Story By Heath Hambrick
The Fort Payne Wildcat track and field teams closed their seasons at the AHSAA state track meet in Gulf Shores last week. In the overall standings, Fort Payne girls finished fourth, while the boys finished 20th.
Senior Cooper Garrett not only won the 6A girls Javelin Thursday – she also got her name in the record book with a throw of 150.04 feet. Garrett followed the Javelin with another title on Saturday in the 6A girl's discus, with a throw of 128.09 feet.
Fort Payne scored points in field events as Lydie Varnadore placed second in both girls' 100- and 300-meter hurdles with times of 14.96 and 45.06.
Hadlee Powell and Garrett both scored points in the shot put event. Powell placed fourth with a throw of 38-03.50, and Garrett placed eighth with a throw of 35.10.00.
The remainder of the scoring in field events came from:
Audrey Pacini, fifth in pole vault 10.06.00
Ruthie Jones, sixth in 800 meters 2:18.06
Kyndal Hughes, eighth in 3200 meters 11:44.47
Fort Payne scored points in track events, finishing second in the girls' 4x800 meter relay with a time of 9:46.66 and sixth in the girls' 4x400 meter relay with a time of 4:06.79.
The Fort Payne boys' scoring in field events went as follows:
Pablo Rodriguez, fifth in the boy's 800 meters with a time of 1:58.36
Daniel Deleon, eighth in 800 meters with a time of 2:00.45
Kingston Orr, sixth in the boy's 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.32 seconds
Barron Sanderson, sixth in the pole vault at 13-00.00 feet
The boys’ 4x800 meter relay team posted a sixth-place finish with a time of 8:18.50.
The Fort Payne track and field teams may not have finished the season the way they planned, but the 2025 season produced great results. The team broke several school records, and the athletes set new personal bests throughout the season.
"Every meet has highs and lows, this one was no exception. 6A gets tougher every year and that was true again in 2025 with Chelsea joining the division. Still, our kids showed they can compete with anyone, finishing 4th overall and posting some great times" said Fort Payne Head Coach, Cole Peters.
"It is such special group of kids and a bunch that you just love to be around. They run together and run for each other. Sad to see this year come to an end and we will miss these seniors dearly. Their great accomplishments will continue on long after their track career has come to an end. Looking ahead, we qualified four middle schoolers and 3 freshman for the state meet. The future is bright for fort Payne track and field" said Peters.
