After Friday’s state track finals, two things were evident: one being that Faith and Mobile Christian are the dominant teams in the AISA. The second is that Morgan Academy has two young state champions.

Junior Josh McAteer took home the state championship in the long jump with a hop of 20’09.75".

The MA junior said that he was looking forward to coming back next year and defending his state title.

For the Lady Senators, sophomore Ally Bradford notched her win in the event that she has dubbed her favorite – the 100-meter hurdles.

As a team, the Senators finished the event in fifth place with 53.5 points, behind Faith Academy with 67 points. The Lady Senators, however, posted a third place finish with 61 points behind state champion Faith Academy and Mobile Christian.

But, Morgan had other members of the Sens and Lady Sens track teams in competition for state gold.

In the Girls 200-Meter Dash, Elizabeth Watters finished with a time of 29.16 seconds. In the Girls 400-Meter Dash, Allison Peak and Hayes Cothran finished third and fourth respectively with marks of 1:06.58 and 1:07.45.

Clair Wilkinson and Jordan Leigh Gibbs both competed in the 800-Meter Dash and the MA relay squad posted a fourth-place finish in the 4×100 relay.

Shelby Thorpe and Sarah Holcombe paced themselves throughout the Girls1600 meter run and finished within four minutes of each, but finished out of the top three.

In the field events for the Lady Sens, Katie Taylor ended her season with runner up finish in the shot put. After qualifying as eighth on Thursday, she tossed a 31’02.25 shot, finishing nearly two feet behind Faith’s Tiffany Sanders.

Elizabeth Elliott represented MA in the discus and finished in fifth place behind Jessie Wilson and Kristen Harring, both of Mobile Christian.

Allison Peak and Aly Bradford finished fourth and fifth in the triple jump event with distances of 28’11.05" and 28’11" respectively. Watters competed in the long jump, finished three feet shorter than Faith Christian Shelter who went on to win the MVP for the event. The Lady Sens did, however, post a pair of third place finishes in the 4×800-Meter Relay and in the 4×400-Meter relay and a fourth place finish in the 4×200-Meter Relay. Faith and Mobile Christian battled it out for first and second in all three. The Lady Rams claimed two first place finishes in the 4×200 and in the 4×400, while the Lady Leopards notched a first in the 4×800.

On the boys side of things, McAteer wasn’t able to continue his long jump success in the 100-meter dash, finishing in a tie for sixth place with Riginald Toney from Mobile Christian.

Jeremy Smith and Reid Buster finished fifth and sixth in the 200-meter dash.

Rhett Rhyne posted a fifth place finish in the 400-Meter Dash. Ware Cox notched seventh in the 800-meter run while Walter Granthum finished in from of Marion Military’s Andrew Nichols in the 3200-meter run.

Reid Tolar posted a fourth place finish in the men’s 110-meter hurdles while Umana Patel finished sixth.

Morgan’s 4×100-meter relay team finished fourth, .08 of a second better than Lowndes Academy’s squad who finished fifth.

The Rebels answered back with a fourth place finish in the 4×200 relay, while Morgan finished in sixth place.

The Senators posted a fourth place finish in the 4×400 meter relay behind Pike Liberal Arts, Cottage Hill and Tuscaloosa Academy. They also finished fourth in the 4×800

behind Pike Liberal, Mobile Christian and Faith.

While McAteer won the long jump competition, Ben Callaway notched third place.

Callaway also finished fifth in the triple jump event but due to an injured ankle had to scratch himself from competition for the rest of the day.

McAteer finished his 2005 track season with a fourth place finish in the shot put event.

Overall, Morgan finished third and fifth in the girls and guys respectively.

MA wasn’t the only independent school from Selma that was represented.

Haley McIntyre of Meadowview Christian posted s third place finish in the Girls 300-Meter Hurdles with a time of 51.47. The Lady Trojan finished two places better than her counterpart from Morgan, Bradford. Bradford posted a time of 52.68.

Meadowview finished in sixth in the girls division while Lowndes Academy notched an 11th place finish in the boys division.