Photo Courtesy WVSSAC The Wheeling Central 4x800-meter relay team of Rylee Wright, Elizabeth Steele, Elah Konkle and Loni Kusic celebrate their first-place finish Friday at Laidley Field.

CHARLESTON — Through rainfall that alternated between a smattering and a deluge through most of the day, athletes from the northern panhandle were able to still shine on Friday, the first day of the WVSSAC State Track and Field Championships, held at Laidley Field in Charleston.

Team champions– and plenty of individuals still– won’t be decided until tomorrow, the final day of the event. Much of Friday’s competition was made up of preliminary races to determine tomorrow’s finals, but plenty of other events were indeed decided on the first day of the meet.

At the end of Friday, Wahama leads boys 1A and Saint Marys leads girls 1A; Doddridge County leads boys 2A and Williamstown leads girls 2A; Keyser leads boys 3A and Bridgeport leads girls 3A; and University leads boys 4A and Morgantown leads girls 4A.

Local teams also earned recognition with many a top-three finish across all classes.

WHEELING PARK

Molly Brinker had a fruitful Friday, taking first place in the girls 4A long jump, where she leapt 16-10.25 to take home the gold– a new state meet record. Niki Robitaille took home a third-place finish in the girls 4A high jump, earning a new personal best as well with a five-foot jump.

OAK GLEN

After finishing in second place in last year’s competition, the Golden Bears’ Orien Bone reached first place this year, taking the top spot in the boys 2A shot put, tossing a 55-11, a full five feet ahead of second place.

WHEELING CENTRAL

The girls’ 4×800-meter relay team, consisting of Rylee Wright, Elizabeth Steele, Elah Konkle and Loni Kusic, took first place in the girls 1A race, clocking a 10:29.66 to finish well ahead of second-place Trinity Christian, who ran a 10:50.97

JOHN MARSHALL

The Monarchs’ Rylee McKinley finished in second in the girls 3A long jump, leaping 16-01.75. Paislee Babiczuk took second place in the girls 3A shot put, with a heave of 36-11.

VALLEY

The Lumberjills’ 4×102.5-meter shuttle hurdle team acquitted themselves well Friday, the quartet of Carley Pittman, Kynnedi Dallison, Kendall Loy and Elynn Derby running a 1:12.64 to finish in second in the girls 1A race.

WEIR

In the girls 2A 102.5-meter shuttle hurdle race, the Red Riders spurred themselves onto a gold-medal finish, the team of Myleigh Clevenger, Kameryn Mallas, Ryann Jeter and Ella Kaufman finishing in 1:07.87 to finish first out of the pack.

TYLER

Amos Kimble defended his title in the 3200-meter run. After finishing first in the boys 1A race last year, Kimble did likewise in the 2A boys run this year, clocking a 9:26.48, over 15 seconds faster than the next-closest time. Teammate Travis Moore took third after taking second in 1A last year. Moore finished in 9:57.09.

Competition tomorrow is slated to run from 9 a.m. to a 6:45 p.m. conclusion with the awards ceremony Saturday at Laidley Field.