By Joshua Huff, sports editor
BIRMINGHAM – Though we recently ushered in a new year, the same results followed the Hewitt-Trussville indoor track and field team on Saturday as the Huskies spun a masterful meet at the 2020 Ice Breaker Invitational (6A-7A) into multiple first-place finishes along with new personal records and school records.
Lea Townsend. Photo courtesy of Hewitt-Trussville Athletics.
Continuing what has been a stellar season, Lea Townsend recorded yet another gold medal performance in the shot put as she posted a toss of 38-09.50, which was four feet further than second-place finisher Cadence Huntsinger’s throw of 34-02.50.
The girls’ dominance continued with Kelsey Martin’s first-place finish in the long jump. Martin topped a height of 17-04.50, which was three inches higher than Christierra William’s (Carver Montgomery) jump of 17-01.00. In addition to the win, Martin set a new program record.
Rounding out the top 5 for the girls’ team were Sophia Knox’s fifth-place finish in the 3200-meter run, Martin’s third-place finish in the triple jump, and the 4×200-meter relay team’s fourth-place finish.
As a team, the girls finished in third place (35 points) behind Auburn (39 points), Spain Park (40 points) and first-place finisher Hoover, which ran away from the field with 81 points.
The boys’ team was spurred on by several top-5 finishers led by Alex Jones and Nathan Knox’s silver medal performances in the 800 and 1600-meter runs, respectively.
Jones narrowly missed out of taking the top podium in the 800-meter run. He finished just two seconds behind gold medal winner Heath Varmette, of Grissom. Varmette finished with a time of 2:01.66, while Jones finished in 2:03.03.
Knox just missed out on a first-place finish in the 1600-meter run by one second. He finished with a time of 4:36.88, which fell just behind Grissom’s Dustyn Lewis’ winning time of 4:35.17. Knox’s time set a new personal record.
Rounding out the top 5 for the boys were Julian Collins’ fourth-place finish in the 60-meter dash and third-place finish in the long jump. Omari Kelly wrapped the day with a fourth-place finish in the long jump, and Syed Raze rounded out the boys’ top 5 with a fifth-place finish in the shot put.
On the day, the boys’ team finished in second place with a score of 38 points. Hoover, which swept the event, ran away with the victory after a score of 113.33.
Alex Jones. Photo courtesy of Hewitt-Trussville Athletics.
Julian Collins. Photo courtesy of Hewitt-Trussville Athletics.
Nathan Knox. Photo courtesy of Hewitt-Trussville Athletics.
