SPORTS

Prep track: Rocori's Huls is 2nd seed in 300 hurdles

Tom Elliott
telliott@stcloudtimes.com


Rocori’s Erin Huls won her heat in the 300-meter hurdles in the preliminaries of the Class 2A state track and field meet Friday at Hamline University in St. Paul.

ST. PAUL The plan, at least in their minds, is to take first and second in the 300-meter low hurdles Saturday, then get ready to go to Australia.

After Friday's preliminaries, it looks like the first part of the plan has a good chance of coming true.

Rocori's Erin Huls and Thief River Falls' Meleah Biermaier are the top two seeds in Saturday's 300 finals at the state Class 2A track and field championships at Hamline University.

"We're close, really, really close," said Huls, who won her heat of the 300 hurdles in 43.63 seconds. Biermaier won her heat in 43.55.

Both are capable of going faster. Also in Saturday's finals is St. Cloud Tech's Miranda Simon. The senior earned the ninth seed with a 44.82.

"That's awesome," said Tech senior Matt Boettcher, who took 11th Friday in both the 110 high and 300 hurdles. "I'm proud of her.

"She earned that. She really did."

Huls has taken third in the 300 hurdles the past two years. She also competed in the 100 hurdles, but didn't qualify for the final, taking 11th.

"I can run faster," she said.

She was in a much better mood after the 300 hurdles. It's a stacked field. Rosemount senior Rachel Schow also returns after winning the state title in 2013 with a 43.89.

Biermaier, a sophomore, was second. Huls, a junior, took third.

"This year, we're going one-two," Huls said confidently. "We will."

That Huls, Biermaier and Simon all come from the same section tells one volumes about 8-2A. It's stacked, too.

After the state meet, Huls and Biermaier are part of a United States track contingent running in Australia. They leave for two weeks in July. There is a three-day international meet they will take part in, competing against athletes from Australia and New Zealand.

"It should be fun," Huls said.

So should Saturday's 300 hurdles final.

DAY 2 NEXT

Class 2A competition resumes at 9 a.m. Saturday, with Class A competition scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m.

There were finals in seven boys and seven girls events Friday, with three area athletes earning spots on the podium.

In the girls' long jump, Tech eighth-grader Jodi Lipp took sixth with a leap of 17 feet, 4¾ inches.

In the boys' triple jump, Sartell sophomore Jake Lieberg was ninth. His distance in the final was 43-9¾.

In the boys' shot put, Little Falls' Trysten Ross took sixth with toss of 55-1¼.

"It wasn't the best," said Ross, who is headed to Bemidji State on a football scholarship. "It's like 2-3 feet under my PR (personal record).

"It is under my expectations. I threw in warm-ups really well. I hit the 60-foot line. But it didn't really transfer for some reason. I think I was too hesitant. I don't know. It's like everything is under a microscope here."

His personal-best was a 56-3½ tossed in the Section 8-2A final at Cold Spring.

MOVING ON

Also advancing is Rocori's Jacob Peterson. His time of 1:56.79 in the 800 gives him the seventh-best time going to Saturday's final.

Class 2A results

Boys

Team results (through 7 events) — 1. Hopkins 17; 2. Hastings 15; 3. Mankato East, Stillwater and Rosemount 12; 6. Woodbury 11; 7. Chanhassen, Irondale and Anoka 10; 10. Richfield, Eden Prairie and Owatonna, 8; 13. Rochester John Marshall, Moorhead and Mounds View 6; 17. Hermantown and Totino-Grace 5; 19. Lakeville North, Little Falls, Cambridge-Isanti and Wayzata 4; 23. North Branch, Robbinsdale Armstrong and Farmington 3; 26. St. Michael-Albertville, Brainerd and Prior Lake 2; 29. Worthington and Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony Village 1.5; 31. Detroit Lakes, Buffalo, Sartell and North St. Paul 1.

Finals

Triple jump — 1. Terrance Bowers (Hopkins) 48 feet, 2 inches; 9. Jake Lieberg (Sartell) 43-9.

Pole vault — 1. Calvin Deike (Mankato East) 14-6; 13. Daniel Mushel (Little Falls) 12-6.

Shot put — 1. Payton Otterdahl (Rosemount) 61-0.5; 6. Trysten Ross (Little Falls) 55-1.25.

Preliminaries

110 high hurdles — 11. Matt Boettcher (Tech) 15.48.

400 relay — 19. Sartell (Dan Daffinrud, Tom Bearson, Jacob Koltes, Shawn Sullivan) 44.12.

300 hurdles — 11. Boettcher (Tech) 40.97.

800 — 7. Josh Peterson (Rocori) 1:56.49.

Girls

Team results (through 7 events) — 1. Alexandria 21.5; 2. Prior Lake 16.5; 3. Chanhassen, Minnetonka, Kasson-Mantorville and Delano 12; 7. Lakeville South, Eastview, Cambridge-Isanti, Champlin Park, Eden Prairie and Tartan 10; 13. Elk River, St. Paul Highland Park, White Bear Lake and Mahtomedi 8; 17. Anoka 7.5; 18. St. Francis, Bemidji and Wayzata 6; 21. Mounds View and Blaine 5; 23. Centennial and St. Cloud Tech 4; 25. Mankato East 3; 26. Roseville Area, Forest Lake and Blake 2; 29. Becker 1.5; 30. Rochester John Marshall and Andover 1.

Finals

Long jump — 1. Mia Barron (Minnetonka) 19-1½*; 6. Jodi Lipp (Tech) 17-4¾.

High jump — 1. Taylor Wiebke (Kasson-Mantorville) 5-9; 8. (tie) Hannah Schmidt (Becker) 5-2.

Preliminaries

100 hurdles — 1. Alexandria Williams (Blaine) 11.21*; 11. Erin Huls (Rocori) 15.25.

800 relay — 14. Tech (Miranda Simon, Kaelyn Angell, Rachel Evavold, Lipp) 1:45.60.

300 hurdles — 2. Huls (Rocori) 43.63; 9. Simon (Tech) 44.82.

800 — 15. Shelby Hall (Sartell) 2:18.48.

* Denotes state record