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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HOOVER ­– Oak Mountain, Helena and Briarwood Christian all had athletes finish in the top ten at the AHSAA Decathlon and Heptathlon Championship at Hoover High School on Tuesday, May 16.

In the boys decathlon competition, Devan Moss of Oak Mountain finished fifth and Walter Womack of Helena finished ninth.

The girls heptathlon competition saw Briarwood Christian’s Livi Reebals finish seventh and Oak Mountain’s Sara Cothran finish in a tie for eighth.

Moss and Womack finished one-two in the first event, the 100m dash. Moss won with a time of 10.58 seconds, 0.17 seconds ahead of Womack.

Womack took first place in the long jump with a mark of 6.82m in his final attempt.

Moss lost ground on both the long jump and shot put, finishing eighth and seventh respectively, but was able to keep pace. Briarwood’s Charlie Thompson finished fourth in the shot put with a throw of 11.95m, Oak Mountain’s Trey Vassell finished sixth and Womack finished 28th.

Moss came surging back with a win in the high jump, as he was the only one to clear the 1.87m mark.

Womack tapped out at the 1.72m mark, but he bounced back with a win in the final event of the day, the 400m dash, winning with a time of 50.50 seconds. Moss finished three seconds behind in 22nd place.

On Tuesday, Moss placed fourth in the 110m hurdles with a time of 15.87 seconds while Womack finished 14th.

Moss and Womack fell behind on the three field events that followed. They failed to place in the top 25 in the discus throw, javelin throw and shot put. Vassell took third in the javelin throw with a mark of 43.39m, and Thompson finished fourth in the discus throw with a 32.12m attempt.

In the final event, the 1500m run, Womack placed tenth to secure his ninth place points finish. Moss placed 28th, but his two wins were good enough to secure fifth place in the points.

Moss finished the decathlon with 5,530 points, and Womack recorded 5,273 points. Benjamin Thomason from James Clemons won the competition with a score of 6,166 points.

In the girls competition, Reebals opened with a fifth place finish in the 100m hurdles, finishing in 16.18 seconds, and Oak Mountain’s Julia Bueche finished in eighth.

While Reebals fell behind in the high jump, she finished 14th in the shot put with a 7.93m throw.

Cothran surged at the close of day one with a 14th place finish in the 200m dash, recording a time of 27.4 seconds to take advantage of the high points offered.

Cothran kept the momentum going on day two with a ninth-place mark in the long jump thanks to a 4.98m attempt.

Cothran also finished fifth in the javelin with a 31.81m throw and a 2:30 time in the final event, the 800m dash, to come from behind and tie for eighth in the points.

Reebals was able to keep pace with a 17th place finish in the javelin throw and a 13th place run in the 800m. Those results, along with her fifth-place finish in the 100m hurdles, were good enough for seventh place overall.

Reebals finished the competition with 3505 points, and Cothran finished with 3497 points. Janie Ford of St. Paul’s Episcopal won the heptathlon with an-AHSAA record 5118 points, breaking the old mark set in 2014 by St. Paul’s Episcopal’s Shelley Spires.