Humphrey follows in brother's footsteps with hurdles sweep in Mobile

By Arthur L. Mack for DyeStat

MOBILE, Ala. — A third member of the famed Humphrey family, along with a hometown favorite, ran away with the Outstanding Meet Performer awards Saturday at the 26th Mobile Challenge of Champions Invitational Division meet held at E. E. Delaney Stadium on the campus of St. Paul’s Episcopal School.

RESULTS

Hoover’s Marion Humphrey, whose brother Marlon and sister Brittley won Outstanding Meet Performer awards in the past, won the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.10 seconds and the 300-meter hurdles in 36.75. He also ran a leg on the fourth-place 4x400 relay team.

McGill-Toolen Catholic’s Grace Jensen got the female award after a gutsy race in the 800 meters, winning in 2:11.98 and defeating defending meet champion Emoni Coleman of Miller Grove GA, who was second in 2:14.52.

Humphrey said that having brother Marlon in the stands critiquing his races helped him win the hurdles double.

“It really feels good, knowing that he won both races (in this meet) too,” he said. “I feel that my dominant leg is good now, and because I played basketball, I’m not yet in track shape. I’ve got to work on getting below 14 in the highs and 36 in the intermediates.”

Jensen’s win in the Invitational 800 was all the more remarkable because she went out in a blazing 61 seconds for the first 400, effectively separating herself from the rest of the field. She slowed noticeably in the second lap and struggled to maintain her form. Still, her winning time was a personal best.

“My strategy has been to take the first lap out crazy,” she said. “Earlier in the season, when we set a school record in the sprint medley, I ran the 800-meter leg in 2:12, and I thought that I should try it again. The last 100 meters, I was telling myself, ‘Come on, Grace, just finish!’”

Despite a relatively slow last lap, Jensen felt the win gave her more confidence.

“I needed this race to get my head back to where it used to be,” she said.

There were several strong performances, particularly from Alabama schools. Humphrey’s teammate, James Courson, won the boys pole vault by clearing 16-0. Courson was coming off a bout of bronchitis and was still feeling a little out of sorts. Still, he was grateful to compete, especially after clearing 16-4 at the Randolph meet not long ago.

“I just felt a little bit off today, but I told myself to jump,” he said. “When I tried to clear 16-6, the effort felt better than expected. Honestly, I shouldn’t have been able to clear 16-4 at the Randolph meet.”

Two more Hoover athletes had big performances — J’Marri McCall, won the boys long jump (22-11.25), with Chakiya Plummer winning the girls 300-meter hurdles (43.23).

Mobile Christian’s Josiah Harry had a memorable day. He won the boys discus (166-10) and added a third-place finish in the shot put (53-4.75), behind Dan Mead of Christian Brothers Academy (56-11.50) and Zechariah Blake of John Curtis (54-7). The remarkable thing about Harry’s winning throw was that he did it from a standing position.

“I was going too fast in the throwing circle, so I had to take a throw from a standing position,” Harry said. “I didn’t think I would throw that far, but it worked out. As far as the competition, I was a little nervous coming in, because I’m accustomed to just competing against people around here.”

For the first time in recent memory, there were no records broken in this year’s edition of the meet. However, there was one record-breaking attempt, which came in the boys high jump. Mobile Baker’s Dontavious Hill, who cleared 6-8 to win the event, decided not to waste time and energy and move the bar up to a meet-record height of 7-0.25. He had three good attempts, coming painfully close to clearing the bar on the last one.

“I knew I had the ability to jump that high,” Hill said. "I felt good, and I felt like I had the height, but I didn’t have enough speed over the bar. It’s just a matter of fixing the approach and get the speed coming down.”

Another Mobile jumper, Davidson’s Malik Crandle, won the boys triple jump (48-7.25). For Crandle, who was competing in track and field for the first time in his high school career, it was a real treat, especially with the winning mark coming on his final attempt.

“I tried to get out as far as I could,” he said. “My coach told me to put in some minor adjustments and put a pop in the second phase.”

The out-of-town schools had some strong performances as well.

McEachern GA scorched the competition in the girls 4x100, running 46.55, well ahead of Pine Forest FL of Pensacola (47.29) and Sparkman of Harvest AL (47.43). In the boys 4x100, it was a Louisiana sweep as West Feliciana of St. Francisville, Scotlandville and Edna Karr of New Orleans ran times of 42.35, 42.71, and 42.81, respectively.

Carver Academy of New Orleans won an exciting boys 4x400 relay in a narrow win over Newburgh Free Academy NY, 3:20.27 to 3:20.45, with West Jefferson LA third in 3:20.60.

Other notable performances included:

- Montgomery Catholic AL's Amaris Tyynismaa winning the girls mile in 4:57.48. Zach Jaeger of McIntosh GA defeated defending meet champion Adam Wise of Fountainebleau LA in the boys mile, 4:23.21 to 4:23.50.

- Pleasant Grove AL’s Caleb Jackson won the 100 meters (10.72) and got third in the 200 (21.87) behind Sparkman’s Charles Lewis (21.61) and Scotlandville’s Dorian Camel (21.75).

- Mountain Brook’s Gram Denning won the boys 800 (1:55.80).

- Lauryn Hall of Sparkman won the girls 100 in 12.02 seconds.