The Mountain Brook High School girls team captured its 23rd AHSAA Indoor State Track and Field Championship Friday at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

Runner-up St. Paul’s Episcopal finished second to the Spartans and now both schools have earned a record 23 titles.

Michael McGovern’s Mountain Brook squad took the Class 6A crown at the 54th State Indoor Meet with 94 points. St. Paul’s earned 74 points

Northridge, coached by Jeff Sparks, won the boys Class 6A crown while Cold Springs and Houston Academy won the Class 1A/3A boys’ and girls’ state championships, respectively.

Cold Springs, coached by Casey Howell, has won two straight state indoor titles while Eddie Brundidge’s Houston Academy team won its first. Brundidge will be inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame in the Class of 2024 on March 18.

Homewood finished behind Northridge’s 82 points to take second, picking up 10 points in the 4×400 relay in the last race of the day to seal the No. 2 spot. Mountain Brook was second in that race and tied Oxford for third place overall with 45 points.

Cold Springs totaled 98 points with Reeltown finishing second with 40 points in the 1A/3A boys’ title chase, and Houston Academy’s girls notched their first 1A/3A indoor championship totaling 117 total points. Montgomery Academy edged Altamont for second place with 72 points. The Knights were a close third with 70.5.

The AHSAA Indoor State Championships continue Saturday with the Class 4A/5A and Class 7A Indoor State Championships kicking off the action at 8:30 a.m. The state championship trophies should be awarded by 5 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

Individually, Benjamin Russell’s Malcolm Simmons opened the meet Friday morning with a bang setting a new AHSAA Indoor Class 6A state high jump record clearing 6 feet, 10½ inches. His closest competition cleared 6 feet. Simmons opened at 6-2 and the moved to 6-5 before coming back at his winning height. He attempted 7 feet with his last try looking like he had made the height, but his foot tapped the bar at the last second.

Simmons, an Auburn University football wide receiver signee, added the 6A long jump title with a winning leap of 22 feet, 8¼ inches, and finished third in the triple jump to finish with 26 points.

The meet also closed out an incredible indoor track career for Cold Spring senior Ethan Edgeworth. He opened his final AHSAA state indoor track championship meet with another state championship and Class 2A state record. He won the 800 meters race with a Class 1A/3A record time of 1:55.26, just a shadow ahead of Trinity Presbyterian senior Matthew Blake, who crossed at 1:56.12 – which also broke the previous state mark of 1:56.40 set by St. Luke’s Episcopal runner Andrew Burchett at last year’s state meet. Finishing third just two seconds behind was Travis Barnett of Holly Pond, another Cullman County runner. He was timed at 1:58.98.

Edgeworth also won the 1,600 meters with a 4:19.16 time – nine seconds more than his state-championship mark set last week at the CrossPlex in the Last Chance meet, and he captured first place in the 3,200 meters with a 9:39.74 time – also short of his record in the event he set last year. Cold Springs teammate Jayden Allred finished second with a 9:54.22 time.

On the girls’ side, Mountain Brook junior Annie Kerr came into the 2024 state meet already clearing the Class 6A state-meet record pole vault height (12-03) during the regular season when she soared 12 feet, 9 inches at the Hump Day Octameet on Jan. 10. Friday, she won the Class 6A pole vault with a 13-foot clearance. She moved to her next quest of setting the CrossPlex girls’ pole vault record (13-02.50) set by Margaret Ollinger of McGill-Toolen in a regular season meet in 2015. Kerr had three close misses at 13-03. Homewood’s Brooke Walden set the previous record (12-03) winning the 2023 indoor title last season.

St. Paul’s junior Janie Ford turned in the top all-around performance Friday. The junior showed her versatility competing in the pentathlon this winter and the heptathlon last spring had paid big dividends. She won the Class 6A triple jump with a winning leap of 40 feet 1¼ inches Friday. She also won the 60-meter hurdles clocking 8.80 seconds – a personal record – and totaled 30 individual points in the meet.

Among the other top boys’ performances Friday:

– Shawn Stephenson, Northridge: Helped the Jaguars win the state crown with a 4:18.80 time in the 6A 1,600 meters to earn second place. He also took as third in the 3,200 meters.

– Jack Chapman, Mountain Brook: The Spartans’ junior clocked a personal best time of 1:56.49 to beat runner-up Charles Perry of UMS-Wright by a hiccup to claim the Class 6A 400-meter dash title. It was the best time of the season for Perry, a senior, however. Perry, whose personal best is 1:53.12, crossed Friday at 1:56.52 seconds to take second place.

– Jayshon Ridgle, Athens: Clocked 7.97 seconds in the Class 6A 60-meter hurdles prelims for his personal best time, and equaled that performance in the finals to win the event. He also earned three points in the 60-meter dash finals.

– Andrew Woods, Reeltown: The senior running back who rushed for more than 3,000 yards last season as the Rebels reached the Class 2A football state finals, won the Class 1A/3A 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.71 seconds, finished fifth in the long jump, fourth in the 60-meter dash, and ran a leg on the Rebels’ 4×200 relay team which finished second.

– Annic Fallin, Cold Springs: Took firsts in the 1A/3A long jump (21-02.75), the pole vault (11-03), and finished second in the triple jump (42-08.50) and the high jump (6-0) to amass 36 points.

Top girls’ performances included:

– Isabella Johnson, Montgomery Academy: The senior set a new Class 1A/3A shot put state record with a winning heave of 38 feet, 7¾ inches on her fifth toss of the day for the Eagles. She also had a toss of 38-04 on her second try to dominate the competition.

– Emma Brooke Levering, Homewood: Ran a personal best 10:50.53 in the 3,200 meters to take first place in the Class 6A event. She also finished second in the 1,600 meters and fourth in the 800 meters.

– Lucy Benton, Mountain Brook: Won the Class 6A girls’ 800-meter run with a winning time of 2:14.14 and Spartans teammate Mary Katherine Malone was second clocking 2:17.10. The two seniors handed Mountain Brook 18 points to kick off their bid for the Class 6A girls’ state title in the meet’s opening race. Malone also won the 1,600 meters in 5:01.40, and was second in 3,200 meters to finish with 26 points.

– Mary Suzan Aman, Houston Academy: Finished tied for third in the 1A/3A high jump, fourth in the triple jump and fifth in the long jump.

– Estella Connell, Donoho: Had a first place in the 1A/3A long jump (15-02.75), was second in the high jump (4-08), and third in the triple jump (33-07.50).

Complete results can be followed live Saturday and archived at this link.