Lady Spartans cap impressive year with 3rd runner-up trophy

MOBILE -- The Mountain Brook High School girls track and field team was stellar at the outdoor state meet, claiming a Class 6A runner-up trophy for the third time this year at a state meet.

The girls were impressive, racking up 93 points. Northridge amassed 116.5 points to win the event, but the Lady Spartans cleared Fort Payne by a significant margin. Fort Payne placed third with 71.5 points. The Mountain Brook boys tallied 19 points and finished in a tie for 11th.

The outdoor meet capped off a tremendous school year for the Spartans, particularly on the girls side. The girls finished second at the indoor state meet as well, while the boys placed fourth. Both teams were second in the cross-country state championship meet.

Reagan Riley led the girls at state, winning the 3,200-meter race with a time of 10:47. Grayson Scott won the high jump event as well, posting a leap of 5 feet, 8 inches. The girls 4x800 relay team took home the top prize as well, crossing the line first with a time of 9:40.

Riley posted a couple of other podium finishes as well, placing second in the 1,600 (4:59.45) and third in the 800 (2:17.99). 

Lucy Benton posted a strong fifth-place finish in the 400-meter dash, coming in just under a minute at 59.29 seconds. Hunter Anderson was impressive in the 800, finishing fifth as well. Clark Stewart and Mary Katherine Malone finished back-to-back in a couple events, crossing the line in fourth and fifth in the 1,600 and 3,200 races. 

Caroline Carwie and Lucy Redden came across sixth and seventh in the 300-meter hurdles. In the javelin throw, Madeline Baltz placed fifth and Allie Story was sixth. The girls 4x400 relay team also placed second.

Other girls competing at state included Lucy Redden, Julia Grooms, Lucy Pankey, Camille Gillum, Ellie Fooshee, Annie Kerr, Emma Grace Holt and Ruth Ann Kearley.

On the boys side, Davis Plowden notched a fifth-place finish in the 800 and Zach Bass finished fifth in the pole vault competition. John Bugg earned sixth in the javelin throw. The boys 4x800 relay team earned the majority of the team’s points with a second-place showing, as the Spartans clocked a time of 8:04.

Thomas Renneker, Davis Lee, Mike Mullen, Walton Redden, Clayton Collins, Harry Clark, Maddox Pugh and George Lloyd also competed for the Spartans.

The week prior to the state meet, the Spartans girls won the team trophy at the Section 2 meet and the boys finished as the runners-up.

Scott won the high jump and long jump competitions, Grooms won the pole vault, Plowden won the 800-meter run, Hugh Stokes won the 110-meter hurdles, Bugg won the javelin and the girls 4x800-meter relay team took home top honors. 

Other Spartans making it to the podium were Benton (third in 400), Riley (third in 800, second in 3,200 and second in 1,600), Stewart (third in 1,600 and third in 3,200), Redden (second in 100 hurdles), Grooms (third in 100 hurdles and second in 300 hurdles), Carwie (third in 300 hurdles), Gillum (second in high jump), Kerr (third in pole vault), Scott (second in triple jump), Baltz (second in javelin), Plowden (second in 1,600), Clark (third in 3,200), Renneker (second in pole vault), Bass (third in pole vault) and Lloyd (third in javelin).