APEX — Local runners competed Saturday at the Polar Bear Indoor Track and Field Meet, held at Middle Creek High School under cold but sunny conditions.

It was the first time Middle Creek hosted, and although several area teams attended. A few other Tri-Nine schools were competing at another event in Chapel Hill. In addition to the host Mustangs, Apex, Fuquay-Varina, Green Hope, Panther Creek, Athens Drive and Enloe raced.

“It was small numbers-wise, but still an effective meet with some (state) qualifying times,” said Middle Creek head coach Mark Fisher. “All in all a success”.

The Apex boys and the Green Hope girls 3,200-meter relay teams and Fuquay-Varina runner Jocelyn Keene all qualified for the upcoming NCHSAA championship meet, which will be held on February 13 at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Patrick McGinty, Neil Shaw, Alex Reid and Kasey Carter ran the 3,200 in 8:44.3, qualifying the Apex relay team for the state championships. It was the first meet of the season for the Cougar runners.

“Well, they did good under less than ideal (weather) conditions,” said Apex head coach Roy Cooper. “It’s always tough getting started the first meet.” McGinty and Shaw both ran their splits in 2:10, while Carter finished in 2:09.

Keene finished the 500 meter in 1:20.1, which qualified her for the state meet. The Bengal senior would prefer to compete in the 1,000 meter, where she finished in third place last year at the state championships.

“The cold weather wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” said Keene, who had not raced in an outdoor event since last August.

The Falcons girls 3,200 (10:25.7) finished 25 seconds faster than the time needed (10:50).

The Apex girls 1,600 relay narrowly missed qualifying for the state’s by three seconds, finishing in 4:22.9. Gabriella Robinson, Janay Moore, Shannon Thomas and Lexie Robinson will look to qualify next week when the Cougars and many other area teams travel to Chapel Hill for the Eastern High School Challenge, hosted by the Durham Striders.

Although Mustang distance runner Trey Geiger did not race on Saturday, he has already qualified for the state’s in both the 1,600 and 3,200 meter runs.

Mustangs who just missed Saturday were Kayla Howard in the 55 meter hurdles (10.0), Kelli Gentry in the 55 meter (7.4), and Brian Broadney and Rio Kinston, who both raced the 55 in 6.8 seconds.

“We’re just looking to get some more athletes to hit some top times and see if we can get some more qualifiers,” Fisher said.

Other area runners who came close to qualifying were Green Hope’s Lauren Riedle (3:25.2 in 1,000), Maya Worth (45.7 in the 300), Cameron Inglis (1:25.4 in the 500), Alex Appleby (9.3 in the 55 hurdles) and Blake Scott (37.6 in the 300), Fuquay-Varina’s Brian Davis (1:09.7 in the 500) and Apex star Kersie Jhabvala (5:46.2 in the 1,600).

Panther Creek’s Sam Trawick ran the grueling 3,200 in 10:38.7.