Sparkman’s Bobby Gray Wins Indoor Track State Championship

BIRMINGHAM- Bob Jones High finished among the top 10 teams in both boys and girls at the 2023 AHSAA Indoor Track State Meet held in Birmingham. Individually, Sparkman High came away with the lone state title within the four local schools competing.

Hoover High claimed team state titles in a clean sweep among both boys and girls divisions. The final team standings included: Boys- 1. Hoover 134, 7. James Clemens 33, 8. Bob Jones 22, 10. Sparkman 20; Girls- 1. Hoover 111.50, 8. Bob Jones 22, 13. Sparkman 15, 18. James Clemens 3.

Overall, Bob Jones picked up one silver medal and three third place medallions while James Clemens claimed two runner-up medals and Sparkman took home one medal from the competition in the form of a gold medal.

Sparkman’s Bobby Gray stood on the gold medal-winning spot on the podium by winning the shot put competition in Class 7A. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound senior Senator not only won a state title, but set a new school record with a winning throw of 52-feet, 10-inches. Gray has qualified for the state indoor and outdoor meets since he was a freshman. He’s being recruited by several colleges as he carries a 3.6 grade point average and has scored a 25 on his ACT. He’s a year-round track and field athlete participating in AAU and Summer League competitions.

Gray’s winning mark was just ahead of runner-up Jaylen Drake of James Clemens who finished with a throw of 51-05.50.

The remaining medal-winning results included: silver medals- boys 4×800, James Clemens (John Luke Stovall, Luke Alverson, Cole Robinson, Dylan Dryer) 8:06.32, girls high jump, Kaitlyn Ford, Bob Jones, 5-04; bronze medals- girls 400m, Alivia Urrutia, Bob Jones, 59.53, girls pole vault, Sydney Truesdail, Bob Jones, 10-06, boys 4×200, Bob Jones, (Rhys Dorsey, Jordan Morrison, Elijah Wells, Jordan Urrutia), 1:30.96.

The performance of the 4×800 medal winning relay team from James Clemens qualified the Jets for the Scholastic Indoor National Championships.