Auburn schools advanced 26 athletes to this weekend’s state 3A and 4A track and field championships at Mount Tahoma Stadium in Tacoma.

The state meet gets under way Friday and continues Saturday.

For Auburn Mountainview, the girls’ 800-meter relay team – with Maya Wagers, Whitney Echols, Abi Alfrey and Viktoriya Vasina – earned a spot with a sixth-place finish at district in a time of one minute, 50.68 seconds.

In addition, Echols qualified in the 200 (fourth-place district time of 26.86) and 100 hurdles (fourth, 16.31).

The Auburn Mountainview girls team came into the district meet without two junior athletes, who according to sources were disqualified for athletic code violations. Calls to school administration requesting more information were not returned.

The Auburn Mountainview boys will send nine athletes to the state meet, including their 400 relay team.

Junior Shaddye Melu qualified in the high jump (fourth, 6-2) and 400 meters (fifth, 51.65).

Sophomore Chris Scharer and junior Dylan Summerlin also qualified in the 1,600, with Scharer finishing third at district (4:26.46) and Summerlin fifth (4:31.57).

Junior William Mack qualified in the discus (144-1, fifth).

The Lions’ 400-meter relay team – with Anatolly Staragerov, Victor Korchemniy, Devin Bryant and Ray Hardaway – moved on to state with a fifth-place, 43.88 finish.

Auburn Riverside qualified seven athletes for the 4A meet, with junior Korey Krotzer leading the team with a second-place finish in the 1,600 and third-place in the 3,200, with times of 4:14.11 and 9:27.24, respectively.

Also qualifying for the Ravens were senior Dylan Brown in the 800, junior Andrey Zadneprovskiy in the 110 hurdles and senior Deon Johnson in the long jump.

The Auburn Riverside girls were led by sophomore Brandi Willliams, who snagged first place in the long jump (17-10 3/4).

Junior Rachel Atwood also qualified with a third in the 3,200 and a fifth in the 1,600, with times of 11:02.23 and 5:05.41, respectively.

Sophomore Lauren Saunders was eighth in the 800.

Auburn sends six competitors to state.

Senior Alexis Moore notched a third in the pole vault at 10-6. She also will compete in the javelin, having finished seventh at district with a toss of 110-9.

For the boys, senior Danny Shelton was first in the shot put (56-7 1/2) and seventh in the discus.

Senior Nick Conlan qualified as the district’s discus champion (158-0). Senior Cory English was sixth in the shot put.

Senior Max Pratt earned as spot with a third (189-5) in the javelin.

Also moving on is Alfredo Figueroa, who qualified in the wheelchair discus and shot put.