Sophie Keister clears the high jump bar, above.

Blue Earth Area’s boys 4×100-meter relay team earned a trip to the State Track Meet with a second place finish at the Section Meet held at Mankato West on Saturday, June 12. They advanced to compete in the State Tournament on June 18.

Riley Anderson was in the starting block and he passed the baton to Austin Thielfoldt on the first exchange. Thielfoldt handed the baton to Jacob Olson who gave it to Jack Norman for the final leg of the race.

It was a photo finish with the runner from Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop winning the race by .14 of a second. BEA’s time was 45.49.

The top two finishers in each event, either individuals or relays, were eligible to advance to State.

It was not the only close finish the Bucs were involved in.

Eloise Blair rounded the final corner in the 300-meter low hurdles needing to make up some ground on her competitors. Her sprint to the finish almost put her into second place but the sophomore fell .13 short of Ellie Hernes of Fairmont in the race for second place and gave Blair third place. Blair’s time was 48.51.

The other results are as follows:

Girls

Blair also had a third place in the 100-meter high hurdles with a time of 16.74.

In the 100-meter dash, Lauren Bleess finished with a time of 14.40 to take 14th place.

Téa Armstrong ran a personal best time of 27.73 in the 200-meter dash to finish in sixth place.

It was a sixth-place showing for Addison Armstrong in the 400-meter dash. Armstrong ran the race in 63.5.

BEA’s 4×200-meter relay team of Addison Armstrong, Kate Armon, Bleess and Tailor Douglas crossed the finish line in 1.55.04 which put them in fifth place.

The 4×100-meter relay team of Téa Armstrong, Sophie Keister, Bleess and Douglas finished in fourth place with a time of 53.57.

Téa Armstrong, Addison Armstrong, Armon and Douglas combined their talents to earn a fifth-place finish in the 4×400-meter relay in 4:22.37.

In the field events, Addison Armstrong went over the pole vault bar at a personal best height of 9-2 which put her in third place.

Sophie Keister’s season-best mark of 5-0 in the high jump was also good for a third-place finish.

Haley Kalis finished 15th in the long jump with a leap of 13-5 1/2.

As a team, BEA finished fourth out of 23 teams with 43 points. Belle Plaine finished first with 128.5.

Boys

Riley Anderson sprinted to a fourth-place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.76.

Gabe Torres finished 12th in the 400-meter dash in 55.40.

In the 300-meter low hurdles, Gabe Smith earned a fifth-place finish with a time of 44.06.

The 800-meter run saw Cameron Germain run a personal best time of 2:12.21 to finish in 10th place.

Austin Thielfoldt finished sixth in the long jump with a mark of 19-1.

Nick Frank brought home a fifth-place finish in the shot put with a toss of 46-8 1/2.

Luke Norman finished fifth in the discus with a throw of 126-4. Frank finished 12th with a mark of 109-7.

There were 26 teams competing in the boys side of the meet and BEA finished in ninth place with 28 points. Belle Plaine finished in first place with 91 points.

The Section Meet marked the final competition for seniors Téa Armstrong, Nick Frank and Cameron Germain.