CHARLESTON — When Mount Hope junior Andrew Humphrey was a freshman at Oak Hill, he competed against decorated long jumpers Davon Marion of Mount Hope and Ansel Ponder of Bluefield.

All those guys did was win eventual state titles.

Well, one day, Humphrey beat them both.

“He walked over to me and said, ‘Coach, I just beat Davon and Ansel in the long jump,’” Oak Hill assistant track coach Jason Blankenship recalled. “I was like, ‘No way.’ But he did it.”

Well, Humphrey is still yet to win his own state title.

But he is inching closer.

Humphrey placed second behind St. Marys’ Kyle Davies Friday in the state track and field championships at Laidley Field.

Humphrey had a jump of 19-10.25. Davies won the event with a 20-7.

“I’m not disappointed,” Humphrey said. “I worked hard and gave it my best. I wanted to compete against the best in the state. Second moves me up two spots from last year (when he was fourth). I just have to thank God for giving me the ability and my coaches for helping me.”

Humphrey is setting his sights on next year, when he wants to again top Marion, this time with a state record.

“Davon jumped 21-7 and that is my goal for next year,” Humphrey said. “I have to work hard, but I think I can do it.”

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Chances are that Summers County’s Candice Brown and Oak Hill’s Mercedes Lawson won’t befriend each other on Facebook.

The Region 3 rivals aren’t exactly best friends.

But they do respect each other’s talents, to a point.

The two qualified second and third in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes Friday night.

Brown took second in the 100 and Lawson second in the 200.

“She just doesn’t like me,” Brown said. “And I know she wants to beat me. I’m not really worried about it. I’m just here to try and win the state title.”

“I’m not really feeling her, but I’m trying to put all that in the past,” Lawson said. “I’m just being honest about it.”

Perhaps that’s because both know the bigger war may come against Frankfort’s phenom Bria Welker, who won both qualifying events.

She won the 100 with a 12.67. Brown had a 12.81 and Lawson a 12.94.

Both girls had better times than Welker’s qualifying time in the 100 during the season.

“It’ll be different tomorrow,” Brown said. “I didn’t really have anyone pushing me today.”

For Lawson, it’s a matter of going for the state team title.

“If I finish third, whatever, it’ll be fine as long as we win the title,” she said. “That’s what we’re here for. But I want to win.”

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Oak Hill coach George Smith got what he wanted when his team scored nine points Friday.

Smith said anywhere between eight and 10 points would be acceptable for his defending state champion girls team after the first day.

Savannah Robertson played a big role in that when she finished tied for second in the pole vault with a 7-foot-6 effort.

The shuttle hurdle team also finished sixth.

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Other notable first-day performances:

Mariah Farley of PikeView (16.40) and Anna Cangemi of Liberty (16.42) finished 1-2 in qualifying for the 100-meter hurdles. Other than those two, it wasn’t really close. Keyser’s Darlene Williams was third at 16.65.

Greenbrier West’s shuttle hurdle team finished second. The Cavaliers were edged by Keyser 59.73-59.78.

Westside’s Nathan Ameling was third in the shot put with a toss of 47-7.

Mount Hope’s Kyle James was fourth in the high jump.

Woodrow Wilson’s Moriah Njoku was fourth in 100 qualifying while teammate Olivia Moore was fifth in 100-meter hurdle qualifying.

The state meet resumes at 9 a.m. today.