In their first ever season with a track and field team, the Pleasant Home Eagles got their first state champion in senior Camille Holley by winning Saturday’s state championship Girls Javelin Throw event in Cullman.

  “I didn’t know what to feel at first,” Holley said of the state championship. “It was simply unbelievable.”

After landing the top distance in the state in last week’s South Sectional Meet, Holley said she was confident going into to Saturday’s championship event.

“I did feel like I had a chance coming into the meet,” Holley said. “I went into thinking that I could win. That is the mentality that you have to have.”

Holley said she spent the past few weeks leading up to the event studying her competition.

“I’ve just been looking up the past winners and seeing if they were seniors or what their best throw was,” Holley said. “I did a lot of research so I had a pretty good ideal of what I would need to do to win.”

Holley gave herself an early lead in the event when her first throw scored 103-10.

The lead didn’t hold up long as Katelyn Smitherman of Isabella picked up a score of 104-11.

“I was leading after my first throw but then another girl took the lead on her second throw,” Holley said. “I just kept getting 103 or 101, or at least not until my last throw.”

Holley’s final throw hummed past the previous high mark and stuck in the ground for a score of 108-02 to clinch the Class 1A championship.

“It was really wet and muddy around the launch area,” Holley said. “Everyone was slipping there and I just prayed that I could get one last good throw. I knew that if I didn’t get a good throw that I was going to lose, and I couldn’t have that. I ran up and just let it loose with a scream. My dad was down there and he just started jumping around in excitement.”

Holley said that she was glad that she got to end her senior year as a state champion on Pleasant Home’s first ever track and field team.

“It was a great year and I’m so glad that I was a part of it,” Holley said. “It was a great experience.”

Picking the javelin throw event was something that Holley said came natural.

“Playing softball they always called me slingshot,” Holley said. “I was never accurate, but I could throw it a long way. One time I was playing left field and threw the ball into the woods behind our dugout. It didn’t go where I wanted it too, but it went a long way. I decided wanted to give javelin a shot and end my senior year with a bang.”

Along with her state championship, Holley placed ninth in Class 1A Girls discus throw and 10th in Class 1A Girls shot put.

“She really worked her tail off to get here,” Pleasant Home track and field coach Troy Turman said. “She is the first female state champion in any sport in Pleasant Home School history. I’m very proud of her and the rest of the members of our first track and field team. It was a really great experience for us and this group has set the bar for the future.”