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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

It was a big day for cross-country runners in Shelby County as three more individuals added first place medals to their trophy chest on Saturday, Oct. 11

Chelsea’s Ty Cason took first place at Dew It On The Trails in Decatur while Briarwood swept the individual titles at the Leeds Invitational thanks to Whit Thornton and Allie Hale.

It was all part of a full morning for Briarwood, Chelsea, Oak Mountain, Montevallo, Helena and Vincent as they competed in meets across Alabama.

Before then though, the Evangel Christian Lightning and Cornerstone Christian Chargers went for the gold at the AISA State Championship.

Here are each team’s scoring runners from their respective races.

 

Leeds Invitational

The Briarwood Christian Lions, Helena Huskies and Montevallo Bulldogs headed north of Shelby County to Leeds Historical Park to compete in the Leeds Invitational, and in both the girls and boys races, Briarwood reigned supreme.

Thornton took the boys race championship for the Lions with a first-place time of 16:20.48. He defeated Alexandria’s Jayden Phelps by 22 seconds for the championship.

In all, Briarwood had three runners in the top 10. Kolby Day came in seventh place with a time of 17:32.64 and Lucas Meservey secured eighth place with a time of 17:51.91. Josh Mattson earned 52nd place with his time of 20:30.72 and Will Mattson came in 56th place with a time of 20:44.12.

Helena was led by Camp Herndon in fourth place with a time of 17:16.65. Merrick Blackman also had one of the top times as he came in 13th place with a time of 18:05.81.

Caleb Williford came in 22nd place with a time of 18:50.01, Ethan Powell secured 64th place with a time of 20:53.01 and Brock Howell rounded out the scoring runners in 76th place with a time of 21:24.51.

Montevallo’s top time came from Austin Cummings in 70th place with a time of 21:12.95. Other scoring runners included Jaxon Lewis in 102nd place with a time of 22:01.50, Kole Miller in 114th place with a time of 22:32.90, Troy Baggett in 142nd place with a time of 23:22.62 and Macon Huckabaa in 152nd place with a time of 23:49.44.

As for the girls, Briarwood swept the top two with Allie Hale winning the girls race with a time of 19:42.20 and Lena Anne Parker finishing in second place with a time of 20:04.19, 22 seconds behind Hale.

Aldrie Rigdon made it an all-county top three as the Helena eighth grader finished in third place with a time of 20:26.06.

Elsewhere for the Lions, Emmie Hale came in 14th place with a time of 21:55.63, Shannon Fitzpatrick secured 26th place with a time of 24:02.80 and Anna Veal took 31st place with a time of 24:16.94. Briarwood came in second as a team with 70 points after losing to Springville on a tiebreaker.

Helena came in sixth place in the team standings with 163 points. After Rigdon, Rosalie Rhodes came in 25th place with a time of 24:02.53, Emma Price earned 36th place with a time of 24:44.71, Ella Carr secured 46th place with a time of 25:21.06 and Elizabeth Awtry rounded out the scoring runners in 74th place with a time of 26:34.19.

Avery Doss led Montevallo in 91st place with a time of 27:21.98. Leah Miller and Lyla Savell finished back-to-back in 112th and 113th place with times of 30:11.82 and 30:17.54, respectively. Isabella Huckabaa came in 118th place with a time of 31:15.57 and Jaimie Nichols earned 146th place with a time of 37:58.67.

 

Dew It On The Trails

The Chelsea Hornets and Oak Mountain Eagles took on premier competition at the Dew It On The Trails Meet, which was hosted by Decatur High School at Point Mallard.

In the end, one of the county’s best ruled atop the field as Chelsea’s Ty Cason won the event with a time of 17:42.54. She defeated Whitesburg Christian’s Nora Allen by just under 45 seconds, breaking her personal record and the school 5K record in the process.

Emily Davis took 22nd place with a time of 19:31.81, Sophie House secured 79th place with a time of 21:36.44, Eleanor Talley came in 111th place with a time of 22:47.00 and Sydney Johnson rounded out the scoring runners with a time of 25:29.51.

As for Oak Mountain, Catarina Williams made the top 10 with a ninth-place result and a time of 18:47.80. Fiona Mallory secured 24th place with a time of 19:34.19, Anna Bond came in 47th place with a time of 20:37.00, Alison Mims earned 62nd place with a time 20:59.11 and Anabelle Williams took 65th place with a time of 21:12.39.

Oak Mountain’s boys team was led by Cooper Jeffcoat, who just announced his commitment to Mississippi State prior to the meet, and he took ninth place with a time of 15:45.23.

The Eagles got two more top-15 performances from Isaac Glorioso and Zack Joyce. Glorioso took 13th place with a time of 15:48.50 and Joyce came in 15th place with a time of 15:51.37.

Braxton Noe earned 40th place with a time of 16:31.24 and Graham Phillips rounded out the scoring runners in 72nd place with a time of 17:08.64.

Chelsea’s Hudson Williams came in between Jeffcoat and Joyce in 14th place with his time of 15:48.89. Luke Dollar secured 61st place with a time of 16:58.37, Jeremiah Kirkes earned 120th place with a time of 18:09.82 and Jonathan Gordon was right behind him in 121st with a time of 18:10.11.

Brennan Carmack was the fifth scoring runner in 162nd place with a time of 19:22.30 as the Hornets earned 13th place in the team standings.

 

Volunteer Fall Classic

The Vincent Yellow Jackets headed to Lineville to compete in the Volunteer Fall Classic, which was hosted by Central-Clay County.

Zane Pate led the boys team with a 27th place finish as he came in with a time of 20:05.47.

Westin Waldrop came in 72nd place with a time of 22:41.62, Kash Dobson earned 75th place with a time of 22:46.23, Bryson Blanchard took 103rd place with a time of 25:54.65 and Wyatt Wills secured 110th place with a time of 26:54.45.

As for the girls, Kalin Cobb led the way with a time of 26:00.76, good enough for 27th place. Jessica Lasseter was the team’s other runner, and she earned 61st place with a time of 33:07.28.

 

AISA State Championship

Evangel and Cornerstone went out on a high note with top performances at the AISA State Championship, racing against the top teams from the AISA and ACSC at Keisel Park in Auburn.

Evangel’s Micah Jones got on the podium with a third-place finish thanks to his time of 18:38.27.

Eleazar Back came in 39th place with a time of 23:59.17, and Nolan Smith was right behind him in 40th place with a time of 24:07.14. Grayson Christner secured 43rd place with a time of 24:53.88 to round out the Lightning’s boys runners.

Cornerstone’s Grant Standifer came in 37th place with a time of 23:55.03, and Nolan Davis earned 48th place with a time of 27:06.80.

As for the girls, Cate Morgan came in 12th place for Evangel with a time of 25:18.23.