By Lee Davis
Caroline Lawrence entered the 2017 Alabama High School Athletic Association Girls Heptathlon competition with a lot of confidence.
The Homewood senior’s confidence was justified. She had finished third in the heptathlon a year ago and had excelled in many of the competition’s seven events during the outdoor track and field season.
“I had already competed in the high jump, the long jump and the javelin in the regular season, so I felt pretty good about those,” Lawrence said. “So I just had to work on the other events, like the hurdles and the shot put.”
Lawrence’s confidence proved to be justified. She claimed the two-day event at Hewitt-Trussville High School with 4,631 points to outpoint runner Maddie Harrell of Walker’s 4,011 total. Another Lady Patriot, Jasmine Griffith, finished third with 4,002 points. Thirty-six girl athletes from across Alabama took part in the competition.
“I felt good about how I performed,” Lawrence said. “And it was pretty exhausting. But since it was divided into two days, it wasn’t so bad. The key is to take each event one at a time and don’t think about the ones you aren’t competing in.”
Lawrence claimed victories in the 800-meter run and the long jump. She completed the 800-meter course in 2:24.83 and claimed the long jump title with a leap of 17-06.25.
“Since I had competed last year, I knew what was going to happen and what to expect,” she said. “At the end, it was just a matter of staying focused.”
Lawrence plans to run at Auburn University next season.
