Hoover AL Boys Strong In Alabama, But Can They Repeat DyeStat Dual Meet Title?

By Arthur L.  Mack for DyeStat

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Once again, Hoover High had a big presence at the Alabama High School Athletic Association Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The Bucs scored 105 points to easily rout runner-up Oak Mountain, which scored 51. With that in mind, it seems that Hoover may not let up after winning the DyeStat National Dual Meet Championship in 2018.

Not so fast, Hoover head coach Devon Hind said.

Sure, the Bucs won a virtual dual meet against Great Oak CA by a narrow margin — 69.3 to 66.7 — but they had a 16-foot pole vaulter in James Courson, as well as hurdler-sprinter Marion Humphrey. Both of them have graduated and the distance program is not as strong as in years past.

“I don’t know if we’ll be quite as strong,” Hind said. “We’re strong in some events. We had a 16-foot pole vaulter last year, and (this year), we have three guys over 13, so we have some depth there. I don’t know. It’s going to be very interesting. The distances are weak, but the sprints are better this year."

Indeed, the sprints are better. The duo of Jonathan Martin and Dorian Austin finished 3-4 in the state indoor championship 400 with times of 49.84 and 50.06 seconds, respectively. Martin also finished sixth in the 60-meter finals (7.15), while Seth Shelby was third (7.02)

But there were some injuries at the state indoor finals, and that has Hind worried.

"My hurdler (Kennon Johnson) pulled his hamstring just now, and my long jumper (J’Marri McCall) hurt his hamstring,” he said.

There is a reason for worry. McCall also anchored the 4x200-meter relay, which won in a state meet record time of 1:28.03. Members of the 4x400, which ran a record of 3:20.59, include Martin, Shelby, Zack Elam and Austin.

Meanwhile, there’s that matter of the distance events. Hind said that the reason that the distances are not as strong as in years past is because there are no elite class runners on this year’s team. In addition, the runners he has are relatively young. 

“We got a bunch of kids that are pretty good, but we don’t have great ones,” Hind said. “You have to be great, especially when you’re talking about performing on the level of these national duals. I’ve got some guys who can break 10 minutes (in the 3,200) and can run in the 4:30s (in the 1600).”

Hind said that could change in a few years, because he is developing some young talent.

“We have some pretty good freshmen right now, and we have some pretty good eighth graders coming up, so in a couple of years our distance program should be back where it used to be,” he said.

Other events, according to Hind, should be pretty strong. The field events should be pretty decent. In the jumps, John Watkins and Kyle Smith went 1-2 at the state indoor championships with jumps of 47-3.50 and 46-1.25, respectively. Smith also finished second in the high jump, clearing 6-4.

“I could have put three guys in there,” he said. "Long, triple, and high jump — we’ve got a 6-6 guy (in Smith). My shot putter (Ryan Lee) went 50 feet today and it was the first time we had a 50-footer (at the state championships).”

Meanwhile, Hind hopes that he can develop Lee into a pretty good discus thrower.

“He looked pretty good on the spin (without a discus in hand) so we’ll see,” he said. “We had a pretty good discus thrower who graduated last year.”

Surprisingly, boys teams from Alabama have won the DyeStat dual meet tournament, conducted by using a teams' best performance of the season, two of the past three years. In 2016, Auburn AL edged out Vista Murrieta CA in the boys final.