The Division II regional track and field meet is under way.
North Union and Jonathan Alder started the preliminary round of the regional on Thursday at Lexington High School.
Several athletes will be moving on and for others, it was the end of the season.
The Lady Pioneers jump out to an early lead of 13 points in the team rankings, thanks in part to the efforts of their 4 x 800 relay team.
Morgan Hicks, Maddy Killian, Maddie Davis and Lexi Thorpe took first place with a time of 9:33.59.
Moving on to the finals will be the Lady Pioneers’ 4×400 relay team of Elaina Winslow, Emma Shepherd, Killian and Thorpe. The quartet of Pioneers qualified for Saturday’s finals with a seventh-place time of 4:13.84.
The following Pioneer athletes did not qualify for the state meet or regional finals:
-4×800 relay (boys): ninth, 8:18, Luke Malone, Michael Gray, Gavin Frick and Jase Headings;
-4×200 relay (girls): 10th, 1:51, Audrey Davis, Shepherd, Zoe Kantner and Thorpe;
-4×200 relay (boys): 15th, 1:37, Josh Kaeser, Henry Walker, Clayton Boggs and Headings;
-4×100 relay (girls): 15th, 53.27, Shepherd, Kantner, Helena Hall and A. Davis;
-4×400 relay (boys): ninth, 3:34, Kaeser, Jordan Herrick, Boggs and Headings.
The NU Wildcats didn’t have any athletes advance past the preliminary round. Kyle Willis’ season ended in the 200 dash when he finished 24.30 for 14th place.
Sydney Bacon’s campaign also ended when she finished the regional meet with a toss of 32-09 in the shot put. That was good for 14th place.
Abby Davis, a two-sport athlete in both softball and track at North Union, withdrew from the regional meet to play with the softball team that will compete in the regional finals on Saturday.