YEAR IN REVIEW

For anyone who keeps tabs on sports at any level, but particularly at the high school stage, it’s very easy to transition from one season to the next without batting an eye. Football, volleyball and cross-country season in the fall quickly transitions to basketball, indoor track and wrestling in the winter, and before you can blink, spring sports roar into action like a lion. With everything that goes on throughout the school year, there’s often not time for reflection. Well, take a moment to do that now. The high school athletic teams at Mountain Brook put together a year filled with lasting memories and noteworthy performances. The Spartan football team started off the fall with a great year after a couple lackluster seasons. Only suffering losses to Hoover and Vestavia Hills along the way, Mountain Brook put together an 8-2 regular season, including impressive wins over Spain Park and Ramsay. Gadsden City won a tight game in the first round of the playoffs, but the Spartans are hoping to duplicate last fall’s success in 2017. Unfortunately, the Mountain Brook girls cross-country team had its incredible run of 13 consecutive state championships snapped at the hands of Huntsville, but Vanderbilt signee Anna Grace Morgan triumphed and won the race, duplicating a feat her sister, Madeline, pulled off in 2009. The volleyball program continued its reign over Class 7A with its third straight state title, defeating Hoover in four sets in late October. The Spartans are still the only team to have won a Class 7A volleyball title; the state’s highest classification has been around for three years, and Mountain Brook has won it all three years. Not to be shown up, the boys basketball team won its third state championship in school history, using a 21-3 run in the fourth quarter to topple Auburn and take home the blue map. The Spartans also knocked off Gadsden City — the team that knocked them out in 2016 — Huffman and McGill-Toolen along their playoff run. At the indoor track championships, the Spartan girls finished runner-up, while the boys finished third. Morgan broke the record in the 1,600-meter run, held previously by former teammate Frances Patrick. The Spartans added more to the school’s trophy case in the spring. The tennis teams swept the Class 7A championships. The boys have now won three state championships in a row, unseating Vestavia Hills following four consecutive titles from 2011-2014. The Mountain Brook girls reclaimed the crown for the first time since 2014. Paul Jones, Alva Caine and William Watts were all singles champs, and the duo of Watts and Andrew Karcher took home a doubles title. For the girls, Margaret Polk, Liz Vandevelde and Morgan Jenkins won singles titles, with Sarah Cooper and Cele Sullivan winning a doubles title along with Vandevelde and Maggie Duggan. The boys golf team defeated Vestavia Hills by eight strokes for the state crown, with Ford Clegg taking home low medalist honors for his efforts. The Spartans jumped out to a 14-stroke lead after the first day of the tournament, with four guys shooting under par. At the outdoor track championships, Sophie Jane Knott took home top honors in the pole vault competition and the girls came home with yet another second place finish. So take a minute to remember what those student-athletes accomplished in the 2016-17 school year, because before you know it, football, volleyball and cross-country will begin again.

YEAR IN REVIEW

Photo Credit: Sarah Finnegan