The Grace Christian Academy track team was off to a strong start through Thursday’s competition at the GISA state track meet at Hugh Mills Stadium in Albany, Ga.

One event held its final heat Thursday, as Grace’s David Hanham finished in seventh place in the 1,600-meter run finals. He finished with a time of 5 minutes, 37 seconds.

Other Grace runners did well in their preliminary heats that were held Thursday. Those results were:

• Second place — Melissa Mills (girls 100-meter dash, 13.68) and Brent Warr (boys 100-meter dash, 11.40).

• Third place — Melissa Mills (girls 200-meter dash, 28.33).

• Fifth place — Michael Mills, Phillip Bowen, Brent Noble and Brent Warr (boys 4-by-100 relay, 47.00).

• Eighth place — McKenzie Brown (girls 400-meter run, 1:11.00) and Dakota Vickers (boys 400-meter run, 58.69).

The state finals will be Saturday at Hugh Mills Stadium. The first event will be the 4-by-400 relay, and it will begin at 11:30 a.m.

This is the first year for Grace’s track program, which is coached by Wayne Shiver.