“We Are The Champions” Rings Among The James Clemens Girl’s Track Team
GULF SHORES- Drew Bell has changed his ringtone on his cell phone to “We Are The Champions,’ the 1977 hit song by the group Queen. “Awh, that sounds so good,” said Bell, after he led the James Clemens girl’s track team to the Class 7A State Track Championship.
With the victory, the track program’s head coach won his 12th state title as a head coach and presented the Madison school its only athletic program state title in school history.
The Lady Jets trailed Auburn High by 1.5 points heading into the meet’s final event, the 4×400 relay. In the relay, James Clemens finished fifth and collected four points, which gave the squad the state title with 82 points to Auburn’s runner-up 80.5 points.
“We never made a mistake as all the girls performed to the expectations of the coaches and the team,” said Bell. “Hats off to my staff as we have the best coaching staff and the best support from our school administration.”
For James Clemens, setting the pace was senior Ashlee Osaji who scored 34 points in her performances. She won the state titles in both the long (18-09.75) and triple jumps (40-03.75), was runner-up in the 200-meter (24.18) and third in the 400-meter (56.18).
“I’m still speechless over winning the state title and I’m still very emotional,” said Osaji, a recent signee with Southern Miss. “Before the state meet the coaches didn’t say anything about possibly winning, so as we were watching the final event we weren’t sure what was going to happen.”
At 5-foot-11, Osaji has the length to make the strides necessary to excel in the jump events and sprints, but earning the title of high-point winner in Class 7A never entered her mind heading into the state meet. She added, “I went into the event thinking it was just another meet as my mindset was score as many points as possible to help the team.”
Senior teammate Kiara Risher won the high jump tying the state record of 5-feet, 6-inches and was runner-up in the 100-meter with a time of 12.05 seconds.
“For the high jump I just focused that I would place well and if I had no misses in my jumps I should do well,” said Risher, a University of South Alabama signee. “The 100 was a great running for me as I didn’t expect to finish among the top three, so that was nice that I ran my personal best time. As for the team title, what a great way for us seniors to end our time within the program. It was sad, but happy.”
Rachel Seeley, an additional talented senior James Clemens took s bronze medal in the 300-hurdles with a time of 45.77. Bob Jones, which finished 14th in girls, had some support in the javelin as senior Nichole Harting was runner-up with a toss of 137-02, which was a new state record, but to only be outdone by an athlete from Auburn who made a throw of 139-11 to take first setting a new state mark. Sparkman was second in the 4×100 relay (48.13).
Sparkman finished 17th in team scoring with 15.
In Class 7A boys, Sparkman’s Charles Lewis again showed his prowess on the track winning both the 100 and 200-meter sprints. His 100 times was 10.49 while he posted a time of 21.10 in the 200. In the prelims, Lewis set a new state record in the 200 with a time of 20.96. Bob Jones picked up an individual state title when senior Matthew Weaver ran a 38.16 to win the 300 hurdles race.
Trevor Hunziker of James Clemens was second in the discus (157-07) and Sparkman was runner-up in the 4×100 relay (41.93). Shafi Muhhamd of Bob Jones was third in the 800-meter (1:55.60).
Hoover won the state title with 105.50 points, followed by 12. Bob Jones, 30, and No. 13 Sparkman 28.
In Class 4A, the Madison Academy Mustangs picked up for state titles while in team scoring the school finished third in both boys and girls.
Senior Mustang Liyah Nelson won both the 100 (12.07) and 200 meter (25.16) races while teammate Sarah Elkins, 12, was runner-up to the sophomore Nelson in both races posting a 12.40 in the 100 and a time of 25.43 in the 200. Rachel Baker, 12, was third in the javelin with a toss of 114-05.
Evan Brooks won the 100-meter with a time of 10.61 to lead the Madison Academy boys. He was also part of the relay team which took the gold medal in the 4×100 with a winning time of 42.47. Senior Slate Rucker was third in the 200 with a finish time of 22.58.
Catholic Montgomery won the 4A girls title with 102 points while Madison Academy scored 53 points for third place. In boys, Greensboro was tops with 66.5 while the Mustangs scored 50.50 for its third place showing.
For Bell, he won six state titles at Pensacola Catholic High, three at Smith’s Station High while breaking eight state records in his tenure there, and one state title each at Spain Park and Oxford before moving to Bob Jones and then to James Clemens when the new school opened.
Three weeks ago at a huge meet at Mountain Brook, Bell was taken to a local hospital by ambulance and was admitted for an overnight observation suffering what was determined exhaustion and dehydration.
“I will take most of the summer off to relax and then return for the next school year as I think our girls will be a contender again next season as we have enough girls to do it again,” said Bell, who added his ringtone sounds sweeter than usual due to all of the hard work everyone within the track program has made over the last several seasons. “We have been close, but we finally made it.”
