Teammates and other supporters cheered Sarah Pressley’s bid to achieve a regional qualifying time in the 3,200-meter run as she went into the final half lap during Thursday’s track meet at Pinecrest.

It was after 8 p.m. at the combined Southeastern Conference tri-meet and dual meet between The O’Neal School and Fayetteville Academy. Many of the athletes that had completed their events, as well as spectators, had already headed for home.

Because of the late hour, the girls and boys ran the 3,200 together, creating some traffic congestion at times for the Patriot junior and the other runners. Pressley’s time of 12:18 brought her home ahead of all of the girls in the race and all but two of the boys, but short of her personal best of 12:08 and the qualifying standard of 12:00.

“Today was a little bit of an off day, but I’m hoping to get there,” Pressley said of the qualifying time that was dropped from 12:35 in 2011. “We do workouts in the morning and it’s definitely making us a lot stronger. It’s definitely making a difference.”

Pressley posted a time of 12:11 and teammate Katie Hayes came in at 12:05 at the recent Phoenix Classic held at Elon. Those will be good enough to make the 16-runner field for the East Regional on May 12 at West Johnston High School, notwithstanding the new standard. Only two runners beat those times at last year’s regional held at Pinecrest.

“Sarah and Katie have two of the top times in our region,” Patriot girls’ coach John Buchholz said after a long afternoon and evening of coaching and serving as the starter for the meet. “They take 16 runners, and Sarah knows she is going to get in there, but as she says, ‘I’d like to be able to say I qualified for it.’”

The O’Neal School and Fayetteville Academy were originally scheduled to use the Pinecrest facility before the SEC meet was moved there from Purnell Swett with everyone’s agreement.

O’Neal’s Austin Puleo was the only double winner among local athletes, taking both the 400- and 800-meter runs. The Falcons’ Aleksandra Majka placed in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, and the high jump. The Falcon boys’ and girls’ teams were both nipped by Fayetteville Academy.

The Patriot girls finished first in the conference meet that included Richmond Senior and Purnell Swett. The Patriot boys came in second behind the Raiders.

The Patriot girls meeting regional qualifying standards with their performances Thursday included freshman Sofia Flores in the 200-meter dash and junior Janea Williams in the high jump. Juniors Matt Carlson of the boys and Zuri Thomas for the girls were winners in the discus with tosses that exceeded the respective standards.

Ed Kelly, who helps coach the Patriots in the field events, worked with Carlson to make a change in his throwing technique.

“Matt changed from a half spin to a full spin the last couple of meets,” Kelly said. “He had a throw of 150 feet at Hoke County last week, but it was out of bounds. Matt has really improved this year.”

The Patriots were scheduled to compete in Saturday’s Carver Classic held at Reid Ross Classical School in Fayetteville.

Next Thursday’s conference tri-meet will be at Lumberton.

“Right now we’re just building toward the conference meet (May 1,2 at Pinecrest) and not worrying about the scores,” Buchholz said. “The team is coming around every week and that’s the name of the game.”

O’Neal and Pinecrest placers (combined meet)

Girls: 3,200 relay – 1. Pinecrest 11:57; 100 hurdles – 2. Aleksandra Majka (ON) 17.8, 3. Madison Chandler (PC) 18.9; 800 relay - 1. Pinecrest (Abby Snyder, Taylor Stack, Ceara Freeman, Sofia Flores) 1:50.2; 1,600 – 1. Katie Hayes (PC) 5:51, Katana Lemelin (PC) 5:58, 3, Savannah Merritt (ON) 5:59, 4. Mulloy Manning (PC) 6:12; 400 relay – 2. Pinecrest 55.0; 400 – 1. Snyder 1:01.7, 2. Kelsey Rea (PC) 1:04.1; 300 hurdles – 2. Chandler (PC) 53.9, 3. Majka (ON) 57.3, 4. Courtney Borden (PC) 59.2; 800 – 1. Jennie Cunningham (PC) 2:23, 2. Hayes (PC) 2:43, 4. Jenna Woronoff 2:46; 200 – 1. Flores (PC) 26.2; 3,200 – 1. Sarah Pressley (P) 12:18, 2. Merritt (ON) 13:09, 1,600 relay – 1. Pinecrest (Snyder, Cunningham, Rea, Stack) 4:18; Discus – 1. Zuri Thomas (PC) 104-6; Long jump – 2. Janea Williams (PC) 15-00; Shot put – 3. Thomas (PC) 29-04; High jump – 1. Williams (PC) 5-04, 4. Majka (ON) 4-02.5; Pole vault – 1. Heather Reed (PC) 7-06. Boys: 110 hurdles – 2. Dwayne Simpson (PC) 16.8, 4, Wayne Carpenter (PC) 19.1; 1,600 – 1. Jacob Troutman (PC), 2. Alex Brown (PC) 5:21; 400 relay – 2. Pinecrest 44.2; 400 – 1. Austin Puleo (ON) 52.8, 4. Nathanal Lashley (PC) 56.1; 300 hurdles – 3. Carpenter (PC) 46.2, Simpson (PC) 47.3; 800 – 1. Puleo (ON) 2:05.9, 2. Chuck Hensley (PC) 2:18.3, 4. Jake Lugenbell (PC) 2:19.9; 200 – 4. Zion Irvin (PC) 23.9; 3,200 – 3. Josh Russell (ON) 12:18, 4. Grey Kittrell (PC) 12:22; Discus – 1. Matt Carlson (PC) 139-00, 4. Jerod McKenzie (PC) 118-00; Long jump – 1. James Kennedy (PC) 19-10; High jump – 1. Trevon Wooten (PC) 6-00.5; Pole vault – 1. Brandon Stonesifer (PC) 11-06, 2. Jay Harris (PC) 11-00, 3. Brian Stonesifer (PC) 8-06, 4. Jalel Howard (PC) 8-00. Team scores – Overall – Girls – Pinecrest 109, Richmond 77, Purnell Swett 26, Fayetteville Academy 25, O’Neal 23; Boys – Richmond 148, Pinecrest 83, O’Neal 15, Purnell Swett 8, Fayetteville Academy 1. SEC – Girls – Pinecrest 97, Richmond 61, Purnell Swett 21. Boys – Richmond 105, Pinecrest 60, Purnell Swett 15. O’Neal Healy Invitational – Girls – Fayetteville Academy 28, O’Neal 22. Boys – Fayetteville Academy 19, O’Neal 17.