Bob Jones Track and Field bring home 2 state championships
Chase Fiddler cleared 6’6” in the high jump to win a state championship. (Photo Contributed)
MADISON- Bob Jones athletes were on the stand in the AHSAA Track and Field Championships held in Gulf Shores on May 6 and 7.
Briana Caudle and Chase Fiddler won first in high jump and got gold medals. AJ Harris got second place and a silver medal in the 100M dash.
Fiddler and Melvin Hill of Baker each tied the 7A record but Fiddler finished first with fewer misses. Both jumpers missed three tries at 6-08.
Fiddler, a sophomore, was discovered dunking a basketball. He played basketball at Discovery for current Bob Jones Track and Field Coach Brad Jefferson who approached him to try jumping.
“When he first came out he jumped 5-05 with no form,” Jefferson said. “Coach (Michael) Freeman worked with him got his form down, he started bending his back, and his first week out he jumped 6-02. He’s got ideal build for a jumper, tall linky guy straight up and down not a lot of muscle everywhere, really flexible. We’re already getting calls for him from colleges. He cleared 6-07 at the sectional. We looked up colleges and their jumpers are doing 6-09.”
Fiddler, who is 6-feet-4, is still primarily a basketball player. He was moved up to the Bob Jones varsity last year.
AJ Harris started the spring semester playing baseball but switched to track. In his first year on the track team he won every 100M race he competed in this season going into state.
“I surprised myself this year,” Harris said. “I thought these other guys had been running track for years would win it. There was a lot of competition. I went down to state thinking I have seen this speed the whole season but it was a whole lot more.”
Harris placed third in preliminaries and second in the final to Deonte Tolbert of Auburn High School.
Briana Caudle also won gold in high jump clearing 5’4”. She is a senior and still undecided on college but Auburn and UAH have offered her.
The only disappointment was the Bob Jones men’s 4×100 team that Harris was on and was expected to medal but was flagged for an out-of-zone handoff and DQ’d.
Charles Lewis of Sparkman set the state 400-meter record with a winning time of 47.94.
Hewitt Trussville won the men’s standings and Hoover won the women.
