Quandt and Oballa advance to state finals
Published 11:01 pm Friday, June 10, 2016
ST. PAUL — A pair of Austin athletes making their first appearance at the Minnesota Class AA state track and field meet both reached the finals at Hamline University Friday.
Austin’s Rachel Quandt clears the final hurdle during the 100-meter hurdle preliminaries at the Minnesota Class AA State Track and Field Meet at Hamline University. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Austin senior Rachel Quandt finished seventh in the 110-meter hurdles preliminaries to advance to Saturday’s finals and junior Odongonga Oballa took ninth in the 400-meter dash preliminaries to move on.
Quandt ran a time of 15.10 seconds to advance and she’s hoping to run even faster on Saturday.
“I was pretty nervous, but I think the fast pace of the meet kind of got me through the nerves,” Quandt said. “I didn’t have time to think about it too much and having that competition helped me get one of my best times of the year.”
Oballa’s time of 59.69 seconds was enough to edge out Josie Hermann of New Prague by four-tenths of a second for the final spot in the finals.
“It’s hard out there. I want to run faster tomorrow,” Oballa said.
Austin’s Odongonga Oballa rounds turn three during the 400 meter dash Friday during the Minnesota Class AA State Track and Field Meet at Hamline University. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Austin sophomore Sydney Marsh will compete in the pole vault Saturday.
