Dadeville High School senior Antojuan Woody won the 3A boys’ 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash Saturday in the final day of the Class 1A-3A State Track and Field Championships came to a close at Cullman High School’s Woodard Stadium.
The victories, however, were emotional and bittersweet wins.
Woody’s teammate and track team leader Philstavious Dowdell was the defending state champion after winning the 100 and 200-meter dash titles in 2022. Dadeville finished third in the state in the outdoor championships last season.
Dowdell was one of four who died in a shooting incident in April at his sister’s 16th birthday party. Also losing her life was the team manager, senior Shaunkivia “KeKe” Nicole Smith. Former football teammate Kaderrius Heard, also a senior, was paralyzed in the melee and is still hospitalized in Birmingham. Both were close friends of the Dowdells.
Woody said he and his teammates had extra incentive this week at the state track championships. They wanted to honor their friends’ memory by giving the best effort they could.
“After the incident, we talked to our team to see if they wanted to continue the season,” said Dadeville track coach Chris Hand. “They had been through a lot of emotional stress. No one would have faulted them if they had elected not to continue on with the season. They made it very clear that they wanted to continue, however.
“It was really tough leaving for the section meet last week without them on the bus. Our kids are truly amazing though. Antojuan stepped forward and has been the leader, the one who really emerged in this role. Had Phil been here, we could have finished first and second in the 100 and 200. That isn’t important though. What is important is that these kids, Antojuan especially, came in to the state meet with a bigger purpose.”
Woody knelt and prayed behind the starting block moments before racing past the competition to claim the gold in the 200-meter dash Saturday afternoon at Cullman High School’s Woodard Stadium. He said he knew he wasn’t alone.
“I really felt a bigger purpose,” he said. “I was running for my friend and my team. I felt like I had wings.”
He won the 100-meter dash in 11.11 seconds. Freshman Braylin Jackson of Pike County High School was 1/100th of a second behind at 11.12 seconds. Jackson’s twin sister Braylin Jackson won the Class 3A girls’ 100-meter dash finals.
Kaylin, a sophomore, qualified third in the prelims but got a great jump out of the blocks and won the first place with a 12.55 time. She nipped Colbert County senior Keeara Ricks by 1/100th of a second for state title. Ricks qualified fifth with a 13.01 time but shaded almost a half second off her final time. Kaylin had a 12.76 qualifying time. No. 1 seed Macauley Flanagan of Houston Academy was third at 12.58 seconds.
Dadeville finished tied for fourth place in Class 3A – trailing the state champion Madison Academy by just 12 points overall. The Mustangs won the boys’ 3A crown with 58 points, thanks in part to a strong finish in the 4×400-meter relay – the final race of the day.
Flomaton, which just six members in the competition, finished second with 55 points, Vinemont had 53 and Hand’s Tigers tied with Trinity Presbyterian with 46 points each.
Madison Academy picked up 10 points by winning the 4×400 with juniors Caleb Williams and Jackson Reece and sophomores Joshua Williams and J.R. Howard clocking 3:32.01 to win the relay and the state crown. Trinity was second in the relay, J.B. Pennington was third, and Dadeville was fourth just five seconds behind the Mustangs.
Altamont needed its third-place finish to clinch the Class 3A state championship and its 13th state title overall. The Knights totaled 72 points and runner-up Houston Academy had 66. Heading into the final race, the Raiders trailed Altamont 66-56.
Houston Academy placed first in the relay with Millie Gay, Katie Langford, Holley Hart, and MaCauley Flanagan clocking 4:14.96 to win the 10 points which would created a tie at the top. Abbey Sellers, Arden Campbell, Kate Nichols and Frances Overton picked six points for their third-place finish. Susan Moore took second place to finish fifth over with 46 points. Westminster of Oak Mountain was third with 63 points and Indian Springs was fourth with 60.
Cold Springs swept the boys’ and girls’ state titles in Class 2A. The Eagles won easily in the girls’ competition with 87 points. It was the first girls’ track championship in school history, and the third for the boys. Francis Marion and Whitesburg Christian tied for second with 53 points each. The boys also won handily with 97 points. Sand Rock was second with 52, and Reeltown had 46 for third place.
And in Class 1A, Loachapoka edged Addison 84-82 to take the school’s first boys’ state outdoor track crown. Florala was third with 77.5. Marion County won the girls’ first 1A state championship with 91 points. Winterboro was runner-up with 58, and Loachapoka’s girls were third with 46.
Nine records fell in the two-day state meet with distance runners Ethan Edgeworth of Cold Springs and Ethan Lemons of Vinemont having a hand in them.
Lemons set new records in the Class 3A 1,600 and 3,200 races with times of 4:12.24 and 8:56.50, respectively. He broke his own records in both cases. His performance Saturday in the 3,200 was most extraordinary. He lapped every runner in the field and lapped one runner twice. His time was also 25 seconds better than his 2022 record time 9:22.62.
Edgeworth set the Class 2A record for 800 meters and 3,200 meters Saturday and established new records in the 1,600 meters and 4×800 relay on Friday. He ran the 1,600 in 4:12.24 Friday and clocked 9:18.47 in the 3,200 Saturday to eclipse his own record set in 2021 (9:423.27) by 20 seconds. Teammate Jayden Allred also bested that record Saturday with clocking 9:41.38. He was also on the record-setting 4×800 relay Friday. The Eagles’ winning time (8:15.99) beat the previous record (8:22.56) set by Falkville in 2006. Sand Rock also topped Falkville’s mark with running 8:18.90 to finish second in the relay to Cold Springs.
Edgeworth closed out his junior season with a 1:54.76 time in the Class 2A 800 Saturday. The previous record (1:57.32) , set in 2022 by Andrew Burchett of St. Luke’s Episcopal, was also beaten by Burchett Saturday. He ran the distance in 1:55.68 to finish second to Edgeworth.
Westminster-Oak Mountain’s 4×800 girls’ relay team set a new mark (10:06.78) on Friday in Class 3A to erase the record (10:09.18) set Montgomery Academy in 2012. Indian Springs’ Cara Huff established a new Class 3A girls’ discus mark with a 132-07 throw. Leeds’ Tiphanie Baker set the previous mark (132-0) in 37 years earlier 1986.
In Class 2A, Sulligent senior Amiya Johnson and St. Luke’s Georgia Johnson had strong performances. Amira won the 100-meter dash 12.30, second in the 200-meter dash in 26.22, and was second in the 400 with at 57.93. She took third in the triple jump with a leap of 31-10.75 and third in thr long jump (16-03.75).
Georgia won the 400 in 25.52 seconds, won the 300 with s 25.59 time, was third in the 100 (12.54) and third in the 200 (12.54).
