The BJHS Cross Country Team ran against the other top local teams on Thursday bringing home two third-place trophies and finishing second in the Girls B race. The Boys Varsity team finished third this week with James Garrison 6th and Ryan Bender 10th. Mateo Santiago, Isaac Allen, Wade Bucy, Ryan Goldsmith and Collin Spindle rounded out the scoring. In the Boys B race, Sam Pope finished 9th with his best time of the year. Matthew Pimmel was 12th, Eric McKinney 17th, and Noah Suciu 20th. Cameron Cummings, Logan Konopatzke, and John Digges finished out the scoring positions in their 4th place team finish. The Girls finished 2nd in the B race with Kricket Johnston finishing 3rd in her first ever XC 5k. Peyton Free finished 12th, Allison Van Hise 14th, Maddie McInvale 16th, and Jillian Pennell 18th. The JV Boys brought home another trophy for their collection finishing 3rd. Nick Lozano finished 10th, Lucas Guerra 20th, with Luke Allen, Luke Garrison, Owen Lang, and Ryan Morrell all finishing in the points. The JV Girls all deserve great credit as they all ran up to Varsity level for this outing in either the Girls A or B races. The JV Girls had an awesome year collecting trophies in almost every race they ran. This was the last race of the season for those not selected to compete as part of the sectional and state races. The pandemic has thrown many challenges toward the high school sports community, including cross country with limited race participants, non-standard race classifications, etc. The BJHS team has handled these challenges professionally and with style. Here are some highlights from the season: - 134 Personal Records set!!! Talk about continuous improvement!!! - 17 Top 3 Team Finishes!!! - 51 Individual Top 10 finishes!!! - Countless Individual Medals, and “Top/Elite Finisher” T-Shirts!!! Head Coach Bill McIlwain had the following comment at the end of the regular season. “Per AHSAA rules only ten boys and ten girls can compete in Sectionals and the State Championship, but the whole team is a part of how the team finishes at those events. The entire XC team has worked extremely hard this year, represented Bob Jones High School well, and made me very proud!” ...

MADISON-HARVEST- The 2020 high school volleyball season is just two steps from completion in this most unusual year of the worldwide pandemic. Area Tournaments are now in the record books with area winners and runners-up advancing to the North Super Regional Tournaments, which are the prelude to the all-important AHSAA State Tournament. In Class 7-A, both Bob Jones and Sparkman advanced to the regional schedule as area champs while Madison Academy in Class 5-A move to the next round as an area runner-up with all action of the next round taking place at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville. The sixth ranked Sparkman Senators defeated Albertville in a three games to none match to set up the Area 8 Championship match against perennial power Grissom. In the area finals, held on the Senators’ home court, Sparkman had a nail-biting four-game match versus the Tigers. Sparkman (36-11) struggled to a 25-23, 25-12, 19-25, 25-23 victory over Grissom (18-19). Sparkman will now face fourth ranked and Area 5 runner-up Thompson in the first round of the 7-A North Super Regional. Meanwhile, hosting the Area 7 tournament, the Patriots of Bob Jones beat Florence and Austin defeated James Clemens in first round action and advanced to the area finals. In the championship round, eighth ranked Bob Jones (27-17) cruised to a three-game title match over Austin (17-27) 25-11, 25-17, 27-25 and now will face Area 6 runner-up and seventh ranked Vestavia Hills at the Super Regional. In the 5-A Area 15 matchup at Lawrence County High, Madison Academy rolled to a three-game sweep over Russellville before facing the top-seeded Red Devils of Lawrence County. The two volleyball powerhouses thrilled the attending crowd with a five-game heavyweight like battle as Lawrence County (39-10) defeated the Lady Mustangs 25-22, 21-25, 24-26, 27-25, 15-12 in what by many accounts was the most exciting match of the season in North Alabama. No more than four points separated the two experienced squads and both will well represent their respective schools in the next step to the State Tournament. The AHSAA State Tournament will be held at the CrossPlex in Birmingham Oct. 27-29. COVID-19 regulations will be in place for attendees, especially the fans. Eight teams in each classification will be placed in the tournament brackets. Admission will be $10 per day, per person. State finals in Class 5-A will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Oct. 28 while the finals of the 7-A classification will hit the court at 4:00 p.m. on Oct. 29....

The first annual “Dual in the Pool”, a dual meet between Bob Jones High School (BJHS) and James Clemens High School (JCHS), was held at Dublin Indoor Pool on Thursday October 1st 2020. This meet was hosted by JCHS and the host will be alternated yearly. As was the case last year, this was a very exciting meet for the swimmers. The dive portion of this meet was originally scheduled for September 28 th but had to be postponed until after Madison City Fall Break due to weather. BJHS men and women had multiple 1st place finishes. For the BJHS men, Michael Tretyakov (2), Riley Groves, and Joe Palenapa had 1st place finishes while Samantha Chan, Regan Baker, Jessica Nguyen, and Emilie Tesseneer posted 1st place finishes by the BJHS Women. Top scorers for the Men’s and Women’s teams were Michael Tretyakov (16 pts) and Samantha Chan (16 pts) for BJHS. Both the boys and girls team brought home the 1st place trophy by outscoring JCHS scoring by 22 points and 42 points, respectively. The Patriots won the overall meet. This was a fun meet that will be looked forward to every year. Top BJHS Men Scorers: Michael Tretyakov (9) – 16pts; 1 st 50 Free, 100 Free Riley Groves (10) – 14pts; 1 st 100 Fly, 2 nd 100 Back Joe Palenapa (12) – 13pts; 1 st 200 Free, 3 rd 100 Fly Jake Palenapa (12) – 12pts; 2 nd 200 IM, 2 nd 100 Breast Bryson Tesseneer (11) – 11pts; 2 nd 200 Free, 3 rd 100 Back Boone Ramsey (11) – 10pts; 3 rd 50 Free, 3 rd 100 Free Justin Roh (8) – 10 pts; 3 rd 200 IM, 3 rd 100 Breast Top BJHS Women Scorers: Samantha Chan (9) – 16 pts; 1 st 100 Fly, 1 st 200 IM Regan Baker (10) – 14pts; 1 st 50 Free; 2 nd 100 Fly Jessica Nguyen (10) – 14 pts; 1 st 100 Breast, 2nd 200 IM Constance Wang (10) – 12 pts; 2 nd 50 Free, 2 nd 200 Free Lucy Ramsey (11) – 11 pts; 3 rd 200 Free, 2 nd 100 Back Emilie Tesseneer (7) – 11pts; 1 st 100 Back, 5 th 200 IM Meli Mbuko (7) – 10pts; 3 rd 50 Free, 3 rd 100 Free The relay teams faced great competition and all of the races were highly contested with the BJHS women sweeping 1 st in all three relays. Results of those relays are shown here: Men’s 200 Medley Relay – 2 nd (1:47.22 – B. Tesseneer, J. Roh, B. Ramsey, J. Lin) Men’s 200 Free Relay – 1 st (1:31.44 – M. Tretyakov, Jo. Palenapa, Ja. Palenapa, R. Groves) 2 nd (1:34.73 – J. Lin, B. Woods, B. Tesseneer, B. Ramsey) Men’s 400 Free Relay – 1 st (3:24.54 – M. Tretyakov, R. Groves, Jo. Palenapa, Ja. Palenapa) Women’s 200 Medley Relay – 1 st (1:55.19 – E. Tesseneer, J. Nguyen, S. Chan, C. Wang) 3 rd (2:03.60 – K. Merrell, A. Leines, Q. Burgess, M. Mbuko) Women’s 200 Free Relay – 1 st (1:45.94 – E. Tesseneer, C. Wang, ME Pell, R. Baker) 3 rd (1:55.41 – R. Burgess, M. Lawley, C. Davis, M. Mbuko) Women’s 400 Free Relay – 1 st (3:52.83 – R. Baker, L. Ramsey, J. Nguyen, S. Chan) Diving Results: Diving portion of the meet will be conducted sometime in October. Bob Jones vs James Clemens “Duel in the Pool” Meet Summary: Men’s Team Standing: BJHS – 164 pts, JCHS – 122 pts (BJHS Champions!) Women’s Team Standing: BJHS - 154 pts, JCHS – 132 pts (BJHS Champions!) Overall: BJHS – 318 pts, JCHS – 254 pts (BJHS Champions!)...

Bob Jones Varsity Boys had a tremendous day at what turned out to be the largest Lake Guntersville Invitational ever with 44 teams from Alabama and Tennessee. James Garrison won the race with a best ever time of 15:59 followed by Ryan Bender 10th, Mateo Santiago 13th and Isaac Allen 19th. The team earned an impressive 2nd place trophy finishing closely behind a top team from the Nashville, TN suburbs. Garrison broke the 16-minute mark for the first time ever with Santiago and Allen breaking the 17-minute wall for the first time. Garrison and Bender’s times earned them recognition for Elite MileSplit U.S. Second Team performances. The Varsity Boys Race B featured several other Bob Jones Boys team members with impressive runs. Quincy Breen finished 8th, Noah Suciu 9th, Cole Smelser 15th, John Digges 17th, Cameron Cummings 19th and Stephen Satcher rounding out the top 20. The team finished in a solid 3rd place overall in their race. The Bob Jones Varsity Girls had several PRs and standout performances as they begin the final leg of their quest to make the State Championship race later this year. Eighth grader Corinne Wilhelm turned in the race of her life finishing 17th in this Varsity Championship level 5k Race with an impressive time well under 22 minutes. Lorin Carter, Marjorie Baumbach, Ebba Detulleo, Rachel Pennell, Sarah Pennell, Elaine Bao, and Jillian Pennell all had major time drops to set impressive personal records during this race. The JV Boys finished 4th in the Large Schools Division with Owen Crow 8th, Nick Lozano 9th, Lucas Guerra 19th, with Luke Allen and Luke Garrison finishing out the top five point-scoring positions for the team. The JV Girls managed a 4th place finish as well despite having several team members running in the Varsity race this week. Kricket Johnston finished 11th, and Madisyn Lambertson 20th with Allison Van Hise, Aubrey Spindle, and Alexa Skelley finishing out the top five point positions. The team will take a well-deserved break from racing next weekend and prepare for the James Clemens Last Chance and Huntsville Metro Championships coming up Oct 17th and 22nd. ...

The BJHS Cross Country team shined again today bringing home two trophies in as many races. 18 large school division teams from around the area gave it their all on this challenging hills course with the Boys bringing home the first place trophy and the Girls bringing home second. It was a tremendous team effort from all the Bob Jones athletes as many or our younger runners completed their first 5k race with several others posting personal records. The Boys team picked up their fourth 1st place win in five outings. James Garrison managed a 3rd place finish despite a fall early on in the first half mile. Ryan Bender and Mateo Santiago were close on his heels claiming the 4th and 5th spots. Isaac Allen 12th, Wade Bucy 14th, and Ryan Goldsmith 15th finished out the top 20. The Girls team rallied to a strong second place finish today with Sr. Hannah Thuss finishing 2nd and posting her best time this year. Sr. Lorin Carter finished 14th. Ebba Detulleo, Rachel Pennell, Corinne Wilhelm, Marjorie Baumbach, and Alexa Douthitt rounded out the point scorers for BJHS in their successful effort to bring home another trophy. Next week BJHS travels to beautiful Lake Guntersville to face off against cross-town rival James Clemens, 7A Section 4 rivals Albertville and Grissom, as well as over 40 other top teams from around Alabama and Tennessee. ...

The hard work and cool weather paid off Saturday morning as BJHS Cross Country teams brought home two first place trophies and one second place trophy. It was an epic effort by everyone with 39 athletes posting personal records, Varsity Boys putting four runners in the top ten, JV Girls claiming five of the top ten spots, and the JV Boys bringing home their first team trophy this season. The Varsity Boys team successfully defended last year’s first place effort, by taking the same spot this year with a convincing win. James Garrison finished 2nd, Ryan Bender 3rd, Mateo Santiago 7th, Isaac Allen 8th, Wade Bucy 14th, and Collin Spindle 18th. This was the boys’ third first-place team win this season. The JV Girls picked up another first-place trophy this week to add to this year’s collection of top finishes. Corrine Wilhem finished 2nd, Ebba Detulleo 3rd, Rachel Pennell 4th, Sarah Pennell 9th, Kricket Johnson 10th, Madisyn Lambertson 12th, Madeline McInvale 17th, Peyton Free 18th, and Aubrey Spindle rounding out our top 20 finishers. The JV Boys team really stepped it up this weekend winning the 2nd place trophy. Owen Crow placed 5th, Nick Lozano 7th, Lucas Guerra 15th with Luke Allen, Owen Lang, Luke Garrison, and Ryan Morrell rounding out the successful campaign to bring home their first trophy of the year. The Varsity Girls team was short a few runners this week and still had a strong fourth place finish. Lorin Carter placed 12th, Marjorie Baumbach 14th, with Alexa Douthitt, Mackenzie Edwards, Jillian Pennell, Emma West, and Samantha Arn contributing to the scoring. Next week our XC teams head to the Kudzu Hills Invitational where they’ll take on 43 teams from across North Alabama. ...