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Full Listings of the All Time Leaders

2011 Updates

Attention Cross Country Runners – Recently we have added CC marks to the 5000 meter All-Time Top 10 Lists. Check it out. Notify Coach Griner of any errors or omissions.

2011 Season Wrap Up

A very successful 2011 track season culminated at the 6A State Meet with the girls taking 7th and the boys tying for 5th. Two State Champions came from the girls team: Mariah Pennington, in her first track season, set an AHSAA javelin record (136-2) and Berta Amelinaite won her second consecutive discus title (123-3). Both girls are sophomores and hold the school record. Two boys medaled at the State Meet: Sophomore Grant Hill placed 2nd (discus) and 3rd(shot put) while senior Alex Buchanan took 3rd (triple jump). Both hold school records. At the State Decathlon, junior Nathan Vardaman placed 8th. In the standard outdoor track and field events, members of this year’s team hold five school records (boys) and three school records (girls). Congratulations to all athletes and coaches.

May 6-7, 2011 - AHSAA 6A Championships

Two days after the Section Meet was held, the State Championships were contested at Gulf Shores. The weather was seasonably warm-to-hot, and a light breeze off the Gulf provided a favoring tail wind for all the field events. Crowds seemed smaller this year.

Huntsville Girls

A small squad pulled off a surprising 7th place, thanks primarily to two wins in the throws. This was the best team finish since 2006 when they were 6th. Mariah Pennington’s remarkable javelin win (136-2) was the best girl’s throw in Alabama this season and also the 6A meet record. More amazing is that this sophomore first picked up a javelin in March, and 10 competitions later was State Champion. That is storybook stuff.

As expected, another sophomore, Berta Amelinaite, won her second consecutive discus crown (123-3) in spite of an off day for her. Madaline Sharp was indeed sharp in the 1600 placing 5th with a PR (5:25.94), the HHS all-time 8th mark. She also ran a leg of the 4x800 which finished 8th (with Laurel Sharp, Alyssa Staubach, Marybeth Strickland). Marybeth also ran a leg of the 4x400 relay (with Alyssa, Alexis Gaines, Rachel Wiggins) which took 5th place (4:05.49) with the second fastest time in school history. The girls scored a total of 30 points, 2.5 more than Bob Jones.

Huntsville Boys

The boys tied for 5th, the best finish since 1982, when they were 3rd. Friday started off with a bang when, in the first event, Grant and Brian Hill took 2nd (170-4) and 4th (150-5) respectively, in the discus. About noon Jacob Fuller(4:26.91), Ravinder Singh(4:30.17), and Matthew Little(4:37.99) ran the best 1600 of their careers. Unfortunately, the whole field was fast and only Jacob scored (7th). In the afternoon, Walter Parks qualified 4th in the 110 hurdles prelims (14.89) and Cameron Rice qualified 7th in the prelims of the 200 with a PR (22.26). Over at the shot put ring Grant threw a PR (50-1.25) to capture a surprising third place. For Huntsville this was the first shot put over 50 feet since 1975. The 4x800 team (Jacob, Ravinder, Matthew, Jacob Brooks) ran a PR (8:26.08) but did not score (9th). The final event of the afternoon saw Alex Buchanan taking 3rd in the TJ with a school record leap (47-4.75). Huntsville was in third place with 29 points and sitting pretty.

Saturday started well with Dave Taylor in the HJ. He cleared 6-2 without misses to take 5th. Then in the 3200 Huntsville failed to score. Jacob could only manage 10:01.74 (9th), (perhaps feeling the effects of four races in four days) and Ravinder ran a nice PR (10:09.5) but did not score (12th). In the javelin, Jerquavis Ivy had a decent throw (160-2) but only got 9th. In the finals of the 110 hurdles, fighting for the lead, Walter hit a hurdle and fell. He got up and finished 8th good for 1 point. An hour later he also fell in the 300 hurdles and did not score. This was a huge blow to the team and certainly a disappointment for Walter but he came back later to run a leg of the 4x400 relay (with Alex, Cameron, Sebastian Alsop) and set a school record (3:23.48) while finishing 4th, the best finish in any running event for Huntsville. The 4x400 was run on time in three seeded heats and Huntsville was the only team to score and not run in the fast third heat. In the 200 finals Cameron ran the same time (22.26) but took 8th. The LJ produced 5 points with Nathan Vardaman finishing 4th (22-8) and Alex 8th (21-10.25). Not scoring was James Carter: DT (15th) and SP (16th). The boys team finished with 44 points, one-half point ahead of Bob Jones.

May 4 – AHSAA 6A Section 4 State Qualifying Meet

April 27, two days before the section meets were scheduled to start, the worst tornado outbreak in Alabama history put everything in perspective. Death and destruction moved high school athletics to the back burner and turned off the power. Four days later it became apparent that the state track meet was going to be held, with or without the teams from North Alabama. So, with the permission of various school and city officials, the Section 4 meet was rescheduled for May 4. Many schools were still closed and power was not yet fully restored.

Our section meet was condensed to a one-day affair at Bob Jones and qualification state-wide was changed from top-five-plus-wild-cards to the top-six-with-no-wild-cards. With only one day’s rest before State (if a 400-mile trip is “rest”), distance runners wisely expended only enough energy to qualify, so times were slow and placing unusual. Field events and sprints were fully competitive, however, with nine PRs by Huntsville athletes.

GIRLS

All those expected to qualify did so, with the exception of the 4x100 team and Marybeth in the 1600m. Both finished 7th, one place short of qualifying. On the plus side, Tamika Watford had a big TJ improvement (33-5) and qualified third. Mariah Pennington tied her school record in the JT (122-4). Berta had her second best throw of the season (136-7) to win the discus.

BOYS

As with the girls, two did not qualify as expected, Nathan Vardaman (100m) and Brian Hill (SP). In the 100m Sebastian Alsop ran a PR (11.16) to knock Nathan out of 6th place by 0.01 seconds; and in the shot put Brian failed to get a fair throw in three attempts. School records were set by Walter Parks in the 300m hurdles (38.49) and Alex Buchanan in the TJ (47-3, a 2-foot improvement). Alex also PRed in the LJ (22-2) to move to 4th All-Time. Dave Taylor qualified in both HJ (6-2) and TJ (44-7), the latter was a PR moving him to HHS 2nd All-Time in TJ (behind Alex). Huntsville qualified the maximum (3) in both 1600m (Fuller, Little, Singh) and Discus (Grant, Brian, James Carter). All three relays teams qualified.

April 23 – Bob Jones Invitational

Tuning up for the Section meet, Huntsville set three more school records in this meet, as the boys took first, the girls second. Here is a fun thing to do. Go to milesplit.com and click on Stats and then Virtual Meets. Select Outdoor TF, 2011, and under “League” choose “6A Region 4” (that’s us) to see who is predicted to qualify for State (top 5 in each event).

GIRLS

Once again the girls team finished second to Bob Jones, 110 to 255. Mariah Pennington threw the javelin 19 feet farther than before to capture a school record at 122-4. This is currently ranked second in the state (oddly, just ahead of Ashton Pennington of Hartselle, no relation). Of those scoring there were six other PRs, two by Tamika Watford (LJ 15-5.5) and (TJ 30-8). Berta’s 1-inch PR (LJ 16-6) got her to 10th on the HHS All-Time List. Marybeth won two races (400m 1:01.25) and (800m 2:25.87). Berta won, as usual (DT 129-0)

BOYS

The boys beat Bob Jones 228 to 132 as three guys set new school records: Walter Parks (300 Hurdles 38.76), Alex Buchanan (TJ 45-3), and Grant Hill (DT 177-1). Alex and Grant already had the #1 HHS All-Time Marks. There were eleven other PRs among those who scored and five of those were All-Time Top Marks as follows: Brian Hill (DT 164-6 AT(2)), James Carter (SP 49-6 AT(5)), Grant (SP 49-2 AT(7)), Brian (SP 47-0 AT(11)) and Dave Taylor (HJ 6-4 AT(2)tie). Whew! Jacob Fuller won two races (800m 2:00.9 PR) and (1600m 4:37.63). Alex also won two events, TJ, and (400m 50.67).

April 15-16 - Mountain Brook Invitational

As advertised, most of the state’s top talent came to this meet, making it tough to score points. Never the less, the HHS boys finished 4th without Dave Taylor and Alex Buchannan. The girls were 14th out of 28 schools.

GIRLS

The only girls to score points did so with big time throws. Berta won the discus with a meet record 128-5 and Mariah got second in the javelin with a nice 103-8. The best non-scoring performances were in the horizontal jumps: 10th by Jasmine Palmer (TJ, 33-3.5) and 10th by Berta (LJ, 16-5). Berta’s LJ was a big PR just missing the HHS All-Time Top 10 by 0.5 inch.

BOYS

Huntsville served notice they could be 6A contenders at State by scoring 66 points, even without Dave and Alex. The only wins came in the 3200 (Fuller) and 300 hurdles (Parks). Jacob Fuller surprised the field with a big 11-second PR to win with an impressive 9:38.98. This mark is still 1 second from making the HHS All-Time list, showing just how good the school’s distance runners have been over the years. Walter (Brennen) Parks won the 300 hurdles (39.42) and finished 3rd in the 110 hurdles (15.05. Parks was also on two relay teams and so achieved the high-point total of 19.5. This meet awarded double points for relays (ie first was worth 20 points, eighth was worth 2 points). Fuller was second in scoring with 11 points. Grant Hill scored 9 points (8th SP, 45-10.75) and (2nd DT, 167-1). Brian Hill (3rd SP, 159-8) scored 6 while Nathan Vardaman (3rd LJ, 21-8.75) and (6th 4x100 relay) scored 7.5 points. James Carter was 8th in the javelin (152-5.5).

All three relay teams placed. The 4x100 (Alsop,Rice,Parks,Vardaman) qualified 8th in the prelims but dropped their time by 0.25 in the finals to take 6th (43.55). The 4x800 (Fuller, Little, Singh, Brooks) finished 8th on time but received 7th place points because Bearden High entered two teams and only one could score points. Without Alex, the 4x400 team (Alsop,Rice,Moore,Parks) still took 5th (3:28.43).

April 9, 2011 - Austin Invitational

It was a hot day for this meet and the Huntsville boys were also hot. The girls team suffered from the absence of lots of “A-Team” athletes and therefore were far behind their expected performance.

BOYS

For some reason, no team scores were published for this meet. But the boys team almost certainly won the meet, capturing 15 events and 7 second places. Overall, marks were not improvements, perhaps due to the heat, but Grant Hill did manage a 48-2.75 shot put to move up to 7th on the HHS All-Time List. Multiple winners were Grant (SP-PR,DT), Parks (both hurdles, 4x100), Fuller (800-PR,3200,4x800), Buchanan(400,4x400,TJ) and Vardaman (100,200,4x100,LJ). Ivey won the JT with a nice 162-5 and Dave Taylor the HJ with a season best 6-3. The team scored 266 points without Brian Hill or Cameron Rice.

GIRLS

The girls team was missing Alyssa, Marybeth, Anna, Ruthie, Tanika, Dyanna, the Sharp sisters, and (I think) Mariah. They scored 86 points, 24 from Berta alone (1st DT, 2nd LJ, 3rd SP).

April 4-5 - 2011 Metro Championships

Day one of this annual 2-day meet was postponed due to severe weather. The whole meet was contested on Tuesday at Milton Frank Stadium, making it very difficult for the distance runners to double up. It didn’t seem to bother Jacob Fuller and Madeline Sharp, both of whom swept the 1600, 3200, and ran a leg of the 4x800 while leading their teams in points. A pleasant day turned quite cool late in the evening.

Girls Competition

Huntsville finished second in the 11-team competition with 148 points, well behind a large Bob Jones squad with 256.5 points. However the girl’s performed very well with 11 individual PR’s and 6 first place medals. Two marks qualified for the HHS All-Time Top 10 List: Alexis Gaines in the 400 (61.03), and Mariah Pennington’s Javelin Throw (101-9). Berta Amelinaite’s discus heave (125-9), while ordinary for her, set a new meet record. With two wins, Madeline was high point winner (22), and Berta was second (20). Alexis had 19 points.

Boys Competition

Huntsville was Metro Champion again this year (in spite of Bob Jones presence) as they won the 12-team meet, 85 points ahead of second place BJ. In a powerful display, the boys won 12 of the 18 events, including three 1-2-3 finishes (LJ,DT,SP). They set 11 PR’s, set one school record, and set two meet records. Jacob Fuller was named the meet MVP by winning 30.5 points (1st, 1600, 4:32.33) (1st, 3200, 10:01.89) (2nd,800, 2:02.49) (1st, 4x800). Nathan Vardaman and Alex Buchanan each scored 26.5 points with a first, second, third and a relay win. Alex’s TJ win (44-9.5) set a school record by 6 inches and his LJ (21-8), (second behind Vardaman’s winning 22-3) moved him to 5th All-Time in that event. Walter Parks had PR’s in both hurdle races, both being All-Time List improvements as well. His winning time in the 300 hurdles (38.90) broke the meet record set in 1997. The other meet record was set by Brian Hill in the DT (158-8). He also surprised everyone with a 2-foot improvement in SP to win that event at 45-7. Grant finished second to Brian in both events for the first time. Finally, Jerquavis Ivey moved to 2nd All-Time in JT (165-0) with an amazing 23-foot improvement. Must be one of those energy drinks.

April 1-2 Weekend

Athletes of the Huntsville High Track and Field team participated in three different meets Friday and Saturday. About half of the squad traveled to Mobile for the Challenge of Champions (C of C) while the rest went to the Scottsboro Invitational. Eight elite athletes were invited to compete in the select Invitational Division of C of C on Saturday. The rest competed in the C of C Open Division on Friday.

April 2, 2011 - Scottsboro Invitational

Huntsville struggled without their best athletes. The girls scored 27 points, with 4th the highest finish (4x100, Moira Knott, Quaterria Smith, Precious Warner, Deshawnna Covington). Mariah Pennington scored in two events, 100 (8th) and JT (7th). The boys only managed 20.5 points, also with 4th the highest finish (4x800, Zach Marsh, Alex Brooks, Mark Chlarson, Jared Wasilefsky). Chris Roberts scored in both the 1600 (8th) and 3200 (5th). Team scores were not published.

April 1-2 - Mobile Challenge of Champions

Challenge of Champions – Invitational Division
Five boys and two girls competed in the meet held Saturday at St Paul’s School. Team scores were not computed. Only two PR’s were set. Here are Huntsville’s results:

Discus Throw Berta Amelinaite 1st 127-11 best is 138-4
800 Marybeth Strickland 7th 2:21.0 Season best. PR is 2:17.43 set in 2008
2 mile Jacob Fuller 13th 9:53.99 PR, converts to 3200 time of 9:50.6
300 hurdles Walter Parks 4th 40.10 best is 39.03
Long Jump Nathan Vardaman 6th 21-6.5 best is 23-1.5
Shot Put Grant Hill 3rd 164-1 best is 173-4
Shot Put Brian Hill 4th 162-3 PR by 6 ft, 2nd HHS All-Time

Challenge of Champions – Open Division
In Friday’s meet, held at UMS Wright School, at least sixteen PR’s were set, including seven new HHS All-Time Top 10 marks. Team scores were not computed but had eight places been scored, Alex Buchanan would have earned 20 points. Here are those who finished at least 10th:
GIRLS
100 Rachel Wiggins 10th 13.41
200 Rachel Wiggins 7th 27.18 PR
400 Alexis Gaines 6th 1:01.74 PR
1600 Madeline Sharp 6th 5:41.75
3200 Madeline Sharp 4th 11:59.28 PR, 9th HHS All-Time
4x100 Gaines,Wiggins,Williams,Palmer 7th 51.15 PR, 5th HHS All-Time
4x400 Gaines,Wiggins,Williams,Strickland 7th 4:21.84
BOYS
100 Cameron Rice 8th 11.38
200 Cameron Rice 6th 22.83 PR
400 Alex Buchanan 3rd 50.10 PR, 3rd HHS All-Time
Sebastian Alsop 6th 50.96 PR, 11th HHS All-Time
1600 Matthew Little 4th 4:42.98 PR
Jacob Brooks 9th 4:48.95 PR
3200 Ravinder Singh 5th 10:16.56 PR
4x100 Alsop,Rice,Parks,Vardaman 4th 43.45 PR, 2nd HHS All-Time
4x400 Alsop,Rice,Parks,Buchanan 2nd 3:25.94 PR, 4th HHS All-Time
Long Jump Alex Buchanan 1st 21-1.5 ties PR
Tripple Jump Alex Buchanan 7th 43-0
Javelin James Carter 7th 145-7 PR, 4th HHS All-Time

March 25, 2011 - Patriot Games

For the second time this season the Huntsville Boys beat Bob Jones in Madison, 167 to 150, to win the 20-team meet. The Girls finished 3rd out of 19 teams.

For the girls, the best performance was by Berta Amelinaite who threw a State-leading 138-4 (discus), a second place 32-5.25 (shot put, an event she dislikes), and ran a leg of the second place 4x100 relay to total 20 points. The leading point winners after Berta were Marybeth Strickland and Alexis Gaines (12.5), Madeline Sharp(12), and Rachel Wiggins (10.5).

Leading the points for the boys was Nathan Vardaman (32.5) with four firsts (100,200,LJ,4x100). Next was Walter Parks (25 points) also with four firsts (both hurdles,4x100,4x400). His hurdles marks (14.85, 39.03) moved him higher on the HHS All-Time Top 10 List (2nd and 5th). The next leading point totals were Alex Buchanan (23.5), Jacob Brooks, and Brian Hill (12), Sebastian Alsop (10.5), Grant Hill and Matthew Little (10). Brian’s DT (156-6) moved him to 2nd All-Time, and Jerquavis Ivey moved to 5th All-Time with his 142-4 JT.

March 19, 2011 – Northridge Jaguar Relays

This meet offered JV competition, perfect for our large team. Several “B” relay teams were formed and entered as a Huntsville JV boys or JV girls squad. In the JV Divisions the girls finished 5th out of 6 teams while the JV boys were 5th out of 8 teams. In the Varsity division, both boys and girls teams finished second to the host Northridge.

All the running events were relays. The Varsity girls won the 4x4, 4x16(SR), 1,1,2,4 medley(SR), and 2,2,4,8 medley relays. The Varsity boys won the 4x1, 4x8, 4x16 relays. The JV teams each won one race. The 1,1,2,4 medley was a first-time event for Huntsville so, of course, the times were also SR’s (school records).

In the field events, Nathan Vardaman (LJ) and Grant Hill (DT) won their specialties, with Grant’s 9-foot improvement to 173-7(SR) now the leading State discus mark. Dave Taylor took 4th in both HJ and TJ. The TJ was a surprising 43-9.5, a 2-foot improvement to 4th All-Time and just 0.5 inch behind this season’s leader, Alex Buchannan. Brian Hill placed 2nd in DT(147-3) and 7th in SP(42-2) while another reliable thrower, James Carter, placed 4th in SP(44-4.5) and 5th in JT(140-5). Carter’s javelin mark moved him up the All-Time List from 9th to 5th.

In the girl’s discus, Berta Amelinaite threw just 2 inches short of her state-leading best of 133-9. She also placed 4th in SP(30-1.75). Mariah Pennington continued her progress in the JT (86-11) moving up to 4th All-Time.

March 11, 2011 - Redcoat Relays

On a cool night at Bob Jones High the Huntsville boys were hot.. They beat the home team 194 to 153 by scoring 10 firsts and 5 seconds in the meet. In this meet the field events were contested as usual while the running events were all relays. The girls did well too, but finished a distant second to Bob Jones, 119 to 204. The girls won 5 events and finished second in two.

For the girls team Berta Amelinaite was the star with a second (4x100) and three firsts (4x200), DT (133-9), and SP (29-5) for a total of 24.5 points. The discus throw was a school record (SR) and is currently the best mark in Alabama. Also with three firsts and a second, all on sprint relay teams, were Jasmine Williams and Rachel Wiggins each scoring 9.5 points. Marybeth Strickland scored 7 points in three relays. (Remember that first place is worth 10 pts in field events but only 10/4=2.5 for each member of a relay team.)

For the boys, Alex Buchanan was high point winner (20) with a relay second (4x400), a LJ second (19-7.25), and a TJ first (42-11.5). Nathan Vardaman scored 15 points with two relay firsts and a LJ first (20-10). Six of the relay times qualified for the HHS All-Time Top 10 List, although none were close to school records. A SR came in the discus where sophomore Grant Hill threw a monster 164-6, currently ranked second in the State. Senior James Carter had quite a night achieving PRs in each of his events : 1st SP (46-10), 4th DT (128-9), and 5th JT (120-10).

In a field event, adding three best marks from the same school gives a “relay” team distance. For Huntsville boys the TJ, DT, JT, and SP relays were school records. The LJ relay distance was second on the All-Time List. For the girls the DT and SP relays made the All-Time List with the former a school record.

March 5, 2011 - King of the Mountain

On a rainy day at Vestavia Hills, Huntsville Boys came out on top in a meet shortened by the weather. Huntsville won the LJ (Nathan Vardaman, 21-11) and 1600 (Jacob Fuller, 4:30.57, a PR). Nathan got 2nd in the 100 (11.36) and with the 4x100 team another second (44.16). The Hill brothers took 2 (Grant) and 3 (Brian) in the discus, with Brian throwing a PR 149-2. The girls team competed well but only managed to earn 4 pts placing 20th out of 23 teams.

Feb 26, 2011 - Hoover Invitational

With less than a full team Huntsville did well. The girls finished 6th out of 21 teams while the boys were 4th out of 24 teams. For the girls, Berta Amelinaite had the only first place (discus) and the only new HHS All-Time Top 10 performance was by Precious Warner (66-6, 10th on javelin list). The boys also had one winner, Jacob Fuller, in the 3200 race. New Top 10 performances were by Jerquavis Ivey in the javelin (10th) and the 4x400 relay team (9th)

2010 Updates

Discus thrower, Berta Amelinaite, successfully completed a difficult double in track and field this past summer. She competed in two different national Junior Olympic meets held a continent apart. Wednesday, Aug 4, in Norfolk, VA, she finished 6th in the AAU sponsored meet with a personal best throw of 128-3. The previous Saturday, in Sacramento, CA, she finished 5th in the USATF meet, throwing a (then) best of 126-2. She competed in the Intermediate Girls division (age 15-16). Both meets required qualifying in earlier meets so it was a very busy summer for the HHS sophomore. In case you missed it, Berta, won the AHSAA 6A state championship in May.

2010 AHSAA State Championships

At the first meet of the season Berta Amelinaite broke the school record throwing 123-4. In a dramatic final throw of the season she hit 122-10 to become the State 6A Champion. What can the freshman accomplish in her career? Tune in next year.

The next best performance was by sophomore, Nathan Vardaman, who again improved (7th time) to set a school record in the long jump at 23-1.5 and take second place in the meet. Huntsville boys also scored in the discus (Grant Hill, 6th, Brian Hill 8th), shot put (Patrick Junin, 7th, and 8th HHS All-Time), and 3200m (Jacob Fuller, 7th). For the girl’s team only Marybeth Strickland added a point (8th in the 800m).

Congratulations to coach Brad Hill who had four throwers in the meet.

2010 AHSAA 6A Section 5 State Qualifying Meet

Like nearly all the Section Meets in Alabama, the two-day affair was interrupted by a massive storm. The team finished on Monday with the boys ultimately winning four events and qualifing 13 to the State Meet. The girls had one first place and seven qualified for next week’s championship. The winners were:
Marybeth Strickland – 800m. (2:24.91). Slow for her. Also qualified in the 400m and 4x400 relay.
Grant Hill – Discus (161-1) Another PR, his fourth of the season even with back problems.
Nathan Vardaman – LJ (22-9.5) Fifth PR of the season. Also qualified in 4x400 relay.
Dave Taylor – HJ (6-0) Sixth win of the season but 4” below best.
Jacob Fuller – 3200m (10:09.14) Also qualified in 800m,1600m, and 4x880 Gasp!

Two non-winners improved on the All-time top 10 list: Brian Hill (discus 146-2) 2nd and DeTanion Blackburn (javelin, 145-11) now 3rd. Brennan Parks had an off day for him but still qualified in both hurdle events. Including alternates, others going to the big show are Patrick Junen, Jacob Brooks, Matt Little, Tucker Oliver, Alex Buchanan, Sebastian Alsop, Zack Marsh, Dion Moore, Ravinder Singh, Berta Ameliniate, Jasmine Palmer, Madeline Sharp, Alexis Gaines, Precious Warner, and Jasmine Williams.

Bob Jones Invitational - April 17, 2010

As usual, BJHS overwhelmed the opposition with talent and sheer numbers. They also entered more than the allowed three competitors in 4 events – not that it would have changed the final outcome. Huntsville played by the rules and finished second in both boys and girls divisions.

Five boys improved their positions on the All-Time Top 10 List. Hurdler, Brennan Parks, is now listed in BOTH hurdle events: 2nd in the 300m hurdles (39.15) and 8th in the 110m hurdles (15.37). Our jumpers had a great day with Alex Buchannan’s huge triple jump (43-10) leaping to the 3rd spot, Nathan Vardaman improving (again) to 22-7.5 in the long jump (2nd All-Time) and in the high jump, Dave Taylor finally achieved the long sought 6-4 (2nd tie All-Time). DeTanion Blackburn improved his javelin mark about 20 feet to move to 3rd on the list with a throw of 136-6.

2010 Austin Invitational - April 10, 2010

Everyone got sunburned but only three HHS athletes moved up the All-Time Top 10 List.
Super-jumper Nathan Vardaman PRed at 22-3.5 in the long jump (his third meet of the season to exceed 22 feet) but remained 3rd on the list. In the Shot put, Patrick Junen hit a best 46-4 to knock teammate James Carter out of the 10th spot. Brennen Parks blazed to a 39.81 in the 300m hurdles to move up to 4th All-Time.

Mobile Challenge of Champions - April 2 - 3, 2010

The MCC is really two track meets. Friday at UMS-Wright was the MCC-Open Division which most of the HHS athletes entered. Saturday at St Pauls Episcopal School was the MCC-Invitational Division which was by invitation only, smaller field but higher quality competition. If you happened to win on Friday you were also allowed to participate on Saturday. This was a long shot but surprisingly four HHS athletes got through in this manner. Another three got in by direct invitation.

Winning on Friday were Nathan Vardaman (LJ, 22-2 PR), Dave Taylor (HJ, 6-2 tied PR), Jacob Fuller (1600m, 4:31.23, PR) and Brennan Parks (300m Hurdles, 40.49) On Saturday Nathan finished 6th (21-7), Jacob was 9th (4:34.11) and Dave and Brennan did not compete. Friday in the javelin, Daniel Junen upped his Top 10 PR to 123-11.

The HHS invitees on Sat did very well: Grant Hill, 3rd discus (155-6.25, PR, SR), Berta Amelinaite, 3rd discus (114-7.25), and Mary Beth Strickland, 5th 800m (2:20.58).

Madison County High School Relays - March 30, 2010

The delayed MCHS Relay meet produced nine relay marks and two individual marks which qualify for the HHS All-Time Top 10 List. The events and list placement are: Girls Relays…4x200(5), sprint medley(3), shuttle hurdle(7), and shot put relay(4); Boys Relays… 4x200(9), 4x400(9), sprint medley(8), distance medley(10), and shuttle hurdle(2). In discus Brian Hill (143-5) moved up to 3rd and in javelin DeTanion Blackman (117-4) improved but stayed 8th.

2010 Metro Championships - March 26-27, 2010

Huntsville easily won both Boys and Girls divisions of this annual two-day meet, taking full advantage of defection by Bob Jones High School. Also absent, but not missed, were Madison County High, Buckhorn and Hazel Green . Strong gusty winds on Saturday kept marks below par in all events. Regardless, there were three upward movements in the HHS All-Time Top 10 List.

Long Jump:22-1 Nathan Vardaman moved up to #3
Javelin: 120-7 Daniel Junen moved up to #6
115-2 DeTanion Blackburn made the list for the first time at #8

Redcoat Relays - Bob Jones HS - March 12, 2010

At a soggy relay meet at Bob Jones HS, Coach Hill’s throwers had a blast, setting Top-10 All-Time (AT) records in the boys & girls discus relay, and the boys shot put relays. The boys triple jump relay also was topped. The individual marks were as follows: Boys Discus: Grant Hill, 154-9.5 (1AT); Brian Hill, 141-9.5 (4AT); Daniel Junin, 95-9 (first meet), the total 392-4 obliterated the old record by 111 feet; Girls discus: Berta Amelinaite, 115-1; Dasha Vaughn, 49-10; Quaterria Smith, 45-7; total 210-6; Boys SP: Grant, 46-7 (9AT); Patrick Junin, 45-1; Brian, 41-11.5; total 133-7.5; Boys TJ: Alex Buchanan, 39-0.5; Dave Taylor, 39-0; Nathan Vardaman, 38-7; total 116-7.5.

Bulldog Relays

Here is the Top 10 update from the Alabama A&M Bulldog Relays of March 6, 2010, as far as I know them.

The 400m hurdles and 3000m run are seldom contested so there is not 10 persons in those lists. As a result everyone that finished those races for HHS is now in the Top 10 the easy way.

Girls pole vault: Junior, Liz Detz, cleared 8-6. Still 4th all-time.

Boys Discus Throw: Freshman, Grant Hill, threw 149-1. Moved up to 2nd all-time.

Panther Invitational

Seven marks qualified for mention on the HHS All-Time Top 10 list

Tops was freshman Berta Amelinaite discus throw of 123-04, a school record and good enough for National Recognition by Milesplit.US. She also made the list in the javelin (73-9) as did Day'zha Sales (83-60. On the boys team Grant Hill improved to 3rd on the discus list (141-06). Making the list for the first time were James Carter shot (45-09), Daniel Junen javelin (106-10), Nathan Vardaman long jump (21-4.75), and David Taylor high jump (6-2)