Messenger files photos by Alex Chaney and Chris McCarthy
By Chris McCarthyPublisher/Editor
Emma Drinkard and Katie Giles collected a fair amount of hardware this past spring.
Drinkard, a sophomore at Ashville, and Giles, a sophomore at Glencoe, each took home 14 medals on the way to being named the 2021 All-Messenger Track and Field Ath-letes of the Year.
Drinkard won six gold medals, including two at state and four at sectionals, while competing in the 100-meter dash, the 400-meter dash and the 3200 and the 4×400-meter relays. Giles had nine first-place showings while participating in the 800, 1600 and 3200-meter runs.
The two runners shifted into high gear for the postseason. Drinkard captured the goal in all four events at the Class 4A Section 2 Meet at Beauregard – the 100 and 200-meter dashes in individual action and the 4×800 and 4×400 relay races. At the 4A state meet in Gulf Shores the following week, she won the 400-meter dash, was a member of the AHS first-place 4×800 team and took second in the 100-meter dash. Drinkard was also a member of the third-place AHS 4×400-meter relay team that was disqualified on a highly questionable lane violation ruling.
At the Class 3A Section 3 Meet at Fort Payne, Giles won the gold in the 800-meter run and silver in both the 1600-meter run and 3200-meter run. At the 3A state meet at Cullman, she was runner-up in the 1600-meter run and third in the 800-meter run.
Overall Coach of the Year honors went to Ashville’s Michele Rogers, who guided the girls program to its first sectional title in four years and saw the boys finish runner-up. Eighteen AHS athletes qualified for the state meet, where the Lady Bulldogs finished seventh out of 27 teams and the Bulldogs came in 10th out of 36 teams. Seven athletes medaled and eight broke personal records. In all but one of the team’s eight regular season meets, the Ashville girls finished no lower than fourth from a field of at least 18 teams in all classifications.
Co-MVPs: Emma Drinkard, Ashville; Katie Giles, Glencoe
Coach of the Year: Michele Rogers, Ashville
Note: times listed are season personal records
First team
100-meter dash
Emani Morgan, Gadsden City: 12.23
Emma Drinkard, Ashville: 12.55
Trinity Price, Gadsden City: 12.63
200-meter dash
Emani Morgan, Gadsden City: 26.05
Trinity Price, Gadsden City: 26.87
Kyla Price, Gadsden City: 26.95
400-meter dash
Emma Drinkard, Ashville: 58.30
Kyla Price, Gadsden City: 1:00.54
Zoie Menk, Southside: 101.53
800-meter run
Katie Giles, Glencoe: 2:24.45
Kathleen McCarthy, Ashville: 2:31.75
Callie Stewart, Ashville: 2:32.90
1600-meter run
Katie Giles, Glencoe: 5:23.90
Taylor Knight, Ashville: 5:33.92
Callie Stewart, Ashville: 5:47.59
3200-meter run
Katie Giles, Glencoe: 11:55.83
Taylor Knight, Ashville: 12:07.27
Meghan McCarthy, Ashville: 13:19.13
100-meter hurdles
Abby Rogers, Sardis: 17.96
Jimia Murry, Gadsden City: 19.25
Kelis Wilson, Gadsden City: 20.14
300-meter hurdles
Abby Rogers, Sardis: 51.45
Kayla Simpson, Ashville: 51.71
Jimia Murry, Gadsden City: 52.46
4×100-meter relay
Kyla Price, Trinity Price, Amelia Ryan and Emani Morgan, Gadsden City: 49.54
Ciara Flowers, Abbie Owens, Lexi Thompson and Lauren Henderson, Southside: 51.34
Abby Rogers, Kimberly Powell, Amaya Kittle and Lily Underwood, Sardis: 53.87
4×400-meter relay
Emani Morgan, Kyla Price, Trinity Price and Jadien Price, Gadsden City: 4:09.47
Kathleen McCarthy, Emma Drinkard, Molly Northam and Callie Stewart, Ashville: 4:23.69
Maggie Morgan, Ava Zuniga, Clare Goodwin and Kenna Stephens, Westbrook: 4:46.02
4×800-meter relay
Kathleen McCarthy, Emma Drinkard, Meghan McCarthy, Callie Stewart, Ashville: 10:10.94
Emma Doss, Jenna Bradley, Coley Sims and Ella Kate Shields, Hokes Bluff: 11:37.21
Maggie Morgan, Lauren Taylor, Kenna Stephens and Clare Goodwin, Westbrook: 11:48.93
Long jump
Abby Burns, Sardis: 16-1.25
Kayla Simpson, Ashville: 15-3
Lily Lewis, Gaston: 15-1
Triple Jump
Abby Burns, Sardis: 35-0.5
Kayla Simpson, Ashville: 32-6.5
Isabella Self, Sardis: 28-7
High jump
Chloe Rule, Hokes Bluff: 4-8
Haley Kate Wellingham, Hokes Bluff: 4-8
Trinity Price, Gadsden City: 4-6
Lydia Northam, Ashville: 4.6
Shot put
Kayla Simpson, Ashville: 30-8
Kaylee Knight, Glencoe: 30-2.25
Lily Underwood, Sardis: 28-10
Javelin
Maddie Sims, Hokes Bluff: 125-3
Kinley Morrison, Sardis: 99-9
Kaylee Knight, Glencoe: 89-2
Discus
Maddie Sims, Hokes Bluff: 92-1
Kaylan Ladosky, Ashville: 88-1
Gracie Countryman, Westbrook: 85-4.5
Pole Vault
Taylor Knight, Ashville: 5-6
Second team
100-meter dash
Lauren Henderson, Southside: 13.04
Abbie Owens, Southside: 13.23
Lily Underwood, Sardis: 13.30
200-meter dash
Abbie Owens, Southside: 27.20
Zoie Menk, Southside: 27.53
Haley Kate Wellingham, Hokes Bluff: 27.60
400-meter dash
Haley Kate Wellingham, Hokes Bluff: 1:03.53
Trinity Price, Gadsden City: 1:05.84
Jadien Price, Gadsden City: 1:06.76
800-meter run
Camryn Davis, Southside: 2:33.72
Taylor Knight, Ashville: 2:33.94
Hope Thomason, Hokes Bluff: 2:45.94
1600-meter run
Meghan McCarthy, Ashville: 6:02.07
Kathleen McCarthy, Ashville: 6:16.36
Lauren Taylor, Westbrook: 6:19.32
3200-meter run
Callie Stewart, Ashville: 13:49.08
Alexis Valentine, Southside: 13:57.80
Kiera Johnson, Hokes Bluff: 13:59.46
100-meter hurdles
Molly Northam, Ashville: 20.40
Haley Powers, Southside: 21.08
Emma Thompson, Ashville: 22:57
300-meter hurdles
Kathleen McCarthy, Ashville: 52.92
Molly Northam, Ashville: 53.15
Lauren Taylor, Westbrook: 58.91
4×100-meter relay
Maggie Morgan, Faith Countryman, Ava Zuniga and Gracie Hyfield, Westbrook: 56.17
Hannah Baker, Ella Hipps, Emma Hyfield and Nani Bethel, Glencoe: 57.18
4×400-meter relay
Maddie Sims, Jenna Bradley, Coley Sims and Chloe Rule, Hokes Bluff: 5:33.11
4×800-meter relay
Haley Powers, Alexis Valentine, Sarah Burger and Adalyn Phillips, Southside: 12:45.98
Long jump
Lauren Henderson, Southside: 14-5.5
Lexi Thompson, So
uthside: 14-5.5
Haley Kate Wellingham, Hokes Bluff: 14.5
Triple jump
Ava Zuniga, Westbrook: 28-6.5
Faith Harris, Sardis: 27-8.5
Lydia Northam, Ashville: 27-7
High jump
Kyla Price, Gadsden City: 4-4
Abby Burns, Sardis: 4-2
Jimia Murry, Gadsden City: 4-2
Shot put
Emma Gallagher, Southside: 28-4
Mandelyn McGinnis, Glencoe: 27-1
Nakia Tinker, Westbrook: 26-4
Javelin
Abby Watkins, Hokes Bluff: 85-6
Isabella Self, Sardis: 81.8
Sadie Thomason, Southside: 80-10
Discus
Lily Underwood, Sardis: 84-5
Kaylee Knight, Glencoe: 75-4
Mandelyn McGinnis, Glencoe: 74-10