ST. MICHAEL — The State Track and Field Championships began on Thursday at St. Michael-Albertville High School, with a handful of medals already being earned by some of the area’s top athletes.

Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet took home four field medals on Thursday, while Sibley East grabbed one field medal.

Thursday featured all Class A preliminary events, along with the boys 3,200 finals and a handful of field event finals. All remaining Class A finals will take place Friday.

FREYBERG FLIES FOR LCWM/N

For Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet, junior Levi Freyberg was the standout for the Knights as his personal-best jump of 15 feet in the boys pole vault finals gave him a first-place medal to take home. His teammate Jacob Miller also earned a medal in the pole vault as Miller tied his PR in the finals with a 13-foot jump to take eighth.

Aidan Moeller just missed earning a spot in Friday’s boys 300 hurdles finals after taking 10th in the prelims Thursday with a time of 40.62. Despite that, he set a personal-best time with his finish. Moeller also teamed with Riddick Schubbe, Braxton Dudgeon and Izaak Rodman in the boys 4×800 relays prelims and finished eighth with a time of 3:27.44, a season-best time that earns them a spot in Friday’s finals race. Dudgeon also competed in the boys triple jump finals on Thursday, medaling with a ninth-place finish (42-09.25).

Drew Turgeon competed in the boys shot put finals for LCWM/N, finishing second with a PR throw of 58 feet, 1 inch. Turgeon will look for another medal on Friday as he competes in the boys discus finals.

WOLVERINES’ MCCUE SECURES 7TH-PLACE MEDAL

For Sibley East, Aidan McCue finished 14th in the boys 110 hurdles prelims with a time of 15.95, but he competed in the boys triple jump finals and was able to snag a seventh-place medal after his top jump of 43 feet, 2.75 inches. Gage Horstman earned himself a spot in the boys 800 finals on Friday after turning in a ninth-place, personal-best time of 1:59.27 in Thursday’s preliminary race.

MVL/NUC’S DAVEY HURDLES TO 10TH-PLACE FINISH

For Minnesota Valley Lutheran/New Ulm Cathedral, Kamryn Davey just missed the cut for Friday’s girls 100-meter hurdles final race as she finished 10th in Thursday’s prelims with a time of 15.87. Teammate Avery Freier took 14th in the girls 100 hurdles prelims with a time of 16.57.

Davey will compete again Friday in the girls triple jump finals.

The MVL/NUC boys 4×200 relay team of Ben Riesgraf, John Hoffman, Oliver Schuch and Levi Johnson finished 13th in the preliminary race with a time of 1:32.13. The girls 300 hurdles prelims saw MVL/NUC’s Emily Brown finish 15th with a time of 51.43.

BEST OF THE REST

River Valley’s Marley Hewitt qualified for the girls 400 finals on Friday after taking seventh in the preliminary race Thursday with a season-best time of 58.52. She also competed in the 200 prelims, finishing 16th with a time of 27.03.

For Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, Silvana Ruiz took 15th in the girls 800 prelims with a time of 2:21.19. Annie Wersal competed in the girls discus finals, taking 14th (118-0).

Wabasso’s Andrew Morin competed in the boys 3,200 final, finishing 12th overall with a time of 10:01.84.