All-Calhoun County boys track: Anniston captured first state title under Lisa Howard Holland

Joe Medley, The Anniston Star, Ala.
·2 min read

Jul. 8—Anniston's boys track team brought home a red state runner-up trophy in 2021, and their coach was Calhoun County track coach of the year.

The team brought home the program's first-ever blue champion's trophy in 2022, so what follows, follows logically.

For coaching the Bulldogs to history, Lisa Howard Holland will repeat as The Anniston Star's Calhoun County coach of the year for boys track.

The Bulldogs finished with 75 points in the state Class 4A meet in May at Gulf Shores, overcoming Bibb County with 67 to win the program's first state championship in boys track.

A big Saturday featuring big finishes from Jayden Lewis in the sprints and All-County athlete of the year Christian Myles in the 800-meter run lifted Anniston's boys to the top.

Sprints came into focus Saturday, Lewis, who qualified fourth in preliminaries, took second in the 100 dash in 11.09 seconds. He qualified second in the 200 and finished second but improved his time from 22.09 to 22.04.

Myles, who finished second in the 1,600 and eighth in the 3,200 to score in both events through Friday, added a state championship in the 800 Saturday. He finished in 1:57.30.

Malachi Taylor was another big scorer for the Bulldogs with scoring finishes in the triple jump (second, 43-06.75), long jump (fourth, 21-02.75) and high jump (sixth, 6-00.00).

Javon Thomas took fourth in the 400 (51.59), and Ryqueze McElderry took eighth in the shot put (42-06.25).

Anniston also got first in the 4x400 relay (3:25.32) and second in the 4x100 (43.08).

The Bulldogs got all 75 of their points from seven athletes.

"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me, is what we say daily, after our team prayer, and this weekend was living proof of what we say daily," Holland said. "We had some ups and downs, and we missed some major points in areas where we thought we would have them, and we stepped up in other areas."

Sports Writer Joe Medley: 256-235-3576. On Twitter: @jmedley_star.