Photo: Sardis High’s Torin Bright (center) nears the finish line of the 300-meter hurdles during the Class 4A state track and field meet on May 1 in Gulf Shores. Bright won the first place gold medal in the event. (Chris McCarthy/Messenger)
By Chris McCarthy, Pubisher/Editor
The Sardis High girls and boys track and field team acquitted themselves well last weekend at the AHSAA state meet in Gulf Shores.
Torin Bright earned a pair of medals to help the Lions finish fifth out of 33 teams in Class 5A. Bright won the gold in the 300-meter hurdles, edging Demopolis’ Trenton Braxton, 40.26 to 40.98 seconds. Bright, who signed with Spring Hill College in Mobile earlier this year, earned the second-place silver in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.81 seconds.
Bright, who ran the 110 event first, said he wanted redemption for that second-place showing. He accomplished just that, setting a PR in the process.
“I was thinking I was going to win the 110,” he said. “I was beating everybody but I hit the last hurdle, which slowed me down, and [Brayden Harris of Demopolis] ended up winning. So I was going to give it all I had in the 300. [The race] seemed to go a lot faster than it usually does.”
Bright was hoping to win the gold medal in the long jump, as he did at sectionals, but settled for fourth place.
“The way you land in the sand will get you more length,” he said. “Something was off, because I was landing weird. I don’t really get nervous before an event, but I guess I was a little bit [in the long jump].”
“Torin works harder than any kid that I’ve coached in terms of doing extra,” said Sardis track and field head coach Cory Franklin. “He’s constantly working on his craft and working when people don’t see it. He’s done that since I got here, and that’s what I’m most proud of.”
Also for Sardis, Brody Lowe took the third-place bronze in the shot put with a throw of 46-05.00 feet. He came one foot shy of a bronze medal in the discus, throwing 133-00 feet to Wenonah’s Hendrix Calhoun’s measure of 134-01 feet. Lowe also earned Sardis points with an eighth-place throw of 141-10 feet in the javelin.
“Brody did really well in all of the [events],” said Franklin. “The shot [put] and discus has always been Brody’s thing, but the javelin is one where he wasn’t interested in it. He picked one up and threw it one day so I said, ‘Why do you do javelin?,’ and ended up doing it.”
The Sardis girls came in 13th out of 28 teams. The lone medalist for Sardis was Abby Burns, who posted a second-place effort of 34-06.25 in the triple jump.
“I’m extremely proud of Abby and her hard work,” said Franklin. “She did an incredible job at this meet.”
Also for the Lady Lions, Kinley Morrison placed fifth in the javelin at 99-09 feet, Abby Rodgers’s time of 18.67 seconds was good for seventh place in the 100-meter hurdles and Lily Underwood finished seventh on the discus with a throw of 84-05 feet.
Ron Balaskovitz of the Samd Mountain Reporter contributed to this article.
