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Sam Chandler
Oak Mountain Indoor Track
Oak Mountain High School freshman Nicole Payne nears the end of the 7A girls 400-meter finals, in which she set a 7A state meet and CrossPlex high school record time of 55.25 seconds.
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Sam Chandler
Oak Mountain Indoor Track
Oak Mountain High School junior Cole Stidfole notched a third-place finish in the boys 3,200 meters with a time of 9:38.42.
Nicole Payne of Oak Mountain High School and Daniel Nixon of Spain Park High were among the standouts at the state indoor track and field championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
Schools from all over the state descended on Birmingham Feb. 5-6 for the event.
Payne, a freshman, not only won the Class 7A girls 400-meter run. She also set a 7A state meet and CrossPlex high school record time of 55.25 seconds. Payne also placed fourth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:20.48.
Spain Park's Nixon, a senior, clocked a blistering Class 7A state meet record time of 1:55.51 to clinch his second career 800-meter state title. He was the runner-up in the 400 meters, notching a time of 49.54.
The Westminster School at Oak Mountain competed in the Class 1A-3A division and produced some solid performances as well. Maddie Hoaglund placed third in the girls 3,200 meters and sixth in the 800 meters. Her best performance of the day was a runner-up finish in the 1,600-meter run, with a time of 5:26.44.
Jacob Carrell was second in the boys 800-meter run, breaking the two-minute barrier with a time of 1:59.54 for Westminster. He was also fifth in the 400 meters. Rebecca Thompson finished fourth in the girls 400 meters with a time of 1:03.64.
Oak Mountain’s Cole Stidfole placed third in the boys 3,200-meter run with a time of 9:38.42. Payton Youngblood finished fifth in the 7A boys high jump with a leap of 1.82 meters, or 6 feet. Glynel Humphrey recorded a fifth place finish in the 7A boys 400-meter run with a time of 51.28.
Damon Wright was third in the boys shot put with a heave of 15.98 meters (52 feet, 5¼ inches). Christian Strong came home fourth in the boys 60-meter hurdles, clocking a time of 8.56 seconds.
In overall team results, Westminster finished sixth in 1A-3A girls and seventh in boys. In Class 7A, Oak Mountain's girls finished seventh, and Spain Park’s girls came in 11th. The Spain Park boys came in fifth, while Oak Mountain’s boys finished ninth.
Others placing in individual events for Westminster included Payton Metcalf, Hannah York, Hallie Porterfield, Rachel Faulk, Katie Croushorn, Colin Thomas, Pierce Moffett, John Porterfield, John Lusk and Alice Boone. The girls 4x200-meter relay team took home first place. The boys 4x800-meter relay team placed second, while the 4x400-meter relay team finished third.
For Oak Mountain, Lauren Beard, Jazmyne Crumpton, Phoebe Cooper, Evie Bell, Abbie Davis, Kate VanBeek, Garrett DeAraujo, Sean Drummond, Gunner Cunningham, Kai Christenberry and Justice Hammond placed in their events. The girls 4x200-meter and 4x400-meter relay teams each finished fourth.
At Spain Park, Jerome Kirkland, Sarah Sims McGrath, Makayla Hay, Mary Katherine Tedder, Zoe Shore, Kristen Hopkins, Kaleigh Carney, Jalen McMillan, Trey Robinson, Cole Dillard, Joseph Reese, Thomas Jordan and Shannon Lott all placed in individual events. The boys 4x200-meter and girls 4x800-meter relay teams were fourth, and the girls 4x400-meter team was third.
