GULF SHORES — Escambia Academy cast its shadow across the winner’s podium on a frequent basis Thursday as the Cougars’ boys’ track and field team claimed the overall 2017 AISA State Championship for the third year in a row.

EA finished the state meet with 185 points, 114 points more than second-place finisher Lee-Scott Academy at Micky Miller Blackwell Stadium. Glenwood, Springwood and Northside Methodist finished third through fifth, respectively.

“I’m proud of them,” Cougars coach Hugh Fountain said. “I’m just proud that they all ran their races and competed. We didn’t have anybody miss their races they were asked to run for all of our track meets.”
On an individual basis, EA senior Kris Brown won the top individual award for the third straight year, finishing the state meet with 38 points, the highest among the boys.

“It was hot,” Brown quipped after the meet. “It was rough, but being a senior, you’ve got to come out and give it your all.”

That Brown did as he helped his teammates, especially during the 4×100 meter race with Fred Flavors, Patrick McGhee and Louie Turner. All four set a new state record of 43.71 seconds and outpaced second-place finisher Morgan Academy by 3 seconds.

Throughout the season, the Cougars challenged themselves against top-tier public schools to see where they stack.

Brown said it was the team sticking together since the ninth grade, which helped a lot.

For the senior, finishing on top was great.

“It feels like something I’ve always been waiting for, getting a three peat and sharing the bond with my brothers,” Brown said. “It feels like my job is complete and I’m ready to take it to the next level (at Mississippi College).”

Fountain said he was particularly pleased with how the boys improved on their times compared to last year, and this is special because of the boys’ consistency in winning.

“We were just continuing to try and get better, and don’t get satisfied,” he said.

In girls action, the Lady Cougars finished 10 with six points.

The following are the finals times for EA athletes who finished in the top five of their respective events:

Boys

• 100-meter dash

Brown — first place, 11.13 seconds

McGhee — second place, 11.46 seconds

• 200-meter dash

Brown — first place, 23.55 seconds

• 400-meter dash

Brown — second place, 54.17 seconds

• 800-meter run

Jace Daniels — second place, 2 minutes, 7.13 seconds

Gary Campbell — fourth place, 2:11.94

Jackson Bonner — fifth place, 2:16.05

• 1600-meter run

David Dobson — third place, 5:09.76

Bonner — fourth place, 5:18.57

• 3200-meter run

Bonner — third place, 11:10.41

• 110-meter hurdles

Flavors — first place, 15.97 seconds

Kainoa Gumapac — second place, 17.81 seconds

Chase Bell — fifth place, 19.18 seconds

• 300-meter hurdles

Flavors — first place, 43.85 seconds

Gumapac — third place, 45.59 seconds

• 4×100-meter relay

Brown, Flavors, McGhee and Turner — first place, 43.71 seconds (beat last year’s state record by less than 1 second) During the preliminaries, the boys set a record time of 43.68 seconds on Wednesday.

• 4×200-meter relay

EA — third place, 1:38.51

• 4×400-meter relay

Campbell, Turner, Daniels and Ryan Johnson — second place, 3:44.86

• 4×800-meter relay

Daniels, Bonner, Dobson and Heath Sheldth — first place, 9:05.81

• High jump

Campell and Flavors — fifth place, 5-4.00

• Long jump

Flavors — second place, 19-11.00

McGhee — third place, 19-11.00

• Triple jump

McGhee — second place, 40-11.00

Daniels — fourth place, 37-8.50

• Shot put

Trae Lee — fourth place, 40-09.50

Cameron Armentor — sixth place, 40-06.00

• Discus throw

Brown — second place, 119-09

Armentor — third place, 118-03

 

Girls

• 100-meter hurdles

Kaile Gumapac — fourth place, 18.95 seconds

• Shot put

Cassidy Murphy — fifth place, 27-11.00