Sparked by three first-place finishes and two second-place efforts on Saturday, the Houston Academy girls track and field team made a run at the AHSAA Class 3A state title in Cullman.
Unfortunately for the Raiders, defending state champion Altamont made a bigger charge.
The Knights amassed 59 points on Saturday to jump from fifth place to first and edge the Raiders, who finished as the state runner-up for the second straight year.
Altamont, which won its sixth state title since 2015, finished with 85 team points and HA followed with 80. The Raiders finished well ahead of third place Westminster of Oak Mountain, which had 60 points.
Two other Wiregrass girls teams had strong showings in 3A as Pike County finished in fifth place with 39.5 points and Northside Methodist Academy captured sixth place with 38 points. Opp placed 14th in 3A with 10 points and Ashford tied for 27th with 4 points.
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The Providence Christian girls tied for 15th place in Class 4A with 16 points, while in 5A, Charles Henderson took 10th place with 24 points, Carroll 14th place with 18 points, Rehobeth tied for 29th with five points and Headland tied for 33rd with one point.
In Class 7A, Enterprise placed 11th with 17 points and Dothan in 19th place with 4 points.
Meanwhile in Class 1A, the Houston County girls finished in eighth place with 28 points. In 2A, the Barbour County girls tied for 25th place with nine points and Abbeville tied for 30th place with three points.
Flanagan, Hart and relay pace HA: Houston Academy’s final day was led by first-place efforts from Macauley Flanagan, Brianna Hart and the 4x400 relay team.
Flanagan won the 200-meter run, recording a winning time of 25.33 seconds. Hart won the 3200-meter run in 11 minutes and 50.08 seconds and the 4x400 relay team of Brianna Hart, Holley Hart, Kate Langford and Flanagan won in 4 minutes and 13.15 seconds.
Flanagan added a second-place finish Saturday in the 100-meter dash, clocking a time of 12.60, finishing 0.04 of a second behind winner Kaylin Jackson of Pike Couty (12.56). Langford also earned a second-place finish, doing so in the 800 meters with a 2:27.77 time.
Makaria McGriff placed seventh in the 100-meter hurdles behind a 17.54 time and Elizabeth Price finished eighth in the 300-meter hurdles in 51.80 seconds.
Flanagan and Briana Hart led the HA effort overall at the two-day meet. Flanagan earned three gold medals – the 200, 400 and 4x400 relay – and added a silver medal in the 100 meters. Hart was part of the winning relay and won the 3200 meters, while finishing second in the 1600 meters and having a part of the fourth place 4x800 relay team.
Mills, NMA make history: The Northside Methodist Academy girls made history, earning the school’s best finish since joining the Alabama High School Athletic Association with a sixth-place team finish.
Karleigh Mills paced the Knights with three top six performances, including earning the school’s first ever state gold medal in the sport on Friday in winning the javelin. On Saturday, she added a fourth-place finish in the 100 meters with a 12.63 time and a fifth-place effort in the 200 meters following a 26.30 time.
Genna McCallum, Abby Grace Alexander and Autumn Dressler added top eight scoring finishes on Saturday for the Knights.
McCallum, the first NMA athlete to compete in the pole vault, finished in third place in the event, clearing 8 feet even. Alexander claimed fourth place in the discus with a throw of 101 feet, 08 inches and Dressler placed eighth in the 3200-meter run with a time of 12 minutes and 46.69 seconds.
Two place for Providence: Two Providence Christian girls earned top eight finishes on Saturday’s final day – Anna Catherine Farris and Madelyn Patterson.
The two both earned their finishes in the 800-meter run. Farris captured fifth place in 2:26.03 and Patterson claimed seventh in 2:29.55.
Below are the rest of the girls results from Saturday for Wiregrass teams.
Pike County (Class 3A)
Kaylin Jackson, 1st place, 100 meters, 12.56 seconds
4x100 relay team, 1st place, 49.81
D’Yana Knox, 5th place, 100-meter hurdles, 17.54
Quanajah Smith, 2nd place, triple jump, 35 feet, 8 ½ inches
Opp (Class 3A)
4x100 relay, 5th place, 51.87
Le’Tasia Coleman, 7th place, 300 hurdles, 51.74
Ashford (Class 3A)
Kayla Fields, 6th place, discus, 93 feet, 08 inches
Charles Henderson (Class 5A)
Payton Ousley, 1st place, 100 meters, 12.24
Payton Ousley, 3rd place, 200 meters, 25.45
4x100 relay team, 2nd place, 49.62
Rehobeth (Class 5A)
Hallie Blake, 4th place, 300 hurdles, 48.42
Enterprise (Class 7A)
4x100 relay team, 2nd place, 47.56
Sarah Amos, 4th place, shot put, 36’ feet, 3 inches
Layla Straw, 5th place, 100 meters, 12.14
Houston County (Class 1A)
4x100 relay, 3rd place, 52.78
Ariel Jones, 2nd place, 200 meters, 26.67
Adriel Jones, 5th place, 100 meters, 13.14
Barbour County (Class 2A)
Anesia Eutsey, 6th place, shot put, 90’3”
Magen Stewart, 8th place, 300 hurdles, 53.13
Abbeville (Class 2A)
Tetyana McCray, 6th place, 100 meters, 13:10