Clear skies and dry conditions welcomed runners from all over the state for day one of the Alabama Independent School Association track and field championships Wednesday at Memorial Stadium.

Although organizers worried about rain, the weather couldn’t have been more perfect and as a result, everything stayed on schedule and ran as smoothly as possible.

“We were so worried about the weather and the weather turned out to be beautiful,” said Morgan Academy head coach Rob Robinson.

Since Morgan is the host school and Robinson has several responsibilities with running the event, he wasn’t sure where the Senators stood at the end of day one. He said he wouldn’t know until he had a chance to sit down and look at all of the results from the opening day.

When he does look over Wednesday’s results, he probably won’t be disappointed.

The day ended with Morgan’s Jaycee Sanders finishing second to Tuscaloosa Academy’s Charlotte Anguiano in the 3200-meter final with a time of 14:48.98 to earn the Senators eight points. Laney Holladay also scored a point for Morgan by finishing sixth.

“She’s been awesome all year,” Robinson said of Sanders. “I know she was hoping to win it but that girl that was ahead of her was really fast. There’s nothing to be disappointed in.”

The 3200-meter run was one of only three events where finals were held Wednesday. The 1600-meter run and high jump finals were also held on a day focused around preliminary events.

Every other final will be part of a jam packed Thursday schedule, which will end with overall team winners being crowned state champions.

With a lot of athletes in finals, the Senators will be among those vying for a girls state championship Thursday.

Morgan’s Peyton Granthum qualified third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.38 seconds. Ali Nettles and Jane Anne Stewart both made the cut in the 400-meter dash after times of 1:12 and 1:15. Stewart also made the final in the girls’ triple jump after qualifying seventh.

Anna Tidmore kept the momentum going by qualifying third in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:53.00 and Cassidy Lawrence came in eighth in the qualifier in the 300-meter hurdles to make it into the final.

Kendall Veach qualified first in the girls’ shot put with a total of 33 feet, 8 inches and also made the cut by finishing sixth in the discus throw. She’ll try to win both events Thursday. The Senators’ girls will also have teams in the 4×100 meter relay and 4×200 meter relay finals.

If day one is any indication of who the top contenders are, Morgan and rest of the girls’ field may be chasing Tuscaloosa Academy. The Knights already have wins on the board, thanks to Kalin Burt’s victory in the high jump and Anguiano’s win by 40 seconds in the 3200-meter.

Tuscaloosa’s Laura Brooks also qualified first in the 200 and 400-meter runs.

On the boys side, Escambia Academy looks like the team to beat. Led by lightning quick Kris Brown, who qualified first in the 100, 200 and 400-meter dashes and also in the long jump, Escambia was one of the standout teams from the first day.

Morgan will have several boys in finals too. Sam Brackin qualified seventh in the 100-meter dash and fourth in the 200-meter dash and John Tyler Fisher qualified fifth in the boys’ shot put.

With no weather in the area, the entire first day took just under six hours to complete.

The track championship will resume at 10 a.m. Thursday — an hour earlier than originally scheduled due to the threat of weather.