Distance runners Ethan Lemons of Vinemont High School and Ethan Edgeworth of Cold Springs broke state records in the 1,600-meter runs to highlight the first day of the Class 1A, 2A and 3A AHSAA State Track and Field Championships on Friday at Cullman High School’s Woodard Stadium.

The two Ethans, friends who have been competing against each other for the past five years, but on Friday Edgeworth set the Class 2A record by finishing at 4:11.96 while Lemons broke the 3A mark with a 4:12.74. Lemons broke the record he set last season at 4:15.80. Edgeworth’s new record eclipsed the time set by Clay County’s Brandon Smith in 2001 – 4:28.89.

Marion County’s boys lead the Class 1A meet with 42.5 points, including a first place, tie for second and fourth place in the pole vault. Addison is in second place with 38 points, followed by Faith Christian at 27 points. Marion County’s girls are also in first place with 56 points, leading Donoho and Athens Bible who are tied for second with 20 points each.

Cold Springs leads the boys Class 2A competition with 28 points headed into Saturday’s final day of competition. Sand Rock is second with 25 points and Holly Pond has 20. The Cold Springs girls team is also in first place with 30 points, followed by Whitesburg Christian at 24 points. Francis Marion and Lexington are tied for third with 17 points each.

In Class 3A, Ohatchee led the girls and boys competition. The boys earned 30.5 points Friday. Vinemont had 30 for second place, followed by Trinity with 25. The Ohatchee girls totaled 33 points to lead Houston Academy with 27. Tied for third place were Indian Springs and Altamont with 22 points each.

Edgeworth turned in a second spectacular performance on Friday, running the final leg of Cold Springs’ 2A state record performance in the 4×800 relay. He got the baton to start the final leg some 30 yards behind and turned in a 1:54 performance in his 800 meters to pass several other teams and beat Sand Rock by a few steps at the finish line. The Eagles’ relay team, consisting of Justin Caffee, Drew Dykes, Jayden Allred and Edgeworth, won the race with an 8:15.99 time to break the previous Class 2A state record of 8:22.56, established by Falkville at the 2006 state meet. Sand Rock crossed the finish line in second place clocking 8:18.90, which also surpassed the previous record.

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The Class 4A/5A/6A and 7A state meets will also conclude at Gulf Shores on Saturday. Rain delayed much of the competition Friday and finally forced a postponement. The meet will continue at 8 a.m. on Saturday.

Ohatchee’s Jorda Crook, who earned All-State honors in basketball and volleyball, showed her versatility even more by winning the Class 3A javelin event with a throw of 129-03 and the 3A high jump at 5-04. She also finished second to Susan Moore’s own multi-talented senior Cali Smallwood in the 3A shot put competition. Smallwood won with a toss of 36-10 and Crook’s best was 35-07.

Both girls were All-State basketball players and Crook, who is heading to college to play volleyball, played in the AHSAA’s North-South All-Star volleyball match last summer.

Among the other highlights, in the Class 3A 400-meter dash event junior Matthew Blake of Trinity and senior Ja’Kaleb Stone of Childersburg met in last week’s Section 2 tournament with Blake edging Stone for the section title by 1/100th of a second, clocking 51.38 seconds to win. Stone ran 51.39.

The two speedsters found themselves in the same heat again in the state championship race and Blake edged Stone at the finish line once again – by 1/100th of a second. Both improved their times, crossing the finish line at 50.93 and 50.94 seconds on Friday. Each performance came with striking distance of the Class 3A state meet record of 49.46 set by Tavias Anderson of Sheffield in 2016.

Also in Class 3A, freshman twins Kaylin and Braylin Jackson turned in solid sprinter performances Friday for Pike County in Class 3A. Braylin had the top qualifying time in the Class 3A boys’ 100-meter dash prelims with a 11.23 time – which bested his 11.28 section time which was tops among all 3A participants.

He edged out Dadeville’s Antjuan Woody for the top seed in Saturday’s 100-meter finals. Woody returned the favor in the 200-meter prelims Friday earning the top seed for the final with a 22.56 effort. Jackson clocked 22.63. His 22.61 time in the sectionals was also tops coming into the state meet, and Woody’s time section time was 22.95.

Jackson’s twin sister Kaylin, who clocked 12.55 in the section meet last week to earn the top qualifying time among all participants, finished third among the 3A girls’ 100-meter dash prelim qualifiers with a 12.76 time behind McCauley Flanagan of Houston Academy 12.42 finish and Marley Beard of St. James, who came in at 12.70.

Marion County swept the 1A pole vault competition with Tye Madison winning the boys title clearing 11 feet, 6 inches. Caroline Pyron won the girls event clearing 8 feet.

See the complete Class 1A, 2A and 3A results from Friday.

See the 4A, 5A, 6A, 7A results.