By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

ALABASTER – Sept. 22 marked the day of the Shelby County cross-country Championships, a meet with only Shelby County teams participating. 10 teams in all took place and finished with a team score, but the Oak Mountain boys were the ones who dominated this day, finishing with five runners in the top six, one runner away from a perfect score.

Cole Stidfole continued his junior campaign dominance with a time of 17:03.53, well off his earlier time of sub-15:50, but he was not pushed near as hard as he was in his earlier race, with teammate and second place finisher Caleb Van Geffen finishing with a time of 17:22.79. Sean Drummond, the lone senior of the bunch, finished third with a time of 17:30.71. The only non-Eagle to finish in the top-5 was Warrior Conner Murphy, who finished fourth with a time of 17:41.82.

Oak Mountain finished first in the boys race with a score of 17 while Thompson finished second with a score of 54 behind the strong performance from Murphy. Briarwood finished third in the boys’ race behind a seventh place finish from Griffin Oaks, who finished with a time of 17:51.99. Helena, Westminster School at Oak Mountain and Pelham rounded out four through six while Chelsea, Indian Springs, Shelby County and Calera rounded out the bottom of the barrel in the boys race.

Nicole Payne of Oak Mountain was the top finisher on the day for the girls with a time of 19:56.52, but Westminster School at Oak Mountain grabbed the overall victory with strong performances from second place finisher Maddie Hoaglund and fourth place finisher Sarah Kate Lipper, who finisher with times of 20:17.57 and 21:26.19, respectively. Third place finisher was Pelham’s Mary Grace Strozier with a time of 21:25.35.

The Lady Knights finished with 39 points while Oak Mountain finished with 55 and Helena High School rounded out the top three with a score of 79 behind ninth and 10^th place finishes from Claire Vaughn and Maggie Lucas.

Thompson, Pelham and Briarwood rounded out the next three finishers while Indian Springs, Chelsea and Calera rounded out the bottom three of the girls meet.