CHARLESTON – With only the best of the best taking to Laidley Field in Charleston for the WVSSAC State Track Meet, all present for the Friday and Saturday competition have high expectations.

For the Magnolia Blue Eagles, Friday’s first half of states exceeded them.

“We did as expected or better than we were supposed to in all the events we had today,” Magnolia boys track coach Kasey Sapp said after Friday’s competition concluded. “We had two big wins to start the day.”

The Magnolia boys track team sits in first place in Class A going into Saturday’s finale, one highlight in an action-packed meet.

The Blue Eagles claimed first place in two events Friday- the men’s discus and men’s 4×800-meter relay.

Matthew Anderson came in first place in the Class A men’s discus with a throw of 161-09, a PR on the final try of his career.

Darin Shimp also placed fourth in the event while Dubale Greathouse came in 10th.

Greathouse also finished third in Class A in the men’s high jump.

“Matthew PR’d at [161-09], that was a big throw for Matthew,” Sapp said. “He’s a senior, he’s been close a couple times and it was good to see him break through and get that state championship.”

Magnolia’s 4×800 relay was composed of Hunter Oates, Parker Werkau, Riley Dennis and Landen Davis, and their performance Friday blew their previous best time out of the water with an 8:16.46.

“We knew that we could put up a really good time in the 4×800, but we had not put up anything close to our time,” Sapp said. “I think we PR’d by about 13 seconds.

“It was great to watch. All four kids ran their best splits of the year so it kind of all came together for us.”

Sapp said that Davis, Anderson and Shimp are a trio to keep an eye on going into Saturday as well. Davis is set to compete in the 800-meter and 1600-meter, while Anderson and Shimp will once again compete against the field- and each other- back in the throwing circle for the shot put.

Magnolia’s men came in third place in Class A last season.

Elsewhere in the state meet, Tyler Consoldated’s Amos Kimble took first place in Class A in the 3200-meter with a time of 9:32.48. Teammate Travis Moore came in second.

In Class A, Tyler’s 4×102.5 shuttle hurdles girls team of Bridget Doak, Bella Garuccio, Addison Blosser and Lily Dillaman took first place with a time of 1:09.14. In Class AA, Weir’s 4×102.5 shuttle hurdles girls team of Myleigh Clevenger, Maleea Faulks, Ella Kaufman and Maleigha Stromile finished second.

Oak Glen’s Orien Bone finished second in Class AA in the men’s shot put. Tyler’s Juliana Lattea finished third in the Class A in the women’s shot put.

Valley’s Gavin Derby placed third in Class A in the men’s long jump, while Valley’s Laken Dawson finished in second in the women’s side of the event.

There will be events of all stripes on Saturday- distance runs, sprints, field events, relays of all varieties- but a special focus will be on sprints and sprint relays, of which there were no finals on Friday. Saturday’s competition is set to resume on Laidley Field at 9 a.m., with the final event scheduled for 5:10 p.m. Results and photos of Saturday’s competition will be available on theintelligencer.net later in the evening.