Hoover’s girls win state indoor title, boys second

Hoover High’s girls won six events en route to the Class 7A state indoor track title at Birmingham CrossPlex. The Lady Bucs topped second-place Mountain Brook 123.50 to 68.

The boys were impressive, but were topped by a powerhouse Auburn team.

“We had a pretty good weekend,” coach Devon Hind said. “The kids really ran well. Just about every athlete had their best time or best distance. One or two didn’t. Had two boys that were running a fever. But we did what we could.

“The boys did really well, Auburn’s just awfully good,” Hind said. “We scored enough points to win most state championships.”

Auburn finished with 116 points and Hoover scored 85.50.

On the girls side, Brittley Humphrey won the 60-meter hurdles, edging sophomore teammate Kaitlyn Little by two-hundredths of a second. Little was also second in the 60 meters by just two-thousandths of a second. “It was heartbreaking for her,” Hind said. 

Freshman Sydney Steely won the 400 meters with an impressive 58.63 and Presley Weems won the 800 meters with a 2:15.95. The girls won all three relays, the 4x200, the 4x400 and 4x800. “Sydney was a big surprise for most of the state, but I knew she had it in her.”

For the boys, Christian Bell, headed to Alabama on a football scholarship, won the shot put and the boys 4x200 relay team took first place for the first time in school history.