By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor 

BIRMINGHAM – With 2019 now here and cross country season in the rearview, it’s time for track and field season and on Saturday, Jan. 5, several teams from across Shelby County competed in the 2019 Ice Breaker Invitational to signal the true beginning of season.

In the 7A classification, several individual athletes stood out for their respective teams with multiple top 10 finishes across the county’s three teams.

The Oak Mountain Eagles were one of those as they had a solid all-around event with champions in three different races, as well as six different finishers inside the top 10 and three total relay top 10 finishes.

Nicole Payne and Trey Allen were by far the two highlights as both were able to win at least one event during the day.

Payne took that to the next level and won two different events as one of the country’s best sprinters. She picked up first place in both events she raced in thanks to a win in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.65 seconds and the 400-meter dash with a time of 54.88 seconds.

Allen was able to win the high jump by a rather large margin thanks to clearing 6 feet 11 inches, which beat second place by seven inches.

Behind that it was an array of different runners that had strong showings starting with Aaron Brooks and Glen Humphrey in the boys 60-meter dash. Brooks finished in fourth with a time of 7.09 seconds, while Humphrey finished one spot lower in fifth with a time of 7.11 seconds

Humphrey was also able to finish ninth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.81.

In the boys shot put event, Harrison Dimick was able to claim seventh place with a distance of 49 feet 2.5 inches.

Moving to the girls events, Evie Bell was also a highlight thanks to her finish of eighth in the 800-meter run where she posted a time of 2:28.94.

As a team, the boys were able to finish fifth in the 4X200-meter relay and fourth in the 4X400-meter relay, while the girls took eighth in the 4X200-meter relay.

It was also an extremely impressive showing for the Thompson Warriors, who were able to place 10 different athletes inside the top 10 as well as three different relay teams inside the top 10, including a first-place finish for girls 4X200-meter relay team.

Individually, Jace Jones was one of the Warriors’ biggest highlights.

Jones finished seventh in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:02.14, but improved with more distance finishing second in the 1,600-meter race with a time of 4:20.65.

Sam Reynolds was able to pick up a sixth-place finish in the 60-meter dash thanks to a time of 7.12 seconds.

Like Jones, Brandon DeMarcus Lee was able to thrive in a distance race as well picking up a finish of 10th in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 10:13.65.

In the high jump event, Jared Hurst was able to pick up a top-five finish after clearing 6 feet 2 inches to take home fifth.

Dominique Hall, just a sophomore, also had an impressive showing in the boys pole vault finals clearing a height of 14 feet which gave him a finish of second in the event.

In another field event, Steve Villegas was able to finish third in the shot put finals with a distance of 52 feet 1 inch.

In the girls events, Zakiria Holifield, Niya Oden and Serenity Thomas all had solid finishes taking a spot in the top 10 in different events, while also finishing 11th in different events as well.

In the 60-meter dash, Holifield finished fifth, while Oden finished in 11th. Holifield then went on to also finish 11th in the 400-meter dash.

Briana Rapley was able to have a highlight of her own with a third-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles.

In the girls long jump, Thomas Thomas finished 11th, before going on to finish 10th in the triple jump as a freshman.

Oden also had a solid finish in the triple jump taking home fourth place with a distance of 35 feet.

For the Spain Park Jaguars, Jacob Warner, Matthew Gray and Sydney Taylor all had standout performances.

Warner was one of the day’s biggest highlights by finishing first in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 9:32.06, which beat second by 11 seconds.

Gray was able to finish ninth in the shot put event with a distance of 46 feet 10 inches.

Taylor capped off the county’s top 10 finishers by taking home sixth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.93 seconds.