James Clemens Indoor Track Team Makes School History
James Clemens girls’ indoor track team defeated top ranked Hoover for the first time in school history at the Martin Luther King Indoor Track Classic. Sophomore sensation Shataeya Ligon won three gold medals at the meet held in Birmingham. Vada Samuels, pictured, was on the 4X400 relay, which took first place. Contributed photo
BIRMINGHAM- Many high school coaches in the North Alabama area will easily state to win on the state level you must go through Hoover High as the Class 7A Buccaneers are among the top programs in most sports. For the first time in its six-year school history James Clemens has notched a victory over the Birmingham school by winning the Martin Luther King Indoor Track Classic held at Birmingham’s CrossPlex.
“It’s unbelievable to see how our athletes have progressed and made the efforts to finally beat Hoover, the No. 1 ranked program in Alabama,” said Drew Bell head coach of James Clemens.
The James Clemens girl’s squad posted 105 points in the 133-school, 1,800-athlete event to edge runner-up Hoover who scored 93.5 points. Sparkman was 18th with 22 points and Bob Jones 33rd scoring 11.5 points.
In boy’s Hoover was No. 1 with 109 points. Bob Jones was 25th with 15 points, Sparkman No. 50 with six points, James Clemens 55th with five points posted while Madison Academy scored two points to finish 64th in the team standings. Junior Shafi Muhammad of Bob Jones was the lone winner in boys taking the 800-meter with a time of 1:59.21.
With the Regional and State Meets just around the corner, the Lady Jets put on a show in front of the largest indoor track meet in the South. They were led by sophomore sensation Shataeya Ligon who won three gold medals including the triple jump (37-1.25), 60-meter hurdles (9.09 seconds) and long jump (17-feet, 9.5 inches). Ligon edged James Clemens teammate Ashlee Osaji (17-06.75) in the long jump while Aajiah Watkins, another James Clemens sophomore, finished fifth (16-03). Osaji also took the silver medal behind Ligon’s gold in the triple jump with a distance of 36-9.5. Ligon was also one of the legs of the 4 by 200 which took runner-up.
“Winning wasn’t easy as there was some good competition in this meet and I worked hard to get to this level,” said Ligon of her three gold medal performances.
In all, James Clemens grabbed six gold medals including in girl’s shotput where Zuri Falkner took the top spot where the senior posted a throw of 37-02.5. Fellow James Clemens senior Kennedy Reese was third (34-09). In the high jump, Kiara Risher, a junior, jumped 5-04 to take home the gold medal. The Jets’ 4 by 400 relay team took first place with a time of 4:04.59. The Jets’ 4 by 200 squad finished second to Auburn (1:43.92) by a posted time of 1:45.38. Sparkman was third (1:45.43).
The lone victor for Sparkman was top seeded and defending state champion Lauryn Hall, a senior, who posted a nice time of 7.69 to win the 60-meter sprint.
“This was the time to finally beat Hoover,” said Bell. “The team plan was to work on specific different events in each meet this season and put all events and the entire team lineup together for the MLK as we feel this was a dress rehearsal performance for the State Meet (Feb. 2-3).”
“A lot of hard work went into our accomplishment and it felt good to do what we set out to do and make school history,” added Ligon. “We knew it was going to be difficult. I feel I always have things to work on to get better.”
