The South Carolina High School League Track and Field championships were last weekend with a few local athletes and one team leaving victorious.

The Gray Collegiate girls won its first 2A state championship in program history after earning eight medals.

Tresta Miller walked away with three medals after winning the 400-meter dash and finishing second in the 100 and long jump. Aubrey Guy won the 100 hurdles and finished third in the 400-meter dash.

Tamara Steward won first place in the 400 for the War Eagles. She was also part of the 4x100 and 4x400 teams that took second place.

When the final scores were tallied, Gray finished the competition with 75 points, three more than second-place Bishop England and 16 more than third-place Fairfield Central.

While no other teams won an overall championship, many athletes walked away with a medal.

Chapin’s Abigail White won two medals. She placed first in the 3,200 after running the race in 11 minutes and four seconds. White narrowly lost the 1,600-meter race, despite beating the previous state-record time.

White and Nation Ford’s Mia Royall ran neck-and-neck through the first three laps. Entering the final stretch of the final lap, the two girls turned the corner and hit their final sprint.

As the girls crossed the finish line, they collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. They finished less than a second apart, but it was Royall’s final push that got her the gold.

Dutch Fork’s Maliya Kinard won the long jump after leaping over 19 feet. Lexington’s Cira Williams finished third in the event after jumping 17 feet and 10 inches.

The Lexington girls team came second in the 4x800 relay after finishing the race in nine minutes and 22 seconds, less than one second behind Mauldin. Chapin’s Evelyn Patrick placed third in the 400 hurdles.

River Bluff’s Rileigh Hoffman finished second in the pole vault after a dramatic ending saw her and West Ashley’s Madelynn Cohen go head-to-head in a battle for the title.

Hoffman, Cohen and Mauldin’s Bailey Benz all reached the 11-foot mark before stalling out and struggling to clear the pole. The three exchanged turns until they exhausted their three opportunities.

After discussion from officials, it became a two-person race with Hoffman and Cohen competing to clear the 11-foot three-inch mark. Hoffman almost had enough to clear the bar, but she kept hitting it at the last second, sending it to the ground with her. After a few attempts, Cohen eventually cleared the bar and claimed gold.

On the boys side, Lexington’s William Cronin finished second in the 3,200-meter race. Chapin’s Koa Erickson earned third in the 1600-meter. River Bluff’s Brandon Corley was third in the 800-meter, and White Knoll’s Lincoln Illunga finished third in the triple jump.

The Gray Collegiate boys team had a successful championship, finishing fourth overall in the 2A classification.

Caleb Raysor won the 110 and 400 hurdles for Gray. Demarcus Gaither earned second in the 100 and 200-meter race and third in the 400, and the War Eagle’s 4x100 relay squad finished first.

Pelion left the 2A meet with medals in both boys and girls events. Lucas New won the boys high jump, and Kierra Gordon was second in the girls high jump. The girls 4x800-meter relay team finished in third after beating Hampton County in the end by three seconds.

Batesburg-Leesville earned the right to call itself the best 2A discus program in the state after sweeping the boys and girls title. Ja’Quan Corley and Keira Frye both beat their competition by over 10 feet.

In the final standings, seven teams ended in their classifications’ top 15. The two Gray Collegiate teams placed the highest at first and fourth, followed by the Chapin girls who placed seventh. Lexington and Pelion’s girls finished in 13th and the Lexington and Batesburg-Leesville boys were 15th.