SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Four South Tahoe High School athletes ran, threw and jumped themselves into the state track and field meet with top finishes this past weekend at the northern Nevada regionals.

Levi Hernandez, Ayden Keck, Max Menke and Molly Adams will represent the Vikings Friday and Saturday at the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association 3A State Championships at Redd High School in Sparks.

Hernandez, a junior, will be competing in two events after qualifying in high jump and long jump, with a personal best distance of 19 feet, 5 inches. Hernandez finished second in high jump with a height of 5 feet, 9 inches and was third in long jump.

Keck nearly qualified in two events but will have to settle for competing in triple jump. The junior finished in fourth place, the last qualifying position, with a distance of 40 feet, 1.5 inches.

Keck also made a strong leap in long jump but finished in sixth place with a distance of 18-1.

Menke couldn’t have cut it any closer on his qualifying effort in the 800-meter run. The junior ran a personal best time of 2 minutes, 7.28 seconds and finished in fourth place, just .01 seconds ahead of the fifth-place finisher.

Adams, a sophomore, qualified for state in shot put with a fourth-place finish. Adams was the lone sophomore in the top eight, and was surrounded by seniors. The next closest underclass competitor was her teammate Eva Moyer-Pirie who finished in 15th in a field of 36.

Adams throw of 30-2.25 easily good enough to qualify, by about 4 inches, but was .5 inches off her best throw from earlier this season.

The Vikings received strong performances from other athletes who didn’t qualify for state.

Sophomore Noosa Higgins had her best meet of the season in regards to times, not place.

Higgins set three personal bests but could not finish any higher than sixth in the ultra competitive 3A division. Higgins was sixth in the 100-meter dash in 13.31 seconds, she was sixth in the 200 in 27.87 and was sixth in the 400 in 1:04.98.

Junior Giulia Lancellotti recorded two personal bests, in the 100-meter hurdles and in triple jump, where she finished one position away from qualifying. Lancellotti finished fifth in triple jump with a distance of 30-9 and was sith in the 100 hurdles in 17.79 seconds.

Senior Emma Habaradas finished just behind Lancellotti in triple jump with a distance of 30-4.5

Junior Kalea Paine finished sixth in discus with a toss of 88-9.

As teams, the boys finished ninth out of 12 scoring teams and the girls earned eighth out of 10 scoring teams. Overall, 13 teams competed.