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As many county athletes and teams advanced to the cross country state championship, Oak Mountain’s John Shoemaker, Helena’s Aldrie Ridgon and Westminster OM’s Weaver Caldwell and Maris Seller won sectional titles. (Contributed)

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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

This Halloween served up a different kind of trick-or-treat for cross country runners across Alabama as they sought not candy, but spots at the 2024 state championship with their performances at the sectional championships on Thursday, Oct. 31.

The top four teams in each section advanced to the state championship along with six individual qualifiers, the best runners who ran for teams which missed out on state.

In addition to those spots in the state championship, sectional titles were up for grabs, and four individual runners and two teams took championships.

Oak Mountain’s John Shoemaker, Helena’s Aldrie Ridgon and Westminster School at Oak Mountain’s Weaver Caldwell and Maris Seller won individual championships and Westminster won both boys and girls team titles.

Read more below for the full list of state championship qualifiers from each school in order of classification.

7A Section 3

The Oak Mountain Eagles and Thompson Warriors clashed in the Class 7A, Section 3 meet at Hewitt-Trussville High School, and one of the favorites for the state championship claimed gold once again.

Oak Mountain’s John Shoemaker claimed first place in the Section 3 boys championship race with a time of 16:16.64. The win was the sixth of the season for the Ole Miss commit.

He helped the Eagles qualify for state with a fourth-place team standings finish off of 69 points.

The other scoring runners for Oak Mountain were Isaac Glorioso in seventh place with a time of 16:58.64, Cooper Jeffcoat in 18th place with a time of 17:19.56, Zack Joyce in 21st place with a time of 17:34.31 and Sam Trammell in 22nd place with a time of 17:38.05.

Thompson had three individual boys qualifiers for the state championship as Eli Wagner came in 42nd place with a time of 19:58.30, Kohen Jenkins-McGill in 43rd place with a time of 20:27.78 and Colby Prosser in 45th place with a time of 21:00.74.

Oak Mountain also qualified for the girls 7A state championship with a third-place finish behind 78 points.

Ava Fields was the team’s top finisher after she came in fourth place with a time of 19:49.74. Catarina Williams also secured a top-10 finish as she came in ninth place with a time of 20:36.96.

Faith Scardino came in 15th place with a time of 20:57.50, Hayley Datema took 20th place with a time of 21:18.76 and Fiona Mallory rounded out the scoring runners with a 31st-place finish of 22:14.99.

Thompson secured all six individual qualifier spots in the girls race. Delaney Paganelli was the team’s top finisher in 17th place with a time of 21:03.29.

Luna Montiel-Duenas, Hanna Sheffield and Addison Zoebelein finished right behind each other as Montiel-Duenas came in 26th place with a time of 21:49.52, Sheffield finished 27th with a time of 21:50.74 and Zoebelein secured 28th place with a time of 21:58.08.

The Warriors’ other two individual qualifiers were Alyssarae Bustamante in 34th place with a time of 22:22.26 and Ansley O’Neal in 39th place with a time of 23:00.59.

6A Section 2

Calera did not compete as a team in the Class 6A, Section 2 championship at Auburn High School, but the Eagles still sent multiple runners to state as individual qualifiers.

Keanna Hart was the top girls individual qualifier out of Section 2 after she earned fourth place with a time of 24:40.51.

Calera had the top two individual qualifiers in the boys race as Dustin Best earned 26th place with a time of 23:33.90 and Cooper Manning took 29th place with a time of 23:33.90.

6A Section 3

After winning at the Leeds Invitational earlier this year, Aldrie Ridgon secured an even bigger victory as the Helena Huskies competed in the Class 6A, Section 3 championship at American Christian Academy in Tuscaloosa.

The seventh-grader Ridgon won the girls section championship with a time of 20:29.95, which beat out Northridge sophomore Bristol Fleenor in second place with her time of 21:17.86.

Aubrey Kennedy and Jaid Spears both got top 15 finishes as Kennedy came in 13th place with a time of 24:02.25 and Spears finished in 14th place with a time of 24:14.50.

Helena’s other scoring runners were Rosalie Rhodes, who came in 24th place with a time of 25:25.15, and Elizabeth Awtry, who took 27th place with a time of 26:10.49.

Those times helped the Huskies qualify as a team for state with a third-place finish in the team standings behind 72 points.

Helena’s boys qualified by virtue of only three teams competing in the Section 3 team standings, but they still walked away with some strong performances from the boys race.

Josh Howard and Camp Herndon both finished in the top 10 as Howard came in ninth place with a time of 17:16.71 and Herndon took 10th place with a time of 17:46.15.

The other Huskies’ scoring runners were Gavin Deher in 18th place with a time of 19:52.99, Caleb Williford in 26th place with a time of 20:40.33 and Ethan Powell in 28th place with a time of 21:55.57.

6A Section 4

The Spain Park Jaguars, Briarwood Christian Lions, Chelsea Hornets and Pelham Panthers all battled it out for spots at the Class 6A state championship at the Section 4 meet at Hewitt-Trussville High School.

Chelsea and Briarwood qualified as teams for the state championship. The Hornets came in third with 79 points and the Lions earned fourth place with 99 points.

Briarwood’s Whit Thornton was the county’s top finisher as he came in second place with a time of 16:50.20.

The other scoring runners for the Lions were Kolby Day in 19th place with a time of 17:50.19, Lucas Meservey in 26th place with a time of 18:58.12, Noah Genin in 27th place with a time of 18:58.70 and Gavin Nguyen in 37th place with a time of 20:10.29.

Chelsea’s Hudson Williams finished right behind Thornton as he took third place with a time of 16:54.93, securing his team’s best finish. Conner Campbell also secured a top-five spot as he came in fifth with a time of 17:02.48.

The Hornets’ other scoring runners included Carson Campbell in 22nd place with a time of 18:27.47, Anden Peek in 28th place with a time of 19:01.75 and Luke Dollar in 31st place with a time of 19:08.52.

Spain Park had five different individual qualifiers for the state championship, led by Brody Ahlemeyer’s fourth-place finish thanks to his time of 16:57.50.

Caleb Landers came in 23rd place with a time of 18:38.26, Finn Carter took 29th place with a time of 19:02.05, Luca Zellner finished in 30th with a time of 19:08.08 and Stephen Schneider rounded out the qualifiers in 33rd place with his time of 19:21.16.

As for the girls, Briarwood and Spain Park both qualified for state in the team competition. The Lions came in third with 93 points and the Jags qualified in fourth with 99 points.

Remy Richards took home a big finish for Spain Park as she came in second place with a time of 19:08.64, securing the county’s best finish in the process.

Her teammate Madison Harvey joined her in the top five as Harvey came in fifth with a time of 19:48.35.

The Jags’ other scoring runners were Leighton Zelwak in 27th place with a time of 22:27.05, Mackenzie Colbaugh in 33rd place with a time of 23:06.36 and Caroline Barlow in 40th place with a time of 24:29.94.

Briarwood had two top 10 finishes as Mary Grace Parker came in eighth place with a time of 20:12.94 and Allie Hale finished in 10th place with a time of 20:25.45.

Lena Anne Parker came in 18th place with a time of 21:21.86, Emmie Hale finished in 25th place with a time of 22:09.85 and Lily Cate Jeff rounded out the scoring runners in 37th place with a time of 24:10.98.

Chelsea and Pelham both sent individual qualifiers to state as the Hornets had three runners qualify and the Panthers sent two runners to the state meet.

Chelsea’s Ty Cason was the top individual qualifier with her seventh-place finish of 20:09.39 and Pelham’s Emily Wester was close behind her in ninth place with a time of 20:23.65.

The Hornets’ other individual qualifiers were Hannah Quick in 13th place with a time of 20:43.04 and Juliette Edwards in 17th place with a time of 21:12.53. The Panthers’ Janelle Ramos will join her teammate Wester at state after she came in 22nd place with a time of 21:44.96.

5A Section 3

The Westminster School at Oak Mountain Knights swept all of the titles and the Shelby County Wildcats logged one of their best days in program history in a banner day for county schools at the Class 5A, Section 3 championship at American Christian Academy in Tuscaloosa.

Westminster’s Weaver Caldwell won the boys race with a time of 16:23.29, and Quinn McCurry secured a one-two finish for the Knights with his second-place time of 16:26.32.

Two more Westminster runners came in the top six as Daniel Vansant took fourth place with a time of 16:55.84 and Aiden McEachran came in sixth place with a time of 17:04.21.

Caleb Pettagrue rounded out the scoring runners in 15th place with his time of 18:19.81 to help the Knights win the meet with 28 points.

Carter Wood led the Wildcats with a third-place finish as he had a time of 16:51.77 to take a podium spot.

The team’s other scoring runners finished in the top 20 as Alex Fleming came in 11th with a time of 17:58.30, MaKonnen Falcon took 12th with a time of 18:05.64, Zachary Hallmark finished in 14th with his time of 18:18.65 and Brayden Hutton secured 18th with a time of 18:30.86.

As a result, Shelby County came in third in the team standings with 56 points, helping the Wildcats advance to the state championship.

Since only three teams competed in the girls team championship, Westminster OM and Shelby County both automatically advanced the state meet, but both teams had strong individual performances as well.

The Knights had the entire top four of the girls race as seventh-grader Maris Sellers won with a time of 20:43.38, Emily Mungai came in second with a time of 20:57.33, eighth-grader Savannah Schleicher took third with a time of 21:19.45 and Sarah Adams secured fourth place with a time of 21:33.45.

McKenzie Bell was Westminster’s other scoring runner, coming in eighth place with a time of 22:28.44 to secure first place in the team standings with 15 points.

The Wildcats’ best finish in the girls race came from Kathryn Peterson as she came in 10th place with a time of 22:55.92.

Josie Payne and Lorelei Hallmark finished back-to-back as Payne took 17th place with a time of 24:06.80 and the seventh-grader Hallmark was right behind her in 18th place with a time of 24:14.89.

Shelby County’s other two scoring runners also finished in sequential order with Gracie Wible taking 20th place with a time of 25:13.46 and Jennie Owens securing 21st place with a time of 25:16.80.

As a result, the Wildcats came in second in the team standings with 48 points.

4A Section 2

Indian Springs took the course at American Christian Academy in the Class 4A, Section 2 championship for a shot at a state title.

The girls team earned its spot in the 4A state championship by securing fourth place in the team standings with 86 points.

Catherine Hinson was the team’s top finisher after she came in third place behind a time of 21:14.10. Eva Good earned 14th place with a time of 24:36.08 and Harper Breitenfeld took 18th place with a time of 25:30.37.

The other two members of Springs’ top five were Lucia Kochlowski in 26th place after she earned a time of 27:03.20 and Anna Park in 31st place with her time of 28:59.75.

Indian Springs’ boys team missed qualifying for the state championship, but Oliver Middleton will represent the school at the meet after he was the top individual qualifier. He came in 12th place with a time of 19:50.90.

1A-2A Section 2

The Vincent Yellow Jackets will have three runners representing VMHS at the state championship after their strong performances at the Class 1A-2A, Section 2 championship at Central High School in Lineville.

In the boys race, Kash Dobson qualified for state as an individual with his time of 23:41.50 after coming in 28th place.

Kalin Cobb finished in 11th place in the girls race with a time of 26:55.10 and Kaleigh Willis came in 15th place with a time of 29:40.53 as both runners secured spots at the state championship.

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