By Rubin E. Grant
Photos by Jordan Wald and Owen Van Horn
– Jack Stubbs
During his freshman year on the Vestavia Hills track and field team, Jack Stubbs annoyed his coach with one nagging question. “He kept begging me constantly about letting him jump, to the point it was getting on my nerves,” Rebels track coach Richard Anderson says with a bit of a laugh.
Stubbs’ passion for jumping is all about how it makes him feel. “I feel free when I’m jumping, and I have fun with it,” he says. “Flying through the air takes all the pressure off.”
Anderson eventually relented and let Stubbs jump.
Now a senior, Stubbs has become one of the top long jumpers in the state. In the 2024 AHSAA State Outdoor Track and Field
Championships, Stubbs claimed gold in the Class 7A long jump with a leap of 23 feet, 7.25 inches. It was his first individual state title. “That was pretty special,” Stubbs says. “I was the last guy to go, and I was in fourth place. Then, I jumped up to first.”
Stubbs followed that up by winning the Class 7A long jump in the state indoor meet in February, soaring 22 feet, 5 inches.
He has continued to perform at a high level this spring during the outdoor season. At the Carrollton Border Duel in Georgia on March 12, he set a school record with a jump of 24 feet, 11 inches. Two days later, he won at the Homewood Invitational, leaping 24-02.25. In April, he finished first at the Mountain Brook Invitational with a jump of 22-3.
The secret for Stubbs is staying relaxed before a jump. “The long jump is my bread and butter,” he says. “A lot of people overthink it. I don’t think about anything. My mind is completely blank as I am running on my approach, and when I jump, I am kind of just flowing.”
The long jump isn’t the only event Stubbs has excelled at this spring. He’s become a top-notch sprinter.
During the Mountain Brook meet, he twice got the best of his close friend and teammate Chase Webb to win the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Stubbs clocked 10.61 in the 100 with Webb second in 10.65, and Stubbs clocked 21.48 in the 200 with Webb finishing in 21.52. Stubbs also swept both races at the Spain Park Classic. He clocked 10.59 seconds to win the 100 and 21.39 seconds to win the 200.
“In the four years he’s been a part of our team, he has evolved as an athlete,” Anderson says. “He’s bought in to what we’re doing, and he’s fun to watch.”
Stubbs began running track in the seventh grade at Liberty Park Middle School. He had always jumped but started sprinting on the side. In his last year in middle school, he truly became a sprinter, but it wasn’t until he got to high school and developed a friendship with Webb that he began excelling in the 100 and 200. “I promise I wouldn’t be running as fast as I am if I didn’t have him running by my side,” Stubbs says. “He pushes me, and I
push him.”
Both Stubbs and Webb, who also runs the 400, are headed to Samford on track scholarships and plan to room together. But first they will try to go out with a blaze of glory at the 2025 AHSAA State Outdoor Championships May 1-3 at Gulf Shores. “I’m looking forward to it,” Stubbs says. “I want to get more than one gold medal. It’s my last high school meet, so I want to go out with a bang.”
