The weather held out for a beautiful day as track and field competitors participated at the Section 3A meet in Luverne last Thursday. Twenty-three teams were a part of the event with Lac qui Parle Valley finishing atop of the men’s division and Luverne for the girls.
Aaron Johnson of Murray County Central earned a trip to the state meet clearing the 110 high hurdles in a time of 15.47. Johnson’s time set a new personal record for him and a second place medal. Finishing at the top was Canby/Minneota’s Carter Wente crossing the finish line at 15.19. The top two individual places in each event earn the right to advance to the state meet which will be held at Hamline University in St. Paul this Friday and Saturday, June 7th and 8th. Johnson will compete in the prelims of the hurdle race on Friday at 3:40 p.m. The top eight places will advance to the finals on Saturday.
Johnson finished in the eighth-place spot in the 100-meter dash race clocking a time of 11.86. His final event of the day was the 300-meter hurdle event where he cruised to a ninth-place finish with a time of 45.13.
Justin Clarke came up just shy of a state trip coming in third in the 1600 meters. Clarke’s time of 4:43.98 netted him a third-place finish and a new personal record. Finishing first was Mike Kvaal of Lac qui Parle Valley (4:40.12) and coming in second was teammate Esekiel Sather with a time of 4:40.25.
Clarke also competed in the 800 meters event finishing in the ninth-place spot with a time of 2:10.10. Additionally, he competed in the long jump and leaped out 17’ for a 16th place finish.
Also claiming a medal was Ashley Overgaauw who came in fifth in the 3200-meter event. Overgaauw clipped around the oval eight times and finished with a time of 12:56.13.
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