Faucett, Green win state titles
- Updated: May 2, 2015
PV high jumper beats strong field and clock; Piedmont star wins 400
By East Alabama Sports Today
CULLMAN — Rachel Faucett saved her best jump for last and beat the field by a mile.
The Pleasant Valley ninth-grader won her second straight state high jump championship Friday when she jumped 5-feet, 4-inches to win the Class 3A title at the 1A-3A meet here.
She won the Class 2A title last year.
Faucett wasn’t the only local state champion. Piedmont’s Karri Green won the 3A girls 400 (57.44) and nearly set a state record in leading all qualifiers in the 200 (25.61). Green also qualified in the 100 hurdles
In team play, Peasant Valley, Ohatchee, Piedmont and Weaver are 7-8-9-T10, respectively in the 3A girls race; Piedmont is fourth in the 3A boys race.
That Faucett won a state title for the second year in a row was impressive enough; how she won makes you take pause.
She beat T.R. Miller’s Makayla Harrison (5-2) and Weaver’s Keara Scott (5-0) in what amounted to a head-to-head battle between reigning state champions Scott won the 3A title last year and had beaten Faucett in four head-to-head meetings this year, including the Calhoun County and sectional championships.
Faucett warmed up at 5-0, started her competition, then broke away to run the 1600 – finishing eighth – before returning to become the only jumper to clear the winning height on her third attempt.
The fact she only had a 15-minute window between the run and the jump probably contributed to her 5:34.58, a school record and personal best, but a seventh-place finish.
Faucett won the 2A high jump title last year at 4-10 on fewest misses.
Piedmont’s Tatiana Green finished sixth in the 3A girls 400. Pleasant Valley’s Brenna Harris tied for eighth in the 3A high jump (4-8). Scott was seventh in the long jump (15-6).
Ohatchee’s Joria Steger and Courtney Poole were second (33-0) and sixth (31-5), respectively, in the girls shot. Poole was eighth in the javelin (89-10). Pleasant Valley’s girls were fourth in the 4×800 relay (10:53.67); Ohatchee was seventh (11:24.95).
On the boys side, Piedmont’s C.J. Savage finished second in the 3A boys 400 (51.75) and qualified second in the 100 (10.79) and 200 (21.96); teammate Cody Daughtry was seventh in the 400 (52.81); Wil Mitchell (12-0) and Chase Keener (11-6) finished 3-4 in the pole vault; Dreek Thompson was fourth in the triple jump (42-1¼); Skylar Fontaine was seventh in the javelin (147-2); Mitchell Benefield qualified third in 110 hurdles (15.75).
Pleasant Valley’s Jerek Ward was sixth in the shot (42-10½); Piedmont’s 4×100 relay qualified seventh (45.32); Pleasant Valley (8:52.23) and Piedmont (8:52.65) finished 5-6 in the 4×800 relay.
4A-7A: Banks, Hearn, Calhoun all finish top 5
GULF SHORES — Oxford’s Kaylan Banks and Brianna Calhoun and Jacksonville’s Rebecca Hearn enjoyed top five finishes in their respective events at the 4A-7A meet in Gulf Shores.
Banks finished fourth in the 6A boys 400 (49.36), while Hearn finished fifth in the 4A girls 3200 (11:50.53) and Calhoun was fifth in the 6A girls shot (35-5 1/2).
Elsewhere on the boys side, Saks’ Cole Thompson (15.63) and Isaiah Simmons (16.53) qualified 1-3 in the 4A 110 hurdles; in 5A and Anniston’s Lemuel Heard qualified seventh in the 200 (23.34).
On the girls side, Jacksonville’s Tatiyana Thomas qualified sixth in the 200 (27.83); Jazzmyn McClendon qualified second in the 100 hurdles (17.05). In 6A, Oxford’s Jamiria Bradford was seventh in the long jump (17-0).
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