TIFTON — State track and field glory is on the line for Tiftarea Academy this week.

The Panthers and Lady Panthers head to Albany and Hugh Mills Stadium Thursday for three days of action in the Georgia Independent School Association.

Action will start at 2 p.m. with the 4×100 relays. The first day will feature all running events, with finals determined in the 1,600. Field events have finals Friday and Saturday will wrap track races.

Tiftarea is entered in 13 events, nine for the Panthers and four for the Lady Panthers.

Marlee Marlowe, the defending state champion in the 100-meter hurdles, is back again in the event. Her time of 16.6 seconds at the Region 3-AAA meet April 11 was the second fastest in the state. Marlowe trailed Valwood’s Erin Moss by one-tenth of a second. Moss is the fastest runner listed among the contestants.

Marlowe will not just be running against opponents in the 100-meter hurdles, but also a teammate: Sara Beth Royal qualified for the event at region. The 100 hurdles are the only event to feature two Tiftarea entries. Royal will have two cracks at a hurdles championship. Beside the 100, she is also entered in the 300 hurdles.

Royal and Marlowe both have two events during the championships, Marlowe’s other event being the 4×100, where she will team with Abby Carswell, Caroline Sullivan and Adylein Hunt. Adam McKinney and Spence Massey lead the squad with three events each. Three others will be in two: Carswell, Tristan Scarberry and Dallas Hunt.

Massey and McKinney run as part of the 4×100 and 4×400 teams, both of which qualified for state. Grant Hall and Colby Grant are the other half of the former and Hunt and Sam Cook help form the latter. McKinney’s third event is the 800, where he will be the fastest in his heat and Massey’s is the 100.

This will be the second straight busy state tournament for McKinney, who ran eighth in the 800 a year ago and was a member of the sixth place 4×400 team with Massey. McKinney replaced Hunt in the 4×400 because of injury last year. Now, they’re set to be teammates.

Scarberry will be in both hurdles races, the 110 and 300. He is also listed as an alternate in the 4×400 race, along with Dylan Harbort. Alternates in the 4×100 are Jaden Jones and Dylan Seagraves.

Carswell is to additionally compete in the 400. She placed sixth in the same race in 2017. The 400ch is Hunt’s second event as well.

Jones is running in the 200 and Nate Fortson is Tiftarea’s representative in the longest race of the event, the 3,200.