athletes gave us a lot of praise and a lot of accolades, but just the type of person I am, how we run the program even, it’s like there’s always something that we can improve on.”

The meet came after the completion of a full track and field facility at Chelsea’s stadium, giving the program the equipment that it needed to host this and many more meets in the future.

The inaugural meet also doubled as senior night for the Class of 2025. Lee said the night meant more than most people would know to the entire team, but it was especially meaningful for the senior class to have a home meet before they graduated.

“Those seniors were freshman when I got there, so those seniors have been at Chelsea as long as I have,” Lee said. “One of them actually came up to me and said they would not have ever thought that we would host a track meet at Chelsea, so to do that during their senior year, it meant a lot to me because it meant a lot to them, so it meant a lot to the community.”

The Hornets also brought home some hardware from the meet as the girls won first place in the team standings with 212 points while the boys finished in third behind McAdory and Pell City with 91.5 points.

Chelsea’s Juliette Edwards won the girls 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:23.85, with her teammate Hannah Quick finishing second with a time of 5:24.77 and Shelby County’s Lorelei Hallmark earning fifth with her time of 6:19.42.

Edwards also finished first in the girls 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:37.66.

Chelsea’s Addison Foster secured first in the girls 300-meter hurdles with a time of 49.77 seconds while Vincent’s Kalin Cobb finished fifth with a time of 57.07 seconds.

Chelsea’s Ty Cason headlined an all-county top five in the girls 800-meter run with her winning time of 2:12.58. Her teammates Brylee Bennett, Evie Scroggins and Emily Davis finished second, third and fourth, respectively, with times of 2:28.69 for Bennett, 2:30.01 for Scroggins and 2:31.08 for Davis.

Helena’s Emma Price finished fifth in the same race with a time of 2:52.48.

Conner Campbell took first for the Hornets in the girls 800-meter run with a time of 2:02.83. His Chelsea teammate Hudson Williams finished third with a time of 2:04.16 while Helena’s Josh Howard finished fourth with a time of 2:09.44 and his Huskies teammate Nick Spears earned fifth with a time of 2:11.33.

Chelsea’s Mia Dunavant won the girls 200-meter dash with a time of 25.49 seconds with Kamryn Hudson right behind her with a time of 25.89 seconds for a Hornets one-two finish.

Helena’s Camp Herndon won the boys 3,200-meter run with his time of 10:39.06.

As for the relay teams, Chelsea won the girls 4×400-meter relay with a time of 4:08.13, finished second in the girls 4×100-meter relay with a time of 49.35 and took third in the boys 4×100-meter relay with a time of 44.26 seconds as well as in the boys 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:39.18.

Helena was right behind Chelsea in fourth place in both the boys 4×100-meter relay with a time of 44.44 seconds and the boys 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:39.80.

Shelby County won the girls distance medley relay with a time of 15:24.29. As for the boys distance medley relay, Helena earned second in that race with a time of 11:43.29.

Chelsea’s Dunavant got second in the girls 100-meter dash with a time of 12.33 seconds, once again beating out Hudson, who earned third with a time of 12.55 seconds.

Foster took second in the girls 100-meter hurdles for the Hornets with a time of 16.03 seconds. Vincent’s Cobb earned third with a time of 19.78 seconds, Chelsea’s Vy Doan was fourth with a time of 19.81 seconds and the Hornets’ Chloe Barnard took fifth with her time of 20.11 seconds.

The Jackets’ Jayden Roberts was second in the boys 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.85 seconds while Helena’s Anden Armstrong finished fifth after he recorded a time of 16.61 seconds.

Chelsea’s Quick was second in the girls 400-meter run with a time of 1:02.70. As for the boys race, Helena’s Nate Ferguson was the county’s fastest runner with a second-place time of 52.82 seconds.

Helena’s Howard earned third in the boys 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:45.58, just beating out his teammate Herndon at the line after the latter had a fourth-place time of 4:45.67. Chelsea’s Carson Campbell was fifth with his time of 4:47.11.

Calera’s Elijah Bates secured third in the boys 100-meter dash with a time of 11.11 seconds, with Helena’s Emmanuel Compton finishing in fifth in the same race with a time of 11.24 seconds.

Bates also took fourth in the boys 200-meter run with a time of 22.60 seconds.

Moving to the field events, Helena’s Abigail Parsons won the girls pole vault by clearing a mark of 8-00.00 alongside Chelsea’s Julie Jimenez.

Helena’s Michael Sesteli took the boys pole vault title with a mark of 13-06.00, which he cleared alongside Chelsea’s Wyatt Irvin.

Shelby County’s Elsa Harper won the girls high jump with a mark of 4-08.00, beating out Chelsea’s Emma Raines McGough.

Calera’s Reignan Evans took first in the girls shot put with a mark of 31-03.00. Helena’s Anna Grace Johnson finished third with a mark of 30-05.00 and Vincent’s Kinsley Perkins was fifth with 29-04.00.

Evans also won the girls discus with a mark of 107-07, finishing above Vincent’s Jordynne Rose, who came in second with a mark of 87-03.

Chelsea’s Gabe Pendley won the boys javelin throw with a mark of 181-07, finishing above his teammate Judson Poe, who got fifth with a mark of 121-00.

Chelsea’s Sydney Carroll won the girls javelin throw on her senior night, coming over from softball practice to secure a winning throw of 110-09. Her Hornets basketball teammate Olivia Pryor got second with a mark of 102-05 while Shelby County’s Harper took fourth with 75-06.

Chelsea’s Nile Cummings earned first in the boys long jump with a mark of 21-04.25. Calera’s Braxton Brooks got second with a mark of 20-03.00, Helena’s Sesteli finished third with a mark of 20-02.00 and the Huskies’ Fred Grooms earned fourth with a mark of 20-00.05.

Cummings also won the boys triple jump with his mark of 44-10.25, finishing ahead of Calera’s Brooks, who got second once again with a mark of 44-01.00.

Chelsea’s Tamarah Rice won the girls long jump with a mark of 17-03.00. Her teammate Mallory Crawley came in third with a mark of 15-07.00 and Helena’s Merritt Sanders finished fifth with a mark of 15-04.00.

Rice also took first in the girls triple jump with a mark of 35-00.00.

Vincent’s Kendarius Chapman finished fifth in the boys shot put with a mark of 42-04.50 and fifth in the boys discus with his mark of 120-07.

Lee thanked the entire city of Chelsea, including the parents, ChHS administration and Mayor Tony Picklesimer for the support both for himself and the program.

The Hornets won’t have to wait long for their next home meet as they will host the Shelby County Championships on Wednesday, April 16.

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