FAIRMONT &045; Officially, the United South Central boys’ track and field finished third in the Fairmont Sentinel Relays Friday.

In all probability, the Rebels could have taken first.

&uot;We had the option of competing in (Class) AA and being the smallest team in that class, or being the largest team in Class A,&uot; said USC coach Kent Viesselman. &uot;We chose to go in Class AA because of the level of competition.&uot;

Hutchinson won the AA division with 148.5 points, followed by Blue Earth Area with 132, USC 129, Fairmont 112, Spirit Lake, Iowa 65, Minneapolis North 58.5 and Jackson County Central 55.

A good example of the difference between classes, according to Viesselman, was the 3200 meters, where first place in A, 10:24, would have been good for only fifth in AA. The coach said the level of competition paid off for the Rebels, who turned in personal bests in every individual running event.

Steven Wood won the 110 high hurdles in 16.3 seconds and the 300 intermediates in 42.5 &045; both personal bests.

The other Rebel gold medal was picked up by Jon Voigt, who won the pole vault with a personal-best 12-3.

Finishing second was Shea Kaiser in the 100 and the 4×100 team of Kaiser, Callan Pitcher, Bob Schmitz and Voigt.

Other USC places: 4×800 relay, fifth (Erik Melby, Matt Mueller, Eric Youngblom and Jake Stenzel); Bob Schmitz, third, triple jump and fourth, 400; Simon Christensen, seventh, triple jump; Pitcher, fourth, 110 hurdles and fifth, long jump; Adam Kruger, fourth, discus and third, shot put; 4×200 relay, third (Kaiser, Pitcher, Schmitz and Voigt); Matt Linder, eighth, shot put; Justin Youngblom, fourth, 1600; Kaiser, third, long jump; Eric Youngblom, sixth, high jump; Chris Vondracek, seventh, high jump; sprint medley relay, fifth (Stenzel, Trent Leesch, Melby and Vondracek); Voigt, sixth, 200; Justin Youngblom, fourth, 3200; 4×400 relay, fourth (Wood, Vondracek, Melby and Leesch).