State track and field: Spartan girls lead after Day 2
GULF SHORES -- Don't look now, but the Mountain Brook High School girls track and field team is leading the Class 7A state meet.
The Spartans posted a string of strong performances on Friday during the second day of competition at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex. The team will attempt to maintain its position on Saturday -- the meet's third and final day.
Currently, the Spartans lead second-place Auburn, 63.16 to 51. A flurry of runner-up finishes catapulted Mountain Brook to its top spot.
Spartan senior Anna Grace Morgan finished second in the 3,200-meter run, avenging a fourth-place finish that kept her off the podium in Thursday's 1,600-meter run. Morgan crossed the finish line in 10 minutes, 58.58 seconds.
Auburn's Samantha Rogers took first with a 7A state-meet record time of 10:53.12. The record previously belonged to former Spartan Frances Patrick.
"Today, I just wanted to come back and just be really focused and stay up there to make sure that I scored some big points for the team," Morgan said.
Ana McArdle placed seventh in the 3,200 with a time of 11:20.49.
Morgan also contributed to the Spartans' runner-up 4x800-meter relay squad. It placed second to Huntsville, but it edged Hoover by a fraction of a second.
Mountain Brook ran 9:26.48 to Hoover's 9:26.62.
Holli Chapman placed second in the 400-meter run, finishing in 57.25 seconds. Oak Mountain's Nicole Payne won in 56.58.
The Spartans scored significant points in the track events, but their biggest haul came in the high jump. Ella Cobbs and Eleanor Swagler tied for second. Both cleared the bar at 5 feet, 2 inches and took the same number of attempts at each height. Anne Carlton Clegg also cleared 5-2, but she finished tied for seventh because she took more attempts.
Collectively, the Spartans earned 15.5 points from the high jump alone.
The Mountain Brook boys scored their first points of the meet on Friday after notching a third-place finish in the 4x800-meter relay. Gram Denning, Warren Fitzpatrick, John Galloway and Griffin Riley comprised the team that ran 8:05.11. Hoover won in 8:03.8.
Saturday's competition begins at 8:30 a.m. and should wrap up around 3 p.m.
*William Galloway contributed reporting
Village Living is in Gulf Shores for the Class 4A-7A state meet to bring you up-to-the minute coverage of the Spartan track and field teams. For live updates, follow @sam5k on Twitter and visit villagelivingonline.com