Hoover, Spain Park athletes garner All-America honors
Five Hoover-area runners garnered All-America honors at New Balance Nationals Indoor, held March 11-13 at The Armory in New York, New York.
Composed of Brittley Humphrey, Caitlyn Little, Kyla Horn and Michelle Nkoudou, the Hoover girls 4x55-meter shuttle hurdle relay clinched its second national title in three years. The quartet posted a time of 31.87 seconds to defeat defending champion Western Branch (Virginia) by four-hundredths of a second.
The mark did not eclipse Western Branch's national record of 31.22 set in 2015.
Humphrey also claimed individual All-America honors in the 60-meter hurdles, notching three consecutive personal records on her way to a fourth-place finish. The LSU signee posted times of 8.39 and 8.29 in two preliminary rounds before running 8.23 in the finals.
Humphrey hadn’t set a personal record in the event since she ran 8.43 at NBNI in 2014.
Spain Park’s Daniel Nixon placed sixth in the 800 meters with a personal best 1:52.98. Dipping under 1:53 for the first time in his career, Nixon narrowly edged Pennsylvania’s Tucker Desko by fourth-tenths of a second to claim the final All-America spot.
Nixon now owns the third-fastest indoor 800 time in Alabama high school track and field history.
Although they placed outside the nation’s top six, multiple Hoover girls also posted notable performances at the meet.
In the Girls Championship 800, Samford signee Presley Weems ran 2:14.31 to place 16th.
Meanwhile, sophomore Sydney Steely etched an indoor personal record in the 800 by over two seconds. She crossed the line in 2:14.11 to place fourth in the Emerging Elite division.
As a result, Weems and Steely finished the indoor season with the state’s top-two 800 times.
The duo, along with Ava Weems and Caroline Franklin, charged to a 13th-place finish in the 4x800-meter relay. Their time of 9:19.57 is over 20 seconds faster than any other relay in the state.