Oak Mountain’s Nicole Payne ran away from the competition this spring.
Payne won AHSAA Class 7A indoor championships in the 60- and 400-meter dash events and then swept the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dash events at the 7A outdoor championships in Gulf Shores.
Oh, and she did it all while playing soccer, scoring 24 goals and adding 30 assists, this spring for an Oak Mountain squad that advanced to the 7A quarterfinals. In fact, she ran in the state outdoor track meet and then drove back to Birmingham to play in the soccer quarterfinals that night.
"When her schedule got crazy, she definitely never got a day off," Oak Mountain soccer coach Chris Blight said. "Her work ethic was second to none."
For her accomplishments, Payne -- a West Virginia soccer signee who also ran cross country -- is today named AL.com’s Birmingham Girls Athlete of the Year.
Trendon Watford, Payne's counterpart as the Birmingham Boys Athlete of the Year, also enjoyed a record-breaking season.
Watford set a new AHSAA career rebounding record and let Mountain Brook to a third straight 7A state boys basketball title, as the Spartans became the first program in AHSAA history to a 3-peat in the largest boys classification.
Watford was named Mr. Basketball for the second straight season and signed with LSU.
"In basketball, if someone is really the best player in the state, they make the other players on their team better," Mountain Brook coach Bucky McMillan said earlier this spring. "That’s what Trendon did. That is what makes him great."
Watford, a 6-foot-9 forward, averaged 23.7 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.1 steals and 2.5 blocks per game, and he ended his career with 22 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots in the victory over Baker in the 7A title game.
“I think it’s safe to say he’s the best we’ve played by a longshot,” Baker coach David Armstrong said earlier this year.
