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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

BIRMINGHAM – With the indoor track and field state championship less than a month away, the best athletes descended on the Birmingham CrossPlex on Saturday, Jan. 6 for the biggest event of the season thus far in the 2024 Ice Breaker Invitational.

Competing against fields of hundreds of top athletes from around the state, six area athletes and relay teams brought home first-place finishes at the Ice Breaker.

That included gold medal performances from the Briarwood Christian Lions, Calera Eagles, Chelsea Hornets, Helena Huskies and Spain Park Jaguars.

Like many of the CrossPlex’s meets this season, the field was split into two sets of finals. Helena competed in the first set of finals while Briarwood, Calera, Chelsea, Indian Springs, Spain Park and Westminster School at Oak Mountain took part in the second set of finals.

Chelsea’s Parker Campbell took home the gold in the second boys 3,200-meter run finals with a time of 9:34.73, beating Northridge’s Shawn Stephenson to the line by less than a second.

Spain Park’s Delaney Vickers won the second girls 1,600-meter run finals, taking home gold with a time of 5:01.37 over Chelsea’s Ty Cason, who finished in second with a time of 5:10.37.

Vickers’ teammate Remy Richards earned fourth place for the Jags with a time of 5:21.80. Briarwood’s Mary Grace Parker came in eighth with a time of 5:24.55.

Michael Sestili of Helena was the last man standing in the first boys pole vault finals after he was the only athlete to clear a mark of 13-03.00.

Briarwood’s Ansley Murphy took first place in the second girls pole vault finals by clearing a mark of 11-06.00.

In addition, Chelsea’s Alana McCulla came in a tie for 10th with a mark of 9-06.00.

In the first final, Helena’s Abigail Parsons finished in sixth place with a mark of 8-06.00.

Brooklyn Kelley of the Helena Huskies came in first place in the first girls shot put finals after recording a throw that achieved a mark of 34-07.00.

Her teammate Anna Grace Johnson came in seventh with a mark of 30-02.00.

The Calera Eagles won first place in the second boys 4×400-meter relay finals. They finished atop the podium with a time of 3:33.17, narrowly beating out James Clemens for the win.

In addition, Westminster OM came in fifth place in the same race with a time of 3:43.74.

Calera finished third in the second boys 4×200-meter relay finals after turning in a time of 1:32.02, finishing just over a second behind Hoover’s first-place team.

In the second girls 3,200-meter run finals, Spain Park’s Madison Harvey came in third place with a time of 11:55.91, and Chelsea’s Juliette Edwards finished in fourth with a time of 11:57.21.

Helena’s Aspen Warren finished in third place in the first boys 800-meter run finals with a time of 1:59.56.

Briarwood finished fifth in the second girls 4×800-meter relay finals with a time of 10:31.24.

In the second girls 400-meter dash finals, Spain Park’s Sydney Baker earned sixth place with a time of 59.80 seconds.

The Chelsea Hornets’ Brandon Sims finished in seventh place in the second boys long jump finals after recording a mark of 21-04.00.

Westminster OM came in seventh in the second girls 4×400-meter relay finals with a time of 4:30.65.

Chelsea’s Emma Raines McGough came in a tie for ninth place in the second girls high jump finals after clearing a mark of 4-08.00.

In the second boys 60-meter dash, Spain Park’s Zavier Long finished in ninth with a time of 7.01 seconds.

Indian Springs was represented at the Ice Breaker by Quinn Conroy, who finished 18th in the boys 3,200-meter run with a time of 10:33.87.