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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTEVALLO – The starting gun officially fired on the 2024 cross country season, and runners got a chance to hit the course in a different format during the Thompson Warrior 2-Mile Invitational on Thursday, Aug. 29, and the Oak Mountain Eagles took some of the top finishes.

After entering the season with big expectations, Oak Mountain’s John Shoemaker claimed his first win of the season in his first start, running a time of 9:30.26 on the University of Montevallo cross country course to secure first place.

Shoemaker came into the season off a second-place finish in the Class 7A state championship, five wins in 2023 and a win at the North-South race in July.

His teammate on the girls side, Ava Fields, came in second with a time of 11:58.64 and was the highest county finisher in the girls Warrior 2 Mile.

She was one of three county runners to place in the top five in the season-opening race.

Briarwood Christian’s Mary Grace Parker secured a fourth-place time of 12:05.13 after finishing second in the North-South race. Spain Park’s Madison Harvey was just a few steps behind her in fifth behind a time of 12:05.32.

Back in the boys race, Shoemaker was joined in the top 10 by his teammate Cooper Jeffcoat who finished in seventh with a time of 10:02.16, beating out McAdory’s Kenneth Alonso at the line by just eight hundredths of a second.

The Eagles finished in third with five top 25 finishes, including Luke Marvin in 20th with a time of 10:18.45, Sam Trammell in 21st with a time of 10:18.81 and Zack Joyce in 24th behind a time of 10:22.61.

Brody Ahlemeyer led the Spain Park Jaguars in 15th place with a time of 10:15.21. The Jags finished in seventh as Stephen Schneider came in 83rd with a time of 11:29.56, Caleb Landers finished 84th with a time of 11:31.47 and Luca Zellner was right behind them in 85th place with a time of 11:32.15.

Westminster OM’s Weaver Caldwell got a big start to the season with a 17th place finish of 10:16.16. His teammate Daniel Vansant came in 35th with a time of 10:38.10 and Zack Taylor finished 93rd with a time of 11:43.56 to help the Knights finish sixth among 6A and 7A schools.

Whit Thornton came in 30th for the Briarwood Lions with a time of 10:33.71, and Kolby Day also had a top 50 finish with a time of 10:42.37, good enough for 41st place.

Thompson’s top finisher was Colby Prosser in 157th place with a time of 12:42.76.

Montevallo’s best finish came from John Baggett in 204th place with a time of 13:42.41.

Oliver Middleton had Indian Springs’ best result with a time of 12:38.61 in 149th place.

Zane Pate was the best finisher from the Vincent Yellow Jackets with a time of 13:47.79 in 207th place.

As for the girls race, Oak Mountain finished in fourth behind four top 25 runs. In addition to Fields’ second-place run, Catarina Williams came in 14th with a time of 12:28.95, Hayley Datema finished 17th with a time of 12:37.14 and Faith Scardino came in 23rd with her time of 12:55.41.

Joy Damron’s 28th-place run of 13:07.61 wrapped up the Eagles’ 82-point performance to finish just two points shy of the team podium.

Allie Hale helped carry Briarwood to a seventh-place finish in the team standings. While Parker led the team with a fourth-place finish, Hale came in 15th with a time of 12:33.32. Lena Anne Parker picked up a top-50 finish with a 48th-place run of 13:42.02.

Thompson finished just ahead of the Lions in the team standings in sixth place. The Warriors’ highest finish came from Hanna Sheffield in 19th place with a time of 12:38.24, and she was joined in the top 50 by Lilyanha Bush in 37th with a time of 13:25.83 and Dia Montiel-Duenas in 50th behind her time of 13:45.17.

Westminster OM had three top-40 finishes to push it into eighth place as a team. Emily Mungai led the way in 30th place with a time of 13:12.45 while Pippa Hussar came in 34th with a time of 13:19.89 and Sarah Adams finished 40th with a time of 13:28.75.

Indian Springs’ Catherine Hinson secured a solid start to the season with a 22nd-place run of 12:45.75.

Vincent’s highest finisher was Kaleigh Wills with a time of 23:01.25.

Montevallo’s Cassidy Gentry had her team’s best run of 26:59.37.