A handful of Bridgeport High School track and field athletes punched their ticket to the state meet during Thursday's Class AAA Region I Championship meet at Mylan Park in Morgantown.
 
The top two finishers from all four regions in each running event as well as long jump, shot put and discus automatically qualify for the state meet. Additionally, the next best eight times or distances, regardless of region, will qualify for the state meet.
 
In the pole vault and high jump, the top four in each region qualify for the state meet as well as any athlete who met the qualifying standards in either event.
 
The BHS girls took first place in two open running events as well as two relays.
 
Giana Cox won the 400 with a time of 58.00 and Myleigh Smell captured the regional championship in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.55.
Cox was also part of the first-place 4x400 team as she teamed with Emma Kniceley-See, Haydn Henderson and Lee Ann Gaskins to post a time of 4:08.46.
 
Gaskins, Kniceley-See and Henderson were joined by Violet Vash to win the 4x100 with a time of 50.59.
 
Cox also qualified for the state meet in the 200 with a runner-up time of 25.48.
 
Kniceley-See, Henderson and Gaskins qualified in yet another relay as they were joined by Eliza Perine in placing second in the 4x200 at 1:46.55.
 
In field events, Lyza Halterman was the runner-up in the shot put with a throw of 35-06 and Abigale Stewart was second in the high jump at 4-10. Katie Backus also qualified for states with a fourth-place finish as she also cleared 4-10.
 
For the BHS boys, there were no regional champions but Noah Kintz was the runner-up in the pole vault at 11-06, Will George was second in the 100 at 11.42 and team of George, Timmy Jeffress, Donte Pierre and Alex Moses was second in the 4x100 at 43.61.
 
Donovan Williams also qualified for the state meet with a fourth-place finish in the high jump at 5-10.
 
Both the BHS boys and girls teams figure to earn several of the at-large spots once those are finalized.


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