It was a day for the Helias Crusaders and Lady Crusaders to advance in the Class 4 track and field state championships.
For the most part, they did.
The Helias boys and girls will have participants in a total of eight finals today at Adkins Stadium.
The Lady Crusaders advanced in four events Friday.
The 4x100- and 4x200-meter relay teams — consisting of Schyler Phillips, Isabelle Struemph, Kenadi Harrison and Mikah Edwards — moved on by finishing in the top eight Friday.
Helias was second in the 4x200 with a time of 1:45.20. Parkway West qualified first in 1:41.34. In the 4x100, the Lady Crusaders qualified eighth in 49.89. The eight qualifiers for the finals in the 4x100 finished within a second of each other.
Edwards advanced in a pair of individual events.
She qualified third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.75 and was sixth overall in the 400-meter dash in 59.29.
Struemph was 11th overall in the preliminaries of the 200 with a time of 26.93.
The Lady Crusaders will also run today in the 4x800-meter relay. The finals-only event is the first running event of the day, scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m.
On the boys side, the Helias 4x400-meter relay team was second in its heat and third overall. The team — Korbin Fisher, Noah Voss, Harrison Knernshcield and Matthew Malmstrom — finished in 3:25.4.
Malmstrom also advanced today in the 300-meter hurdles. He finished first in his heat and third overall with a time of 39.55. Rhett Foster of Smithville qualified first in 39.45, while Earl Gray of McCluer North was second in 39.49.
In the 110-meter hurdles, Malmstrom just missed advancing to the finals by finishing ninth overall in 15.49.
Voss will run today in the finals-only 800-meter run. That race is scheduled to begin at 2:40 p.m.
With no one in any finals event Friday, the Crusaders and Lady Crusaders did not score any team points.
Festus and Webb City are tied for the boys lead after one day with 20 points, while Kearney is third with 18.
West Plains has 19 points to lead the girls team standings. Kearney is second with 18, while Pleasant Hill is third with 16.