Mountain Brook Invite.
It arguably is the most talked about meet in the entire state of Alabama and this
year it was far from disappointing. Below are a few of the most notable performances across the two
days of competition.
Boys 2 Mile
In the Boys 2 Mile on Friday night, it was Scottsboro's Evan Hill with a blistering last lap of 63.7 seconds
to take down a loaded field. It was a group of three, Evan, Mac Conwell, and Miles Brush, coming
through the mile in 4:31. Evan and Mac separated on their way to Alabama #1 and #2. Entering the race,
Evan said he had no intentions of running 9:05 and wanted to run a PR of around 9:12-9:13 with the
fastest being maybe 9:10. He said "During the race, I was just telling myself to I needed to stick with Mac
[Conwell] and I would run well. I ended up slipping away from him during the 7th lap. I kicked hard the
last lap and didn't realize I could catch him until around 150ish meters to go. Seeing that gap close
definitely gave me that extra motivation to close harder the last 100m." Evan will look to push his PR
further in a few weeks at the State meet and hopefully run sub 9:00 with further postseason plans
currently undecided.
Boys 400m
Calera's Braylyn Farrington ran a AL #1 in the 400m winning in 47.50. On Friday, he qualified sixth in
prelims in 49.82. In the final, he knew the field was deep and he made it clear his goal was to get out
fast and control the race early. Down the stretch, it was him and Parker's Will Shelton fighting to the line
with Braylyn coming out on top. In regards to his competition with Shelton, he said, "Will is a great
runner, you know! Me and him have been going at it since indoor so I know when I race him it's going to
be a battle until the end of the race. He's just a great competitor all around." Farrington's goal for the
rest of the season is to cap it off with a 46 second 400m at the AHSAA State Meet in Gulf Shores. He said
"I credit all this to God and my coaches and parents. You know, without them pushing me I wouldn't be
running what I run, so I credit them a lot."
Boys High
Jump
Hewitt Trussville's Jaggerd Moore put on a show in the Boys High Jump winning with a new personal
best of 6'09". There's nothing like nerves entering a huge mid season competition and it was no
different for Jaggerd. He said he stayed up until 2:00 am the night before thinking about his goal of
jumping 6'10". Every meet this season, he's wanted to PR and it was no different on Saturday. He easily
cleared 6'09" on his first jump. He set the bar at 6'10.25 to take a shot at the meet record set by Michael
McCree in 2006. Moore took three good attempts at it but was unable to clear it. Regardless, though,
6'09" and a new personal best make for a memorable meet. He said, "My girlfriend sent me the Bible
verse John 15:5 midway through the season as an encouragement to stay hungry for God and for track!
As long as I remain in Him and glorify Him nothing will go wrong. I might have a bad jump day but His
name will be glorified. That verse is with me and is written on my shoes as a reminder I jump for Him!"
Jaggerd also took home the most Boys points scored for the weekend for not only winning the high
jump but also winning the long jump in 21'08.50" and coming in 5
th in the triple jump.
Girls 100m & 200m
It was a back and forth between two of the best sprinters in the state, Wayonna Brooks from Pinson
Valley and Jebreiya Chapman from Hoover. Brooks started out Saturday evening winning the Girls 100m
Final in a wind-legal 12.23 with Chapman coming in second with a 12.25. Later in the evening, Chapman
got her revenge and won the 200m in 24.71 ahead of Brooks' 25.11.
Girls 800m
Mountain Brook's Lucy Benton won the Girls 800m in a meet record of 2:11.68. The previous record was
held by Mountain Brook and Samford University alum, Marie Demedicis from 2008. Lucy entered the
race really excited due to the amount of fast girls which was guaranteed to push the pace. Moments
before, she ran a PR in the 400m prelims in 57.36 so a win in the 800m was a "pleasant surprise". She
said, "It was hands down the most fun 800m I've ran. I love my team, I love our track, and I love the
800m." The Mountain Brook Invite is truly a special event. It is even more special to be the home team
putting on the biggest meet in the state. Lucy said, "One of the coolest parts of the meet is the scale.
Throughout outdoor track season, you get to see some of your other teams here and there, but when
MBI rolls around you know you're gonna get to see everyone, which is always super fun. There's
guaranteed more competition too. Our team, especially our coaches work so hard to set MBI up and
keep it running as smooth as possible. I love that Mountain Brook hosts this kind of huge meet because
it shows just how much we want everyone there."