Rebels secure runner-up trophy at state

BIRMINGHAM – The Vestavia Hills High School boys track and field team captured the Class 7A runner-up trophy at the AHSAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, held Friday and Saturday, Feb. 2-3, at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

As a team, the Rebels totaled 62.5 points to edge third-place McGill-Toolen by 13.5 points. Hoover won the boys title with 135 points.

Four athletes reached the podium to help the Rebels secure the second-place finish.

James Sweeney took home the top honor in a pair of events. He ran the 1600-meter race in 4:23.56, nearly a second ahead of a pair of Mountain Brook runners — Charlie Slaughter and Hunter Harwell — who finished second and third to flank him on the podium.

Sweeney also won the 3,200-meter run in a Class 7A state record time of 9:26.45. Bryce Hutchinson gave the Rebels a 1-2 finish, as he crossed the line in 9:30.45. Hutchinson edged out Huntsville’s Cameron Cox by two-tenths of a second to take runner-up honors.

Carl Nesbitt won the high jump competition, reaching a height of six feet, eight inches. Jake Haston finished third in the pole vault, clearing the bar at 14 feet.