Spartans sweep at Hoover Invitational

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If Mountain Brook needed a boost of confidence heading into the AHSAA state championship series, they got in on Thursday afternoon at the Hoover Invitational.

Running under sweltering conditions in one of the season’s select weekday meets, the Spartan boys and girls fought through the heat and charged ahead to a team sweep.

“Any time you can come out on top, it helps build their confidence,” Mountain Brook coach Michael McGovern said. “It was a good, solid performance. Obviously this is just kind of another step to get ready for the state meet and sectionals.”

As suggested by his team’s strong showing, finishing ahead of runner-up Hoover by 13 points on the girls’ side and 34 points on the boys’ side, the Spartans look to be in pretty good shape heading into the season’s climax.

Both the Mountain Brook boys and girls placed their top-seven runners in the top 20 of each race, with the top five placing 15th or below.

In the girls’ race, the trio of Anna Grace Morgan (2nd), Frances Patrick (3rd) and Anna Balzli (4th) paced the Spartan girls to a team total 35 points.

“I just really wanted to give our team confidence going into the two championship races of the season,” Patrick said. “I think we did well, and I’m very proud.”

Freshman Gram Denning’s fifth-place finish propelled the Spartan boys to a team total 46 points. Denning was closely followed by Drew Williams (6th) and fellow freshman Hunter Harwell (8th).

“It makes me really confident going into sectionals and state,” Denning said. “I feel like we have a really, really good shot at winning the state title.”

Having not won a state cross country crown since 2011, the Spartan boys will look to end what is considered, by Mountain Brook’s standards, a three-year championship drought. The girls, on the other hand, are searching for their 13th-consecutive title.

“It’s something we’re pointing towards, but if we  perform our best and we come up short, that’s the way it’s supposed to be I guess,” McGovern said.