Gach, Kinser advance to finals at AA state track and field meet

Tethlouch Gach and Austin Kinser of Worthington High School advanced Friday to the finals of their respective events during the Minnesota Class AA Track and Field Meet at St. Michael-Albertville High School.

Gach, competing in the 110-hurdles preliminaries, placed third in the third and final heat with a time of 15.06 seconds that was fast enough to put him among the nine qualifiers for the finals. His prelims time was slightly more than half a second behind the fastest competitor, Lorenzo Hampton III of Friday.

Kinser, like Gach a just-graduated senior, ran in the 400 meters preliminaries on Friday morning and came in first in the second of three heats with a time of 49.72 seconds. Heat 3 winner George Nelson of Providence Academy had the quickest clocking of the day at 48.61 seconds.

Saturday's 110-meter hurdles finals are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., while the 400 meters finals are slated to start at 11:38 a.m. In addition, Trojan junior Caleb Meyer -- making his third straight appearance at the state meet -- is scheduled to take part in the high jump competition that begins at 9 a.m.