Jefferson High School sends three girls to the state track meet as (left to right) Briauna Goins, T’Aysa Jay and Hope Gestl finish the 100m hurdles on Friday in fifth, fourth and third places, respectively. David Pennock

SPRING MILLS — It was a perfect Chamber of Commerce afternoon of weather last Friday, when the girls and boys track and field teams from Jefferson High School marginalized the competition, as both teams held championship trophies aloft, as dusk crept over the stadium.

Jefferson’s girls sometimes almost toyed with the Region’s other six schools in amassing 245.5 points as host Spring Mills High School finished with 96.5 points and Washington High School finished in third place, with 67 points. Sprinter Lorelei Bangit was first in the 100, 200 and 400 sprints and ran a leg on the winning 4×100 relay team.

The boys team had three individual event wins from sprinter Keyshawn Robinson and hoarded 189 points on its side of the ledger, to beat both runner-up Martinsburg (109 points) and third-place Musselman (96 points).

Both teams finished second at the 2022 State Meet and seemed to sense what was necessary at the 2023 Region 2 Meet, to accomplish more at the 2023 State Meet in Charleston.

But as the news from the other three Class AAA Regionals slowly drifted in, it became apparent both Jefferson teams might need to squeeze every point out of their ranks to top the stellar field of girl athletes from Morgantown, Woodrow Wilson, Huntington, Cabell Midland, Bridgeport and Parkersburg high schools and boy athletes Huntington, Morgantown, Cabell Midland, Wheeling Park, University, Woodrow Wilson, Hurricane, George Washington and Buckhannon high schools.

Jasmine Matthews comes in fifth place in the regional finals, with a throw of 97’7” at Cardinal Stadium on Friday. David Pennock

Several injuries to sprinters and a dropped baton in the 4×100 relay could make Jefferson’s win in the Regional boys division a pyrrhic one. Too much could have been lost or still in question for the lengthy team victory to be carried over to Charleston. Time will tell. Winning times in races and winning distances or heights in field events from the other three Regions were comparable or better than a number of Jefferson’s winning figures.

At the Spring Mills Regional, Jefferson boys also had individual event wins from Connor Myers (3200 distance), the 4×800 relay (Travis Jenkins, Shawn Swartz, Justin Gottlieb and Myers) and Justin Gottlieb in the 800 distance run.

Robinson’s times were the best in the state, in the 100, 200 and 400.

To best the rest of the state, the Cougar boys will need to glean points from third-place, fourth-place and fifth-place finishes nearly all across the board.

Other than Bangit’s continual success throughout the afternoon, Jefferson received winning girls performances from Hannah Phillips (800 and 1600), Layla Parker (3200), T’Asya Jay (300 hurdles), 4×100 relay (Arayia Maiben, Imani Wood, Jazmyn Taylor and Bangit), 4×400 relay (Jayla Kidrick, Sylvia Trevathan, Matthews and Wood), shuttle hurdles relay (Ariyana Adkins, Briauna Goins, Hope Gestl and Jay), Goins (shot put) and Hannah Shanley (discus).

Travis Jenkins passes the baton to Conner Myers in the 4x800 relay, which Jefferson won, with a time of 8 minutes 31.89 seconds at Cardinal Stadium on Friday. David Pennock

It will be two days of competition at the 2023 State Meet . . . and it may take that much time to sort out the team champions.

Jefferson High School's Westley Jay competes in the high jump by clearing the bar at 5’10” on Friday at Cardinal Stadium. David Pennock