I couldn't tell you who's going to win it. Central-Tuscaloosa is the defending champion. Mountain Brook has won seven state championships, but the last one came in 1995, completing a string of four in five years. Echols, in his 24th year in the Mountain Brook school system and eighth as the Spartans' head track coach, traces their success to hard work. Success breeds success and they know how to put forth effort and sacrifice.
Confidence also is a part of it as it is any sport.
Once you have won one, you expect to win. I'm sure we'll go down there nervous, but we expect to win. Another factor, Echols said, is getting the girls to compete in events that suit them. Everybody thinks they are a sprinter when they come out of middle school. They are fast, but not as fast as some of the girls around the rest of the state.