By Nick Gerhardt, sports editor

LAKEVILLE &8212; The Albert Lea boys and girls track teams competed at the Section 1AA meet in Lakeville Friday looking to advance to state.

The top two individuals from each event move on to the state meet, but the route to that meet is not as simple as the oval design of the track.

The Tiger boys sent Richie Needham and Matt Tiegs to the finals in the 400 meter dash after Needham turned in a fifth place preliminary time of 51.72 and Tiegs had a time of 50.96, good for first place qualifying time.

The finals were being run when this edition went to press.

Needham found out just how tough it is to get to state in the long jump.

He entered the competition with the seventh best seed distance and was unable to climb any spots despite tying a personal best with a jump of 20 feet 5 inches.

&8220;I think I could have jumped a little better, but after running the 400 I was pretty tired,&8221; Needham said. &8220;It was a lot tougher competition this year.&8221;

Immediately following his 400 run, Needham had to prepare for the long jump finals, not leaving much time to recover.

Last year at the Section 1AA meet six athletes went over 20 feet. This year 13 jumpers had recorded leaps over 20 feet for their seed mark.

&8220;I didn&8217;t even place last year,&8221; Needham said. &8220;I prepared a lot harder than last year.&8221;

Eddie Anderson of Lakeville South won the event with a jump of 21-7.

Tiegs won his heat in the 400 by a comfortable distance as the next best seed time in his heat was two seconds slower than his 50.68. His 50.96 was just off his seed time, but it might be enough if he runs a similar time in the finals to qualify for state.

&8220;I think lower 51, high 50 will probably get you to state this year,&8221; Needham said.

Needham falls into that range as well and joined a cluster of runners at the 51 second mark.

&8220;Our goal this season was to get some guys into the finals at sections,&8221; Tigers head coach Lisa Deyak said. &8220;Right now, honestly, we&8217;ve pretty much achieved everything we set out to achieve so far this year.&8221;

Among those goals from the beginning of the season was beating a Big Nine opponent, something the team accomplished a number of times during the regular season and at the Big Nine Conference meet.

&8220;We beat three teams at our Big Nine meet and tied or beat some people in our quadrangulars and we&8217;re just thrilled about that,&8221; Deyak said. &8220;Basically we more than doubled what our performances were last year as far as point totals, so that&8217;s real exciting.&8221;

While the section meet is reserved for individuals trying to move on to the state meet, those Albert Lea athletes participating in the section meet have set the bar for the up-and-coming classes.

&8220;Our upperclassmen and veterans are really good at showing the younger kids how hard work pays off,&8221; Deyak said. &8220;It&8217; just exciting because we&8217;re starting to get some guys who weren&8217;t maybe thinking about track and field before, but they see that there can be some success there that it&8217;s very hopeful there.&8221;

The girls&8217; team saw Alaina Schultz advance to the finals in the 300 hurdles with a time of 49.57, very close to her time of 49.06 in the Big Nine Conference meet when she took second in the event.

She finished in a pack of runners Friday with her 49.67 in the event but if she can run at like she did at the Big Nine meet she stands a good shot to move on state.

The other highlight of the day included seventh-grader Chrissy Monson in the 3,200.

Monson entered the meet seeded 13th in the event and started the race from an outside lane.

The poor starting position had little effect as Monson climbed to a fifth-place finish, bettering her original rank eight spots.

She proved just one of the examples of the athletes making improvements as times continued to decrease.

&8220;It&8217;s another meet when we get into this caliber, honestly to try to get your best time that you can, end your season on a great note,&8221; Albert Lea head coach Margo Wayne said. &8220;We&8217;re running against a lot of teams we haven&8217;t seen.&8221;

Wayne said the meet had a different feel for each athlete as for some it served as their last competition and for others it worked as a growing experience.

&8220;It&8217;s an honor to be on the section team,&8221; Wayne said. &8220;It&8217;s just fun watching them mature and understand and develop as the years go by.&8221;