Southside, Selma compete at state meets, more participating Friday

Published 11:46 pm Thursday, May 5, 2016

Only a handful of track and field athletes from the Selma-Dallas County area competed in their state meets Thursday, but there will be many more to come over the weekend.

Selma High School high jumper Karl Robbins leaped to a 5-foot-10 mark at the class 4A -7A state meet Thursday in Gulf Shores, while Southside’s 4×100 relay team was disqualified for stepping outside their lane.

“I just told them don’t worry about it today. We’re going to focus on tomorrow,” said Southside head coach Jeremy Sturdivant.

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Both Robbins and a majority of Southside’s relay team will have a chance for redemption when they compete again Saturday.

“He’s going to have to jump a 6-foot-4 to make it in the final flight,” said Selma head coach Ivery Williams of Robbins.

Before they can compete again, plenty of other track and field athletes from the Selma area will have a chance to earn a medal when they compete Friday.

Athletes from Dallas County High School, Selma and Southside will compete in the second day of competition in Gulf Shores Friday, while athletes from Keith and Ellwood Christian will travel to Cullman for the first day of the class 1A-3A state meet.

Southside’s Antonyah Dudley is the first up, as her girls’ shot put event is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. At noon, Southside’s Chris Davis is competing in the triple jump and Dallas County’s Caleb McDougal takes part in the boys’ discus throw.

Davis has the second best triple jump qualifying distance with 44 feet, four inches. The only athlete who came in with the better distance is Montavious Staples, with 44 feet, eight inches, from Handley High School.

To round out the day’s action in Gulf Shores, Selma’s Johnathan Pressley will run the 200-meter dash at 4:25 p.m. in the third of three heats. Williams said he thinks Pressley will have to run the 200 meters in 21.6 seconds if he wants to move on to the finals.

“He will probably have to finish first or second like he normally does,” Williams said. “He knows who he has to beat.”

In Cullman, Keith’s 4×100 meter relay team starts at 10 a.m. Keith’s relay team came in with the second best qualifying time out of the 21 teams competing in the event. Keith’s 4×100 team ran a 46.06 at the sectional meet, while Linden, the top team coming in, posted a 45.76.

Next up, Keith’s Quomila Johnigan is running the 400 meter dash at 12:30 p.m. At 1:45 p.m., Brianna Dower, the only Ellwood Christian athlete competing Friday, tackles the 100 meter hurdles.

Shortly after, at 2 p.m., Keith’s Eric Smiley is competing in the 800 meter dash. Two Keith runners, Tyeshia Malone and Jeremiah Campbell, are running the girls’ and boys’ 100 meter dash, respectively, at 2:30 p.m.

Finally, Travis Goldsby is scheduled to finish the day for Keith with the 200 meter dash at 4 p.m.

About Justin Fedich

Staff writer for The Selma Times-Journal.

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