Parkersburg’s 4x4 relay team of (from left to right) AJ Payne, Christian Rutherford, Jackson Wharton and Landen Deuley set an all-time state record during Thursday’s regionals with a time of 3 minutes, 21.68 seconds. (Photo by Brian Cox)

PARKERSBURG — The Parkersburg boys and girls teams both placed third at Thursday’s Class AAA, Region 4 track championships at Stadium field while both of South’s teams finished seventh.

Each school saw several individuals qualify for next week’s state meet in Charleston.

Parkersburg’s boys 4×4 relay team set the all-time state record with a time of 3 minutes, 21.68 seconds. Landen Deuley, who qualified for state in three total events, anchored the relay team alongside AJ Payne, Christian Rutherford and Jackson Wharton.

Deuley was also on the runner-up 4×2 team with Payne, Wharton and Tyler Shahan. Individually, he won the 400 with a time of 48.93, ahead of runner-up Payne (49.98), who will join Deuley at state.

The Big Reds had two other relay teams earn automatic state bids — the 4×1 team (Ethan DelaCruz, Gavin Bowman, Logan Poling, Shahan; 44.37) and 4×8 team (Lucas Jenkins, Ricardo Salazar, Caden Moat, Rogan Mincks; 8:11.60) both placed second. Shahan and Alex Greer nabbed automatic bids by placing runner-up in their respective events. Shahan crossed the finish line in 23.27 seconds in the 200, while Greer cleared 12 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault to secure spots in Charleston.

South’s only boy to clinch a spot at state was Navi Hewitt, who placed runner-up in the high jump with a mark of 6-6.

On the girls side, South’s Kymani Prince earned three automatic bids to the state meet.

Prince won the long jump at 17-8.5 and was on a pair of runner-up relay teams. She joined Addison Whate, Anniya Powell and Kylie Tallman in the shuttles (1:07.11) and teamed up with Tallman, Alivia Goff and Lilly Dye in the 4×2 (1:51.70).

From PHS, Thea Bordeaux was runner-up in the 400 at 1:01.10. The Big Reds are also sending their 4×8 team of Calli Angelos, Olivia Carpenter, Audrey Wagoner and Ellie Hines to state. The quartet placed second with a time of 10:00.21.

Ava Sayre placed fourth in the high jump at 4-10 to move on to state competition.

Those are the area athletes who earned automatic bids at the meet. There is still a chance for other local thinclads to compete at state.

In running events, only the top two places in each regional are automatic qualifiers. However, the next eight fastest times from all regionals will make up the 9-16 qualifying spots for the state meet.

In the shot put, discus and long jump, the top two from each region will qualify for the state meet plus the next best eight distances.

In high jump and pole vault, the top four places qualify for the state meet plus anyone who meets the qualifying standards (Pole vault — boys, 12-0; girls, 9-0; and high jump — boys, 6-0; girls, 5-0).