Cunningham, Little hurdle to MVP awards in Mobile

Winfield’s Trey Cunningham and Hoover’s Caitlyn Little smash hurdles records, with Homewood freshman Lainey Phelps producing impressive 800/mile double

By Arthur L. Mack for DyeStat

MOBILE, Ala. —Another Mobile Challenge of Champions is in the books and the 25th edition of the meet again lived up to its reputation with outstanding performances as a pair of Alabama athletes — Winfield City’s Trey Cunningham and Hoover’s Caitlyn Little — took home MVP honors after both shattered long-time meet records in the hurdles.

RESULTS

Cunningham, a Florida State signee, notched the No. 1 time in the country in the 110-meter hurdles as he tied his personal best of 13.35 seconds, breaking the old meet record of 13.60 set by Tupelo (Miss.) High’s Deandre Eiland in 2000. Cunningham, the national record holder in the indoor 55-and 60-meter hurdles, dominated the race and beat second-place Kam Cummings of Catholic-Baton Rouge by 0.70 seconds.

To put that into perspective, that’s a gap of almost eight meters.

Little, who will attend the University of South Carolina, thoroughly dominated the 100-meter hurdles, winning decisively in a meet record 13.47, nearly a full second ahead of her teammate, Michelle Nkoudou (14.30). Little’s time destroyed the previous meet record of 13.66 set by Clearwater (Fla.) Catholic’s Char Foster in 1995.

Cunningham’s performance was all the more remarkable considering he was dealing with a hip injury and took a week off prior to the meet. And, having finished third in this same event a year ago, he said it was time for redemption.

“The hurdles are a rhythm race, and I don’t think one week would have killed me,” he said. “(My time) might have been faster, or it might have been slower, I don’t know, but I was just resting my hip. The hip has been bothering me since the indoor nationals, and it really started to hurt me two weeks ago, after a 300-meter hurdle race.

“The competition was pretty stiff (last year), and I did not run well at all, but it is what it is. I'm not big on the accolades, but I wanted to win this meet just for redemption. I got my redemption, so I’m happy.”

Little also ran a leg on Hoover's second-place 4x100 relay and third-place 4x400 relay.

“Coming here for the past three years, barely making it on the podium or finishing in the top eight, and then finally getting MVP is awesome,” Little said. “It’s just that hard work really pays off, and I wanted to do what I could to support the team.”

Homewood freshman Lainey Phelps also had a breakout performance. She won a hotly contested 800-meter race in a photo finish over Emoni Coleman of Miller Grove GA. Phelps ran 2:11.97, while Coleman was clocked in 2:11.98.

Before that, Phelps dominated the mile run, winning in 4:58.90. She was the only runner under five minutes.

“In the 800, I just ran it to win it, and that was my strategy for the race,” Phelps said. “When I saw her (Coleman) coming by me, it took me by surprise. There were a lot of great runners, and I had to lean. It’s a pleasure being here in Mobile going against all these great runners in two great races that were very hard for me.”

Other standout performances included:

- Phelps’ teammate, Caroline Lawrence, winning the girls high jump, clearing 5 feet, 8 inches.

- Loren James of Baton Rouge Magnet LA winning the girls shot put with 43-0.25.

- Ohkeme Moore of Hillcrest AL winning the 100 meters in 10.59, running into a slight headwind. 

- Eric Costen of St. Paul’s Catholic LA winning the boys 2-mile in 9:22.61.

- Tzuriel Pedigo of Parkview Baptist LA winning the boys javelin (189-5).

- Edward Shelikoff of Niceville FL winning the boys discus (179-0).