The Bucs’ girls won their third straight Class 7A title, totaling 125 points. The Hoover boys took home the Blue Map trophy for the second straight season, totaling 146.5 points.By Rubin E. Grant
After taking over as Hoover’s track coach during the summer of 2021, Chris Schmidt said his main goal was to continue the Buc’s tradition of success.
Well, he has done that and then some.
Hoover swept the Class 7A boys and girls state championships in the 98th AHSAA State Outdoor Track and Field Championships May 4-6 at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex.
The Bucs’ girls won their third straight Class 7A title, totaling 125 points. Chelsea was second with 79 points and Hewitt-Trussville third with 71.
The Hoover boys took home the Blue Map trophy for the second straight season, totaling 146.5 points. Vestavia Hills was a distant second with 89.5. The Bucs’ boys won their 11th championship, all since 2005.
In Schmidt’s two years at the helm, Hoover has swept the Class 7A outdoor and indoor track and field championships twice.
“I’m blessed to be here at Hoover and have a great coaching staff and quality athletes,” Schmidt said. “We have a good foundation, going back to (former Bucs track coaches) Mary Birdwell and Devon Hind. I just needed to follow the blueprint.
“Our two feeder programs, Bumpus and Simmons middle schools, do an amazing job of getting the kids prepared and that makes the transition to high school easy.”
In this year’s outdoor meet, the Bucs were dominant.
“I think everything just kind of fell into place,” Schmidt said. “We wanted to score in every event. We didn’t quite get there, but we scored a lot of bonus points with our sprinters, throwers and jumpers.”
In the boys competition, the Bucs had a number of medalists.
Jay Avery took home gold in the triple jump with a distance of 47 feet, 8 inches, and in the long jump with a distance of 23 feet, 5 inches. He claimed bronze in the high jump, clearing 6-02.00.
“Obviously, Jay did a heck of a job,” Schmidt said. “In warm-ups for the triple jump, he fell face down and I thought he was done. But he asked for one more jump in the triple and wound up winning it.”
George Mann set a new state-meet record in the javelin with a throw of 198 feet, 8 inches. That beat Vestavia Hills’ Will Macoy’s record-setting toss of 196 feet, 6 inches in 2015.
DeMarion Gardner won the 400 meters with a time of 48.04 and was second in the 200 meters, clocking 21.57. Collin Pate won the pole vault, clearing 16-09.00.
Bradley Shaw finished second in the shot put, with a toss of 55-04.50, and was third in discus with a throw of 153-05.
Charles Crowder was third in the triple with a jump of 46-04.00; Connor White was third in the pole vault, clearing 14-06.00; and Jordan Woolen was third in the 100 meters, clocking 10.79, and third in the 200 meters with a time of 21.78.
The Bucs took first in the boys 4×400 with a time of 3:17.25 and third in the 4×100 at 42.84.
In the girls competition, Gabrielle Washington claimed gold in the 400 meters in 56.15 and silver in both the 100 meters in 11.91 and 200 meters in 24.35. Foley’s Destiny Roper set a new Class 7A record in the 100 by clocking 11.73 seconds to deny Washington gold in the event.
Hoover’s Amyah Ellington won silver in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 46.99. McKenzie Blackledge took silver in the 800 meters, clocking 2:11.45.
Nyel Settles earned silver in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 6 inches. Bob Jones’ Kaitlyn Ford won with a new state-meet record of 5 feet, 8 inches. Settles’ jump also eclipsed the old record.
The Bucs’ Daisy Luna was third in the 400 meters with a time of 57.76, Sydney Durban was third in the javelin with a throw of 115-00, and Isabella Maple was third in pole vault, clearing 10-06.00.
The Bucs claimed gold in both the 4×100 (47.35) and 4×400 (3:53.03) relay races.
“I feel like our girls did a phenomenal job,” Schmidt said. “I was happy to see them perform the way they did.”
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