Photo by Savannah Schmidt.
Hoover's Nigel Thomas throws the shotput during the AHSAA indoor track and field championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex on Jan. 31.
The winning doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon for the Hoover High School track and field programs.
Fresh off a fourth straight boys and girls sweep of the Class 7A state indoor championships, the Bucs have their sights set on a fourth consecutive outdoor sweep as well.
Following the Section 3 meet the last weekend of April, the Bucs will set sail for the state meet May 2-3 in Gulf Shores.
The Hoover track and field roster is filled with student-athletes who have won individual state titles, are likely to win them in the future, and are soon to embark on successful college careers.
In mid-March, the Bucs sent 12 athletes to the New Balance Indoor Nationals in Boston. Gideon Newton finished third in the boys 400-meter freshman race. Christian August placed fourth in the boys long jump freshman competition. The girls 4xMile relay team also placed second.
“We’re blessed here, to have the opportunity to have the athletes of this caliber,” Hoover track and field coach Chris Schmidt said.
If you were to name the athletes on the Hoover track and field team that stand out among the best in the state, you would essentially be listing the entire team. There are athletes who would easily place at the state meet but don’t even qualify for certain events because of limitations on the number of athletes from each school.
“It’s a great problem to have,” Schmidt said.
The indoor season was another banner campaign for Hoover. The team broke several program records and is aiming to do more of the same during the outdoor season. Schmidt also praised several freshmen and noted the contributions from the middle school athletes at Bumpus and Simmons.
It takes a full team effort to display the dominance the Bucs have shown in recent years. But two athletes in particular have begun to make their names known nationally. Senior Grant Weighall is one of the nation’s top javelin throwers, while sophomore Nigel Thomas is among the best discus and shot put athletes in his class.
Weighall is the defending Alabama high school state champion in javelin and discus and has also excelled on the USA Track and Field circuit. He is currently the third-ranked javelin thrower in the country. He moved to Hoover last year ahead of his junior year and has thrived under the tutelage of Hoover throws coach Joey Longoria.
“He’s at a point where throwing new [personal records] is really hard because he’s already at such a high level,” Longoria said. “With that kind of success comes a lot of pressure, too. He’s handling it well; he stays within himself.”
Weighall is committed to Samford University to continue his track and field career. He also won the overall boys high school javelin competition at the Texas Relays in Austin in early April.
Thomas still has some runway left in his Hoover career. As a sophomore who won’t turn 16 until late summer, he shows a maturity in his approach that surpasses his age.
“He goes in with a purpose,” Longoria said. “In Austin, we flew in and that night he did an hour of yoga with music. He’s very mindful of how he goes about his
day-to-day things.”
Last year, Thomas won the New Balance Nationals Outdoor freshman division in shot put and has won multiple other national events. He throws nearly 150 feet in discus as well.
Both athletes will be favored to rack up hardware at the high school state meet in May.
“What separates Grant and Nigel is the attention to being successful with everything that they do,” Longoria said. “It’s not really chasing distances or marks with them. It’s chasing constantly getting better. That’s the common trait with them.”
