The Albert Lea boys’ and girls’ track and field teams will both have participants in the Section 1AA finals because of their performances Thursday on Day 1 of the meet at Lakeville South High School.

Preston Smith earned Albert Lea’s top boys finish and qualified for finals by taking fourth place in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 41.06 seconds.

Bryn Woodside led the girls’ team with a seventh-place finish in the 800 with a time of 2:25.15.

According to Albert Lea girls’ coach Margo Wayne, Woodside was seeded No. 11, and she shaved more than two seconds from her time to qualify for finals.

Larissa Hacker qualified for the finals of the 300 hurdles by finishing the race in 50.20 seconds. Her seed time was 49.20.

Athletes qualified for section finals by finishing in the top nine in their events.

Aside from Smith, the Albert Lea boys’ team had seven top-20 finishers.

Aside from Woodside and Hacker, the Albert Lea girls’ team had 10 top-20 finishers.

Statistics are in the Scoreboard: May 29 post.