By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – Three county schools, Oak Mountain, Westminster School at Oak Mountain and Helena, were among the 16 teams to run in the Oak Mountain Invitational at Heardmont Park in North Shelby. All three schools finished in the top five of both the boys and girls meets, which took place on Sept. 26.

Three of the top five finishers in the boys’ race were from Oak Mountain, as has become customary in the early going this season. Cole Stidfole finished first with a time of 16:25.20, more than 32 seconds faster than second-place finisher Dillon Dean of Benjamin Russell. Caleb Van Geffen and Sean Drummond finished third and fourth for the Eagles with times of 17:00.42 and 17:06.50, respectively.

Oak Mountain won the meet with a score of 22 while Hoover finished second with 42 points, although the Bucs’ junior stud Tommy McDonough did not run. Helena finished fourth in the meet with 160 points and was led by an 18:28.17 effort from sophomore Blake Vaughn, good enough for 21^st place overall. Spencer Hodges was the second Husky to cross the finish line with a time of 19:09.31, placing him in 37^th place overall.

Westminster School at Oak Mountain finished fifth in the boys’ meet with 175 points, and was led by John Porterfield, who finished with a time of 19:12.15 and Pierce Moffett, who came across in 19:28.67.

The Lady Knights continued their dominance as the top girls’ team in the county with a second place finish behind Hoover on the day. Top county finisher Maddie Hoaglund crossed the finish line in 20:59.51, putting her in fifth place. Hoaglund was the only female runner in the top eight to finish who was not in a Hoover jersey. Sarah Kate Lipperd rounded out the top 10 for Westminster with a time of 21:48.16 while Camryn Neal finished in 22:07.33 for Westminster as well to lead the runner-up Lady Knights.

Oak Mountain finished third in the meet, but was without freshman sensation Nicole Payne. The Lady Eagles were led on the day by Meisi Jacobs, who was the 16^th runner to cross the finish line with a time of 22:17.64 and Mallory Staubach who finished in 23:18.39.

Helena finished fourth in the girls’ meet out of 13 teams behind strong efforts from Maggie Lucas and Claire Vaughn. Lucas finished ninth overall on the day with a time of 21:45.60 and Vaughn came in 15^th at 22:12.89.