Sam Chandler
Vestavia Outdoor Track and Field
Vestavia Hills' Walter Thomas competes in shot put at the Class 7A, Section 3 outdoor track and field meet at Mountain Brook High School on April 29, 2016.
The Vestavia Hills High School boys track and field team tallied 52 points to secure a fourth-place finish at the AHSAA Class 4A-7A state meet, held May 5-7 in Gulf Shores.
Walter Thomas, Will Macoy and James Henry Barrett all brought home individual state titles.
Thomas established a new state-meet record in the shot put, heaving the dense sphere 59 feet, one-half inch. He beat the second-place finisher — Spain Park High School’s Damon Wright — by more than four feet.
Likewise, Macoy out-threw his competition in the javelin by nearly 10 feet. His mark of 191-1 fell five feet shy of his state-meet record set in 2015.
Barrett cleared 15-6 in the pole vault to clinch a gold medal. His teammate, Whitt Harrelson, jumped 14 feet to claim third.
Carl Nesbitt finished fourth in the high jump with a leap of 6-4.
