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The 400-meter run at Friday’s 1A West Regional track and field meet had long ended.

The delighted wonder on Blake Anderson’s face had not.

“I can’t believe that happened,” Anderson told a group of teammates and coaches gathered on W.J. Miller Field.

That was a fourth-place finish in the race, earning Anderson a trip to Friday’s state championship meet at North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro.

Anderson finished the race in 51.79, a personal best, to earn the only state meet trip for a Wolverine on the boys side. The Polk County girls, though, will have a small contingent heading to Greensboro as the Wolverines finished sixth in the team standings.

State qualifiers from the girls team included:

Kiera Littlejohn, who notched a throw of 34-5 to finish third in the shot put

Mia Bradley, who cleared 4-10 to place third in the high jump. The state meet will be the 290th and final varsity event across all sports in her Polk County career.

Karsyn Huskey, who posted a time of 2:19.04 to take second in the 800-meter run.

Polk’s 4×100-meter relay team – Bailey Staton, Sophia Overholt, Akyla Cunningham and Louisa Wood – who finished fourth in 53:18.

The 1A West Regional moved to G.M. Tennant Stadium earlier in the week after previous host Montreat College was unable to hold the event. Swain County served as host school for the meet.

The Maroon Devils also took some of the day’s hardware, winning the girls regional team title. Swain accumulated a team score of 122, finishing ahead of Corvian Community School (103), Mountain Island Charter (93) and Christ The King (77). Avery (51) and Polk County (32) rounded out the top six.

Polk County placed 14th in the boys team standings, with Corvian Community, Mountain Island Charter and Swain taking the top three spots.