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Section 7AA Meet

Girls

The North Branch track and field team is sending two representatives to the state tournament this weekend at Hamline University.

After sending six competitors last year, it's a bit of a drop off, but this year, both the girls and boys will be represented.

For the girls, sophomore Sherrahlynn Linkert finished in third in the section preliminaries for the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 48.49 seconds. The top eight girls advance to the finals, and Linkert had a chance to kick it into a higher gear.

And that she did.

Linkert trimmed two and a half seconds off of her prelim time in the finals, winning the event with a 46.09 second run. The win automatically qualified her for the state tournament in the event.

She also finished in sixth place in the finals of the 100 meter hurdles.

Boys

In the boys half, two guys from the field events captured berths to the state tournament.

Ben Besch, a senior pole vaulter, grabbed a tie for first place in the event with a vault of 13'11". Besch, who was overshadowed by teammate Zack Smith last year (who missed out on the state tourney this year, finishing in sixth place with a jump of 12'11"), tied with Tyler Massey of Forest Lake and Mark Volker of Cambridge-Isanti.

All three competitors will be going to the state tournament to represent Section 7AA.

In the triple jump, senior David Leason finished second in the event to junior Corey Anderson of Hermantown.

Leason leapt 41'5" into the pit to earn his way to Hamline. Anderson won the event with a jump of 43'3".

Leason and Besch begin their state tournament adventure at 9 a.m. on Friday morning at Hamline University. Linkert won't be far behind, running her preliminaries around 11:30 a.m.

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