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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

BIRMINGHAM – The indoor track and field season officially heated up with the annual Ice Breaker meet at the Birmingham CrossPlex on Saturday, Jan. 4, a surefire sign that the road to the state championship is well underway.

As local athletes aimed to gain momentum ahead of the biggest stretch of the season, the Chelsea Hornets walked away with three first-place finishes thanks to Ty Cason, Tamarah Rice and their girls 4×400-meter relay team.

In addition to Chelsea, the Shelby County Wildcats and Spain Park Jaguars competed in the first Ice Breaker meet while the Briarwood Christian Lions, Helena Huskies and Westminster School at Oak Mountain Knights took part in the second meet.

In the first meet, Cason won the girls 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:01.34 for the Hornets.

Chelsea’s other individual win came from Tamarah Rice, who won the girls long jump with a mark of 16-11.00. She also finished fourth in the girls triple jump with a mark of 34-09.25.

The Hornets’ girls 4×400-meter relay team gave the school its third win of the meet after turning in a first-place time of 4:05.70.

Chelsea’s Mia Dunavant earned second place in the girls 800-meter run with a time of 2:18.61, less than a second off the winning time of 2:18.28.

Conner Campbell took third place for the Hornets in the boys 3,200-meter run with a time of 9:44.23. His teammate Hudson Williams took sixth place in the race with a time of 9:49.79.

Shelby County’s Jane Matthew Reed secured third place in the girls 400-meter run with a time of 1:01.40.

Spain Park earned third place in the girls 4×800-meter relay thanks to their time of 11:15.54.

Chelsea secured its second top-five relay finish of the day with a fourth-place time in the boys 4×400-meter relay, finishing the race in 3:39.45.

Madison Harvey of the Jags earned fourth place in the girls 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:44.07. The Hornets’ Juliette Edwards was right behind her in fifth place with a time of 11:52.75.

Chelsea’s Wyatt Irvin came in fifth in the boys pole vault after clearing a height of 12-06.00.

Chelsea’s Niles Cummings placed in the top 10 in two field competitions as he came in sixth in the boys triple jump with a mark of 41-10.00 and ninth in the boys long jump with a mark of 19-04.75.

Shelby County came in eighth place in the boys 4×800-meter relay with a time of 9:12.05.

Spain Park’s Sydney Baker came in 12th in the girls 800-meter run with her time of 2:34.09.

The Hornets’ Mallory Crawley finished in 12th in the girls long jump with a mark of 15-00.25.

Jovan Taylor of the Jags came in 14th place in the boys shot put with a mark of 41-06.00.

Spain Park also secured another top 15 finish with Brody Ahlemeyer’s 14th-place time in the boys 1,600-meter run. He finished the race in 4:45.38.

As for the second meet, Briarwood’s 4×800-meter relay team came in third place with a time of 10:15.01.

The Lions’ Mary Grace Parker came in fifth place in the girls 800-meter run with a time of 2:26.31.

Westminster OM’s girls 4×800-meter relay team came in sixth place with a time of 10:42.54.

The Knights took another top 10 finish as Emily Mungai came in ninth place in the girls 800-meter run with a time of 2:31.46. Briarwood’s Allie Hale finished just behind her in 10th place with a time of 2:31.82.