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Sam Chandler
Homewood track and field
The Homewood High School girls indoor track and field team won the Class 6A state title by 89 points, outscoring runner-up Opelika 151-62.
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Sam Chandler
Homewood Track and Field
Homewood senior Caroline Lawrence cleared the bar at 5 feet, 4 inches to win gold in the Class 6A girls high jump on Saturday, Feb. 4, at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
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Sam Chandler
Homewood Track and Field
Homewood freshman Lainey Phelps won the Class 6A girls 1,600 meters on Saturday, Feb. 4, at the Birmingham CrossPlex. It was her third individual victory of the meet. On Friday, she placed first in the 3,200 meters and 800 meters.
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Sam Chandler
Homewood Track and Field
Homewood's Jasmine Griffin placed second in the Class 6A girls 60-meter hurdles on Saturday, Feb. 4, at the Birmingham CrossPlex. She also won the 60-meter dash.
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Sam Chandler
Homewood Track and Field
Homewood freshman Celie Jackson placed third in the Class 6A girls 1,600 meters on Saturday, Feb. 4, at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
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Sam Chandler
Homewood Track and Field
Homewood's Christian Hill anchored the Patriots' state champion 4x200-meter relay team. The quartet clocked a time of 1:43.49 on Friday, Feb. 3, at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
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Sam Chandler
Homewood Track and Field
Homewood senior Ann Mosely Whitsett separated from the pack in the second lap to seal a victory in the Class 6A girls 400 meters on Saturday, Feb. 4, at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
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Sam Chandler
Homewood track and field
The Homewood High School boys indoor track and team finished as the Class 6A runner-up at the AHSAA State Indoor Track and Field Championships, held Feb. 3-4 at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
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Sam Chandler
Homewood Track and Field
Homewood's Will Stone (left) and Paul Selden (right) were the Patriot boys' backbone this weekend at the AHSAA State Indoor Track and Field Championships. Here, they finished third and fourth in the Class 6A boys 1,600 meters.
It was the perfect ending to a perfect meet: Lainey Phelps, all alone, gliding down the final straightaway without a hint of fatigue in her stride.
The finish line was her target; the record book, her destiny.
Phelps anchored Homewood High School's first-place 4x400-meter relay team Saturday evening in the final event at the 2017 AHSAA State Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Comprised of Phelps, Caroline Lawrence, Ann Mosely Whitsett and Jasmine Griffin, the relay broke its own Birmingham CrossPlex record with a time of 3 minutes, 54.26 seconds. No other Alabama high school team has ever run faster at a state indoor meet.
But if the record-setting performance represented a punctuation mark, then the 13 prior events Homewood completed were sentences written in capital letters. Bolded.
The message? Homewood is in a league of its own.
The Patriot girls captured the Class 6A state title by 89 points over runner-up Opelika at the two-day state meet, held Friday, Feb. 3, and Saturday, Feb. 4. The landslide 151-62 victory marked the team's first state indoor title in program history.
"We knew we were capable of winning by a lot," Homewood head track and field coach Tom Esslinger said, "but really we just wanted to focus on everybody doing the best that they possibly could and kind of take it one event at a time."
The strategy worked.
With each passing event, the Patriots added more points to their growing total. Their opponents couldn't keep up.
"We knew that we were going to have a strong chance this year," said Whitsett, who won the 400 meters. "To be able to get it by this gap is just amazing."
Whitsett, a senior, has been a staple in the Patriots' program since seventh grade. Correspondingly, she knows what it's like to come up short of a blue trophy. Homewood's girls finished runner-up at the past four state indoor meets. Pelham edged them in 2015 and 2016 by 12 combined points.
But past heartbreak only made the weekend's victory that much sweeter for 12th-graders like Whitsett and Lawrence, who won her third straight state high jump title.
"To get that is a fitting end to their careers, and I think a fitting beginning to a lot of our younger athletes," Esslinger said.
Patriots young and old played key roles in the triumph. Few shined brighter than Phelps.
Prior to her leg on the 4x400 relay, the talented freshman swept the 6A distance events without much of a challenge. She won the 3,200 meters in 11:08.25, the 1,600 meters in 5:05.07 and the 800 meters in 2:12.43.
It looked easy.
"Lainey's performance for the whole meet speaks for itself," Esslinger said.
Led by Phelps, Homewood took first and second place in two of those three events. Celie Jackson finished second in the 3,200 with a time of 11:46.55. Whitsett finished second in the 800 with a time of 2:16.89.
Jackson, a freshman, also placed third in the 1,600 meters.
"I'm always proud of my teammates," said Phelps, who prefers to talk more about others than herself.
Griffin, a junior, achieved an almost equivalent level of success to Phelps. She won the 60-meter dash, placed second in the 60-meter hurdles and ran the opening leg of Homewood's state champion 4x200-meter relay team.
Her time of 7.64 seconds in the 60 dash signified a personal best.
"I'm just so happy about it," she said.
In the field, Christian Hill and Aiya Finch performed well in the horizontal jumps. Hill took second in the triple jump and fifth in the long jump. Finch took second in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump.
The Homewood boys, on the other hand, finished second in the 6A team race. They fell to first-place Opelika, 89-73.
"We knew we were underdogs coming into it a little bit, and things had to go pretty much perfectly," Esslinger said. "We needed them to make some mistakes, and I give credit to Opelika. They just really didn't make mistakes for the most part."
Will Stone and Paul Selden led the way for the Patriots. The distance duo contributed points in four events, but their best individual showings came in the 3,200. Stone finished second in 9:35.14, and Selden finished third in 9:55.88.
They also ran legs on the Patriots' state champion 4x800-meter relay team.
"For us to have any chance to get first or second, I mean, we just really depend on both Will and Paul," Esslinger said.
Apart from the distance events, the Patriot boys also found success in the field. Stephon May placed second in high jump, while Joshua Thomas placed third in triple jump.
Jackson White and Eli Brooks finished second and third in the pole vault.
Notable Homewood performances
Girls
60-meter dash: Jasmine Griffin (1st, 7.64), Makiyah Sills (4th, 7.89)
60-meter hurdles: Jasmine Griffin (2nd, 9.17), Madison Kirkwood (6th, 9.82)
400 meters: Ann Mosely Whitsett (1st, 58.71)
800 meters: Lainey Phelps (1st, 2:12.43), Ann Mosely Whitsett (2nd, 2:16.89)
1,600 meters: Lainey Phelps (1st, 5:05.07), Celie Jackson (3rd, 5:25.83)
3,200 meters: Lainey Phelps (1st, 11:08.25), Celie Jackson (2nd, 11:46.55)
4x200-meter relay: 1st, 1:43.49
4x400-meter relay: 1st, 3:54.26
4x800-meter relay: 3rd, 10:21.38
Long jump: Aiya Finch (2nd, 17-4.75), Christian Hill (5th, 16-11.25)
Triple jump: Christian Hill (2nd, 37-7), Aiya Finch (4th, 36-8.5)
High jump: Caroline Lawrence (1st, 5-4), Reid Catherine Bunn (8th, 5 feet)
Shot put: Simone Smith (8th, 31-1/2)
Boys
800 meters: Will Stone (6th, 2:03.15), Paul Selden (7th, 2:04.15)
1,600 meters: Will Stone (3rd, 4:26.49), Paul Selden (4th, 4:29.93)
3,200 meters: Will Stone (2nd, 9:35.14), Paul Selden (3rd, 9:55.88)
4x200-meter relay: 8th, 1:35
4x400-meter relay: 5th, 3:36.81
4x800-meter relay: 1st, 8:33.35
Pole vault: Jackson White (2nd, 13 feet), Eli Brooks (3rd, 12 feet)
Triple jump: Joshua Thomas (3rd, 44-3)
High jump: Stephon May (2nd, 6-4)