Calhoun County, AL – With former coach Long cheering on the side, Donoho’s Connell takes three gold medals in Calhoun County meet. Oxford’s boys extend team title streak, and Alexandria’s girls recapture the top spot.
2024 Calhoun County track meet
GIRLS’ TEAM RESULTS
1. Alexandria 148
2. Oxford 142
3. White Plains 93
4. Jacksonville 83.5
5. Anniston 74
6. Saks 39
7. Donoho 34
8. Pleasant Valley 21
9. Weaver 18.5
10. Piedmont 18
11. Wellborn 8
12. Ohatchee 8
BOYS’ TEAM RESULTS
1. Oxford 201.5
2. Anniston 152
3. Jacksonville 70
4. Weaver 62.5
5. White Plains 42.5
6. Alexandria 38
7. Piedmont 33
8. Ohatchee 32
9. Faith Christian 23.5
10. Pleasant Valley 23
11. Wellborn 13
12. Saks 7
13. Donoho 4
By Joe Medley
OXFORD — Estella Connell heard two sounds as she reunited with gravity on her winning high jump in the Calhoun County track meet.
The Donoho senior heard the thump of hitting the pad, knowing she had just secured her meet-best third individual gold medal. Then she heard recent-former coach Hayley Long’s voice.
“Yeeeeaaaahhhhhh!” Long cried out from the gallery.
Long’s presence highlighted Connell’s day, and Connell’s three-gold performance highlighted a day of highlights on Choccolocco Park’s track.
Led by Antonio Hicks’ four medals, including two golds, Oxford’s boys won their seventh county title, beating two-time defending Class 4A state champion Anniston 201.5-152.
With 30 points from Anna Beth Stewart and two golds from Tyasha Hunt, Alexandria’s girls took county supremacy back from Oxford, edging the Yellow Jackets 148-142 for the Valley Cubs’ fifth county title and first since 2021. Oxford’s girls won in 2022 and 2023 after Alexandria had won four years in a row.
— The day also saw Saks’ Terriuanna Huguley take gold in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
— White Plains’ Maddyn Conn dominated distance runs with golds in the 1,600 and 3,200 runs, and she anchored the Wildcats’ winning 4×800 relay team.
— Oxford’s Jereniah Wall took gold in the 100 and 300 hurdles.
— Top boys’ performers included Anniston’s Malachi Taylor, who took gold in the long jump and triple jump.
— Weaver’s boys swept hurdles, with Keshawn Allen taking gold in 110 and Kaden Gooden gold in the 300.
— Anniston won the 4×400 and 4×800 relays.
— Perhaps one of the biggest breakthroughs from a team and individual standpoint saw Anniston’s Jah-Ray Gutierrez take gold in the pole vault (10-06), winning a jumpoff with Pleasant Valley’s Clark Hill for Anniston’s first old in that event. Teammate ZaDarriuan Harbour (10-00) took third.
The breakthrough came about a month after Anniston coach Lisa Howard-Holland prodded three Bulldogs about their interest in pole vaulting. Once they said yes, she reached out to retired White Plains coach John Moore for help.
Moore and oldest son Matthew, who set the county pole vaulting record for White Plains in 2018 and completed for the University of Montevallo.
Wednesday’s county meet marked Anniston’s third pole-vault attempt in a meet.
“Matthew told me, ‘I think you really could get a county champ out of these guys,’” Holland said. “And then, lo and behold today! We have a county champ with two guys on the podium.
“What an absolute amazing feeling for those young men and the team.”
Connell took gold in the high jump (4-10), after a jumpoff with Stewart. Connell also took the long jump (15-10) and triple jump (32-08.5).
She did it with a very interested fan standing off to the side. Long retired from coaching in the fall, after the cross country season but showed up for the county meet in body and spirit.
“She’s always the first person I hear,” Connell said. “It was really hard, going into a new season without the coach who had trained me my whole life.
“I knew I didn’t have her beside me the entire time. It was mainly just me relying on me, and I had to put more of myself in practice.”
Connell called her jumpoff with Stewart “really intense.” Both attempted 5-feet and 4-11 before Connell won at 4-10.
“I saw that she was really close in the rankings,” Connell said. “I knew I had to save my energy throughout the day for this special event, because this is the event that takes the most out of me.”
Stewart had herself a day, as well, and an impact on a team county title. She finished second in the 100 hurdles (18.70), high jump (4-10) and discus (87-01) and third in the long jump (14-00).
Add Hunt’s gold in the shot (34-01) and discus (94-10), and the two accounted for 50 of Alexandria’s points.
Winning the county title back “is something really big,” Stewart said. “The last (two) years, we came in second to Oxford. Every year, we work really hard.
“Beating Oxford is the goal, but beating every time is the goal.”
Oxford graduated several top performers from its 2022 and 2023 county-championship teams, most notably distance powerhouse Katie Keur and reigning county athlete of the year Keziah Mickler.
“We always want to win, but Alexandria is loaded,” Oxford coach Landon Delozier. “They’ve continued to reload like our guys have been, and we took a huge loss last year with a bunch of girls who won first in a bunch of different events.
“The fact that we can come back and we can be nose to nose and barely miss first, that’s really good, and we’ve got a bunch of young ones stepping up. I think we had five middle-school girls complete today.”
Oxford’s boys won eight events, with Hicks and Case Payne winning two individual golds apiece.
Hicks took the 100 (10.96) and 200 dashes (22.31) and was part of Oxford’s gold-winning 4×100 relay team (42.39). He also took bronze in the high jump (5-08).
Payne won the 800 (2:07.05) and 1,600 (4:43.98).
Oxford swept all three podium positions in the high jump, with Jayden Lewis taking gold (5-10) and Camare Hampton silver (5-08). Matt Tippetts took second in the 1,600 (4:46.28) and won the 3,200 (10:51.31).
It was another dominating show for a program that continues to dominate the county track scene. The Yellow Jackets held up seven fingers for their group trophy picture.
“We’re trying to keep it going,” Hicks said. “We haven’t lost since I’ve been here, and we’re trying to keep that up.
“Anniston is trying to take it from us, but we’re not going to let that happen.”
