Live Coverage: MSHSL Class AA Prelims

That completes the Friday action for Class AA at the MSHSL State Track and Field Championships at Hamline University. Thanks for joining us!

We plan to post photos from today's Class AA action shortly.

We'll also post a wrap-up of this afternoon's Class A action after that session ends at 6:30 tonight.

Complete Class AA boys' results are available HERE, Class AA girls' results are HERE

Boys' 4 x 400m Relay Prelims:
Heat 1 --
1st Leg -- Eastview leads.
2nd Leg -- Buffalo with Eastview.
3rd Leg -- Finnerty puts Burnsville next to Buffalo at the exchange.

Buffalo, with Mellon anchoring, wins with 3:35.61 unofficially.

Heat 2 --
1st Leg -- Woodbury leads.
2nd Leg -- Woodbury leads ... 1:44.
3rd Leg -- Woodbury still leading ... 2:34.

Apple Valley wins in 3:26.30 unofficially.

Finalists: Buffalo, Apple Valley, Fridley, Eastview, Rosemount, Cooper, Woodbury, Burnsville, Mankato West.

Girls' 4 x 400m Relay Prelims:
Heat 1 --
1st Leg -- Hopkins leads.
2nd Leg -- still Hopkins ... 2:00.
3rd Leg -- Hopkins fights back to lead against Minnetonka ... 3:00.

Hopkins wins in 3:59.14.

Heat 2 --
1st Leg -- Wayzata leads.
2nd Leg -- Wayzata still leading ... 2:00.
3rd Leg -- Wayzata ... 3:01.

Apple Valley wins with 4:02.72.

Finalists: Hopkins, AppleValley, Minnetonka, Eastview, Wayzata, Rosemount, Mounds View, Woodbury, Rochester Mayo.

Boys' Pole Vault Final:
Blake Weimerskirch (Armstrong) wins in the winds with 14-0 ... Dan Sandor (Stillwater) 2nd with 14-0 ... Nick Weis (Sauk Rapids-Rice) 3rd with 14-0.

Boys’ Triple Jump:
Austin Delaney (St. Louis Park) wins with 46-6 1/2 … Eyo Ekpo (Andover) 2nd at 44-11 … John Oberg (Burnsville) 3rd with 43-9 1/2 CORRECTION: 3rd place went to Cooper Wahlo, Jr. (Woodbury) who jumped 45-5 1/2 in the first flight.

Boys' 200m Prelims:
Heat 1 -- Sean King (Cretin-Derham Hall) wins in 22.07.
Heat 2 -- Chichi Ojika (Irondale) wins with 22.24.

Finalists: King, Ojika, Rancourt, Zeon, Norgaard, Keep, Cheneyon, Matadi, Eliason.

Girls' Long Jump Final:
2007 Class AA triple jump champion Jordan Helgren (Wayzata) wins the long jump with a leap of 18-10 ½ … Alycia Ford-Washington (Richfield) 2nd with 18-7 …Antoinette Goodman (Burnsville) 3rd with 18-3 1/2

Girls' 200m Prelims:
Heat 1 -- Fernholz (Willmar) wins in 25.35 unofficially.
Heat 2 -- Peterson (Apple Valley) wins with 24.67 unofficially.

Finalists: Peterson, Fernholz, Erickson, Davis, Goodman, Rozman, Hansen, Omeoga, Pollard.

Boys' 800m Prelims:
Heat 1 --
@200 -- 31 seconds .. Veldkamp (Eden Prairie) leads.
@400 -- 63 ... Held (Elk River) leads tight pack.

Burkstrand (Eastview) wins in 1:59 ...2006 champ Veldkamp 3rd.

Heat 2 -- (The Mellon-Richardson heat!)
@200 -- 26 seconds ... Mellon leads Richardson!
@400 -- 54 ... Mellon clear of Richardson by 20m.

Mellon wins in 1:53 ... Richardson 2nd.

Heat 3 --
@200 -- 29 seconds ... Starke leads.
@400 -- 59 ... Starke (Mankato West) followed by Hutton (Apple Valley).

Hussein (Rosemount) storms the homestrech to win in 1:57.

Finalists: Mellon, Hussein, Burkstrand, Richardson, Hutton, Abda, Lapham, Rosario, Lorenz.

2006 champ Isaac Veldkamp does not qualify ... Kebede is a DNF.

Girls' 800m Prelims:
Heat 1 --
@200 -- 32 seconds ... Emerson (Centennial) leads
@400 -- 65 .. Emerson ...

Borowsky (Hopkins) wins in 2:17.69 ... ahead of Schillinger (Sartell) and Emerson.

Heat 2 --
@200 -- 32 seconds ... Zenner (Fegus Falls)
@400 -- 69 ... still Zenner ...

Zenner wins in 2:21.82

Finalists: Borowsky, Zenner, Schellinger, Brunn, Emerson, Ferguson, Domski, Illikainen, Beckett.

Boys' 300m Hurdle Prelims:
Heat 1 -- Snosio Boye-Weah (Park Center) wins with 38.67.
Heat 2 -- Uche Ogbonnaya wins in 39.85.

Finalists: Boye-Weah, Ogbonnaya, Weeks, Bye, Greg, Maloney, Grand, Jones, Dalske.

Girls' Discus Finals:
Jessica Cagle (Grand Rapids) sets a new Class AA and all-time State Meet record with her winning throw of 162-4 ... Chari Lehnertz (Winona) 2nd with 129-0 ... LaiShema Hampton (St. Louis Park) 3rd with 128-9.

Girls' 300m Hurdle Prelims:
Heat 1 -- Sawtell (Mounds View) wins in 45.94.
Heat 2 -- 2007 champ Jenna Severson (Spring Lake Park) wins with 44.63.

Finalists: Severson, Sawtell, Kneeland, Edmunds, Dunsmore, Lieder, Smith, Ake, Keesling.

Boys' 400m Prelims:
Heat 1 -- Leon Cheneyon (Cooper) wins in 50.80.
Heat 2 -- Hussein (Rosemount) wins in 49.67.

Finalists: Hussein, Cheneyon, Dorsett, Richter, Sames, McGriff, Carter, Amoloja, Nielsen.

Girls High Jump:
Katie Guse (Waseca) wins with 5-9 ... Katie Loberg (Princeton) 2nd with 5-7 .. Devyn Smith (Roseville) 3rd with 5-6.

Girls' 400m Prelims:
Heat 1 -- Shade Pratt (Rosemount) holds on to win in 59.11.
Heat 2 -- Sashanavian Davis (Park Center) wins in 58.28.

Finalists: Davis, Pratt, Charlton, Brown, Mattson, Eason, Klaverkamp, Wesley.

Boys' 4 x 100m Relay Prelims:
Heat 1 -- Irondale wins in 43.51.
Heat 2 -- Osseo wins in 44.07.

Finalists: Irondale, Osseo, Wayzata, North St. Paul, Anoka, Brainerd, Eagan, Faribault.

2008 Class AA high jump champion Katie Guse is unable to clear 5-10 1/4.

Girls' 4 x 100m Relay Prelims:
Heat 1 -- Apple Valley wins in 48.69 ... yellow flag up, on Anoka.
Heat 2 -- Mounds View wins with 49.43.

Finalists: Apple Valley, Mounds View, Hopkins, St. Cloud Tech, Roseville, Eastview, Burnsville, Totino Grace, Lakeville North.

Katie Guse is now jumping at the all-time State Meet record height of 5-10 1/4

Katie Guse (Waseca) has won the high jump and is now jumping at 5-9.

Three jumpers remain in the girls high jump with the bar at 5-7 ... Devyn Smith (Roseville), Katie Loberg (Princeton), and Katie Guse (Waseca).

Boys' 4 x 200m Relay Prelims:
Heat 1 -- Anoka wins comfortably in 1:31.01 unofficially .. but a yellow flag is up, for Osseo.
Heat 2 -- White Bear Lake wins in 1:30.15 unofficially.

Finalists: White Bear Lake, Anoka, Rosemount, Champlin Park, Woodbury, Eden Prairie, Hopkins, Farmington, Sartell-St. Stephen.

Boys' Shot Put Finals:
Casey Dehn (Owatonna) wins with 62-5 1/2 ... Brian Leonhardt (Spring Lake Park) 2nd with 56-7 3/4 ... Ross Schultz (Bloomington Kennedy) 52-7 1/4.

Boy's pole vault and girls' high jump are set to resume at 10:55 ... the sun out again (for now.)

Girls 4 x 200m Relay Prelims:
Heat 1 -- Hopkins wins in 1:42.69 unofficially ... but there is a violation flag up -- on Cloquet.
Heat 2 -- Eastview wins in 1:43.96 unofficially ... and white flags all around.

Finalists: Hopkins, Eastview, Burnsville, Munds View, Roseville, Robbinsdale, Willmar, Lakeville North, Anoka.

The girls' high jump is also suspended.

The boys' pole vault has been suspended due to rain ...

It has started to rain here in St. Paul, just as the Boys' 100m dash runners are entering the blocks ...

Boys 100m Prelims:
Heat 1 -- Sean King (Cretin-Derham Hall) wins in 11.02.
Heat 2 -- Chichi Ojika (Irondale) wins in 10.78.
Heat 3 -- Diahnn Zeon (Richfield) wins in 11.04.

Finalists: Ojika, King, Zeon, Matadi, Rancourt, Lakis, Okoi, Maung, Jackson.

Girls' 100m Prelims:
Heat 1 -- Dhein (St. Cloud Tech) wins over Pollard (5th), Rozman (6th) in 12.70.
Heat 2 -- 2007 champ Kylie Peterson (Apple Valley) wins huge in 11.88 ... the mark was wind-legal with a 1.8 meter/second assisting wind ... it establishes a new Class AA and all-time State Meet record.
Heat 3 -- Erickson (Alexandria) wins in 12.33.

Finalists: Peterson, Erickson, Dhein, Nesbit, Am. Beckman, Omeoga, Al. Beckman, Thompson, Foley.

Boys' 110m Hurdle Prelims:
Heat 1 -- Marvin Mathews (Roseville) wins in 14.99.
Heat 2 -- Drew Fuek (New Pregue) wins in 15.22 .
Heat 3 -- Austin Delaney (St. Louis Park) wins in 14.80.

Finalists: Delaney, Mathews, Feuk, Stangl, Weeks, Gerver, Boye-Weah, Lederle, McCormick.

Girls' 100m Hurdle Prelims:
Heat 1 -- Severson (Spring Lake Park) wins in 15.38.
Heat 2 -- Sawtell (Mounds View) wins in 14.95.
Heat 3 -- CORRECTION: Lieder (Eastview) wins in 14.93.

Finalists: Lieder, Sawtell, Severson, Stalpes, Smith, Miller, Okonkwo, Malinen, January.

Boys' 3200m Finals:
@200 -- 32 seconds ... Finnerty followed by Carlson
@400 -- 68 ... Finnerty ... Carlson ...Docherty.
@800 -- 2:15 ... Finnerty and Carlson ... Docherty and Gagnon.
@1200 -- 3:22 ... Finnerty and Carlson 1-2, Docherty & Gagnon 30m behind.
@1600 -- 4:30 ... still Finnerty and Carlson ... then Gagnon, Docherty, Hassan 40m back.
@2000 -- 5:39 ... Finnerty and Carlson way ahead ... Gagnon, Docherty, Hassan.
@2400 -- 6:50 ... Finnerty followed by Carlson ... Gagnon breaking away from 3rd place pack.
@2800 -- 8:03 ... still Finnerty and Carlson ...

Rob Finnerty (Burnsville) pulls away on final turn to win in 9:04.88 ... Jordan Carlson (Rosemount) 2nd in 9:09.87 ... Pieter Gagnon (Mpls Washburn) 3rd in 9:21.81 ... then Docherty, Hassan, Baumgartner, Sathre, Joyce, Truedson.

Girls 3200m Finals:
@200 -- 33 seconds, Kennedy's Danielle Berndt leads a bunched pack.
@400 -- 81 ... Berndt leads by 5m.
@800 -- 2:47 ... Berndt at the head of a bunched pack.
@1200 -- 4:12 ... Piepenburg of Alexandria leading the stringing pack now.
@1600 -- 5:38 ... Piepenburg, Berndt, Hewes of Stillwater leading pack.
@2000 -- 7:02 ... Piepenburg with a stride on Berndt ... Docherty of Cretin 3rd, Hughes 4th.
@2400 -- 8:29 ... Piepenburg ahead of Berndt ... Optiz of Eden Priairie 3rd ... Hughes of Mankato West struggling.
@2800 --9:54 ... Optiz to the lead!

Docherty giving chase to Opitz on the backstretch ... Piepenburg in 3rd for now ...

Opitz (Eden Prairie) wins in 11:08.61 ...Emma Bates (Elk River) 2nd in 11:11.63 ... Lauara Docheerty (Cretin - Derham Hall) 3rd in 11:12.09 ... then Olson, Hewes, Pettit, Peipenburg, Brase, Berndt, Hughes.

Welcome to Down the Backstretch's live coverage of the MSHSL Class AA Friday session. We're reporting from Klas Field at Hamline University in St. Paul.

Pull up a supportive chair and a bag of snacks -- I've just had my press room donuts! All you need to do is refresh your browser window regularly for event-by-event coverage of today prelims and finals. The latest news and results will appear at the top of this page, older data will be collected beneath.

Weather conditions at 8:30 a.m., 30 minutes before the start of the today's competition, are cloudy skies, a temperature of 70 degrees, relative humidity of 73%, and winds from the SSE at 18 mph. Forecasts call for showers to develop as the day goes on.

Until action begins, we invite you to entertain yourself with ...

Boys heat sheets ... HERE.

Girls heat sheets ... HERE.

The Star-Tribune's meet preview ... HERE.