Austin senior Aiden Wilson spent his entire high school career trying to reach a state tournament and he’ll finally accomplished that feat in a sport he learned while tagging along with is dad at track practice as a kid.

Wilson, who put in 14 combined football, wrestling and track and field varsity seasons in his time with Packers, will compete in the pole vault at the Minnesota Class AA State Track and Field Meet in Hamline University in St. Paul at 9 a.m. Friday.

Wilson began pole vaulting as a sixth grader when his dad Jeremy was coaching with the Packer track team.

“I wanted to try pole vault and ever since then it’s been every day,” Wilson said. “I’m happy to make it in my senior year. The pressure’s all off now and I get to compete like I want to. We had a great practice the other day and I’m excited to compete.”

Wilson. who has committed to compete in track and field at UW-Stout next season. had his pole snap on his first attempt and he was battling heavy winds at the Section 1AAA meet, but he was able to bounce back and focus.

“When a pole snaps on you, you’re in a small state of shock for a brief moment and you have to either refocus or don’t even bother going back up, because you’ll still be rattled and shook,” Wilson said. “I just went right back up.”

Class A

The Lyle-Pacelli girls basketball team made program history this past winter when it won the Minnesota Class A State Title and now two of the players from that team will be competing in another state tournament at the Minnesota Class A State Track and Field Meet Friday and Saturday.

Lyle-Pacelli’s  Kayla Christopherson, who will run in the 3200-meter run, will be competing in her third state meet of the year for LP as she also ran in the state cross country meet in the fall.

“It’s hard to wrap my mind around it,” Christopherson said. “Most kids don’t even get to go to state in one sport, let alone three in one year. It was kind of one of my goals and it was a driving factor going into my race at sections.”

Lyle-Pacelli senior Kristi Fett, who missed out on track last season due to a foot injury, will be throwing the shot put for the last time in her career as she will play basketball at Minnesota State University next season.

“I’m just kind of excited that I made it to state in my last year because it was a goal for me,” Fett said. “It’s kind of nice to come back and go out the way I wanted to. I definitely embraced track a lot more this year. It’s a different team atmosphere with track and I like it a lot.”

Fett is also excited to wrap up her track career next to Christopherson.

“Kayla’s awesome,” Fett said. “She’s super energetic and super supportive and I’m looking forward to spending more time with her and bonding with her.”

Christopherson is hoping to PR at state, which is something she hasn’t done in the last two years in the 3200. She also thanked her coaches, family, friends and God.

CLASS AA BOYS

Austin’s Aiden Wilson is seeded 16th in the pole vault. He will compete at 9 a.m. in Friday’s finals.

CLASS A BOYS

Drew Lewison of GMLOKS is seeded ninth in the 110-meter hurdles and sixth in the 300-meter hurdles. He will run in the 110-meter hurdles prelims at 3:40 p.m. Friday and he will run in the 300-meter prelims at 5:25 p.m. Friday.

CLASS A GIRLS

Lyle-Pacelli’s Kayla Christopherson is seeded fourth in the 3200-meter run. She will run at 6:29 p.m. in Friday’s final.

The GMLOKS 4 x 100-meter girls relay team of Isabelle Olson, Emily Hovden, Kassidy Kirtz and Anika Reiland is seeded fourth. They will run at 4:50 p.m. in Friday’s prelims.

The GMLOKS 4 x 200-meter girls relay team of Anika Reiland, Emily Hovden, Lauren Buchhotlz and Riley Queensland is seeded first. They will run at 4:20 p.m. in Friday’s prelims.

Lyle-Pacelli’s Kristi Fett is seeded 13th in the shot put. She will compete at 3:30 p.m. in Saturday’s finals.

Hayfield’s Kalli Jo Klocke is seeded 10th in the pole vault. She will compete at 3:30 p.m. in Saturday’s finals.