The Hoover Invitational became the biggest in-state meet of the new year on January 24. The meet showcased talent from all parts of the state, from Mobile to Florence, and set the stage for many new state and personal best performances. For complete results, follow the link below:

Complete Results.

At the LSU Indoor Classic in Baton Rouge, Alabama prep tracksters faced off against competition from all over the Southeast. Though host state Louisiana, neighboring Texas, and several track clubs brought more athletes, Alabama's best were able to win and place in several events.

At least five Alabama prep track products are competing at this weekend's NCAA Division I Championships in Sacramento, California. Only the very best of all collegiate athletes earn the chance to compete at the national meet, as all competitors are required to qualify in regional competition (similar to the sectional/state system for Alabama).

Many Alabama track & field athletes are continuing their season through the summer months. This past weekend, several traveled to Orlando, Florida, to compete at the Golden South Classic, one of the most competitive meets in the eastern United States.

Less than a week after signing a scholarship with one of the top collegiate track programs in the nation, Scottsboro senior Daniel Nolan scored three personal bests (all school and meet records) and five wins at his final home invitational at Trammell Stadium in Scottsboro.

Homewood sophomore Josh Pawlik has been improving so quickly for so long now that it\'s hard to pick a single point to mark the beginning of his rise to the upper ranks of Alabama\'s distance running elite. His presence there, however, is now much more noticeable.

Alabama track & field athletes sought competition beyond the state\'s borders this past weekend. Here\'s a recap from the Florida, Mississippi, and Louisianna meets where Alabama runners competed:

With just over a month left in the outdoor season, marks at the top of 5A in three different sprint events, and a 100m personal best time just 8 hundredths of a second away from the state record, Oriana Carter has her eyes set on coming home from Tuscaloosa with three gold shields and a new 5A 100m record.

This spring will mark the end of Edra Finley\'s decorated high school track & field career--a career that began with two All-State finishes as a seventh grader and may climax with another team championship, five more golds, and even state records in each event she contests.

Robinson: Forty feet at Patriot Relays

Pelham senior Aaron Jones lept six feet in February to place third in the 6A Men's high jump. By finishing in the top three, Jones earned All-State honors for the first time in his career. This spring he'll try to add two more All-State medals to his trophy rack-- in the men's high jump and as a multievent athlete in the AHSAA State Decathlon

Some of Alabama

Grissom junior Dominique Robinson has won three of the four 6A State shot put championships she\'s competed in since joining the Tiger track & field team in the spring of 2001.

Fast times, an outgoing personality, and an unmistakable head of auburn hair make Scottsboro junior distance runner Will McGee one of the best-known and most-recognized track athletes in the state this year.

Williamson senior Arthur Davis dominated the sprint events at the University of Southern Mississippi Invitational on Friday. With times of 11.00, 21.43, 47.54, and 3:24.94, Davis picked up wins in the 100m, 200m, 400m, and 4x400m relay. The 200m time is a PR, moving him into 8th place on the AR All-Time Lists.

Currently ranked 14th on the state all-time 110m hurdle list and 25th in the 300m hurdles, Sewell looks to move up the charts this season while also contributing to his team\'s effort to defend their 6A team title any way he can, whether it be in the 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay, the 100m, 200m, or even the javelin.

Randy Curry enters the 2003 outdoor track season as the defending 6A 400m champion both indoors & out, as well as the fastest returning 200m runner in class 6A. If anyone takes the 6A 400m championship away from Randy Curry this season, he\'ll make sure they have to set a state record to do it.

Several athletes in last weekend\'s SEC Championships once competed in the Alabama prep ranks.

He ranks first in the state all-time for the 400m dash, 9th in 200m. He\'s set one 5A state record, won four 5A state championships, one team title, earned All-State seven times and been mentioned in football recruiting magazines without ever donning pads. Not bad for a man just starting his third year of varsity competition.

Read the workout and race log of Jamie Oliver's senior track season. Already a six time team state champion and fourteen time All-State performer, Oliver will chase the 6A 3200m record he narrowly missed last year and the elusive sub-4:20 mile.

Follow the senior track season of a woman quickly becoming an Alabama distance legend