LAKEVILLE — Despite waiting out a rain delay and facing a headwind down the home stretch, Albert Lea’s Preston Smith ran the fastest 300-meter hurdles time of his career.

He finished with a time of 40.39 seconds to take second place and qualify for the state track meet Saturday at the Section 1AA meet at Lakeville South High School.

“It couldn’t have happened to a nicer, humbler kid,” said Albert Lea assistant coach Lon Nelson.

A late surge pushed Smith past three other runners.

“Preston was in about fourth place with four hurdles left, but he had the strength and power to get ahead at the end,” said Albert Lea head coach Kevin Gentz.

Smith edged Farmington’s Nehemiah Rockett by 0.4 seconds and Lakeville North’s Evan El-Halawani by 0.52 seconds.

In the prelims on Thursday, Smith qualified for finals with fourth place and a time of 41.06, which was 0.39 seconds off of his personal best.

Clayton Johnson of Hastings won the event in prelims and finals but was the only runner in the top five to keep his position in finals. Rockett fell from second to third place, and Lakeville South’s Grant Mosser fell from third to sixth.

During the season, Smith always participated in the 110 hurdles or the triple jump along with the 300 hurdles. However, Gentz wanted him to save his energy for one race in the postseason.

“It’s the first time he’s run the hurdles fresh,” Gentz said. “We tried to allow his muscles to rest and let his legs recover.”

Gentz said Smith will aim to break 40 seconds in the event at state. He will run in prelims Friday and graduate that night. If he qualifies for finals, he will run Saturday.

The section record in the 300 hurdles was set by Steve Mathre of Northfield in 1985, and the state cut time is 39.35 seconds.

Two runners from the Albert Lea girls’ track and field team qualified for finals and took eighth place: Bryn Woodside and Larissa Hacker.

Woodside followed her personal-best time of 2:25.15 in the 800 by running a 2:23.98 in the finals.

Hacker finished the 300 hurdles in 50.56 seconds. She earned the ninth spot in the field for finals and edged Bailey Clother of Hastings, who finished in 51.27 seconds.

 

Trio of area athletes
punch tickets to state

The United South Central/Alden-Conger and NRHEG track and field teams competed Saturday at the Section 2A meet at Mankato West and produced three state qualifiers.

John Schuster remained unbeaten in the 400-meter dash, and he won the event at the section meet with a time of 50.44 seconds with a new personal record by 0.01 seconds, according to USC/A-C coach Kent Viesselman.

“He’s been between 50 and 51 seconds all season,” he said. “We’re hoping he’ll drop it this week (at state).”

NRHEG’s Carlie Wagner and T.J. Schiltz qualified for state.

Wagner was one of three athletes to qualify for state by beating the state cut height of 5 feet, 3 inches. She won the event with a leap of 5-4, which was two inches lower than her seed height.

Schiltz took second place in the 1,600 with a time of 4:37.53. His seed time was 4:37.79.

The state track meet will be Friday and Saturday at Hamline University.