With the start of the Section 1AA track and field competition Thursday, it was advance or go home for the Albert Lea boys’ and girls’ squads.

The boys’ team already has one athlete qualified for the state meet at the end of day one, while the girls still have a shot to get an event through on the second day.

Junior Janyjor Ruei punched his ticket to the state meet early Thursday by winning the triple jump with an attempt of 45-00.75, a new personal record. Ruei also qualified for Saturday’s finals of the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.43. He qualified fifth of nine runners.

Juniors Gay Nay Htoo and Colby Pathammavong ran in the 100-meter dash prelims, but couldn’t qualify for the finals with finishes in 20th and 31st place, respectively. Pathammavong also ran in the 200-meter dash, coming in 30th place with a time of 26.36.

Junior Garrett Everett also ran in the 110-meter hurdles, but missed a qualifying spot with a time of 18.94 and a 21st-place finish. Everett took 25th place in the 300-meter hurdles event with a time of 48.51.

In the 400-meter dash prelims, junior Kahn Mut came in 22nd and sophomore Aaron Bauers came in 23rd with times of 54.78 and 54.87, respectively.

Junior Andrew Wilner recorded the second-best finish of the day for the boys’ team, setting a personal record in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:03.64. Senior Jack Edwin also ran in the event, taking 33rd place with a time of 2:25.16.

Freshman Isaac Grenier ran in the first heat of the 3,200-meter finals, finishing in 30th place with a time of 11:43.44. In the second boys’ field event, junior Brody Dauer set a personal record in the shot put with a throw of 43-04, landing him in 17th place. Junior Hayden Johnston also threw in the event, coming in 21st place with a toss of 40-10.75.

On the girls’ side, the best finish of the day came from senior Tamara Lopez in the discus. Lopez came in 13th place in the event with a throw of 92-07. Sophomore Dyna Ann Bolinger also competed in the event, coming in 19th with a throw of 86-10.

Freshman Ariadna Turrubiartes competed in the high jump with a final attempt of 4-10, finishing in 14th place. Rounding out the field events for the day were sophomores Nyahoth Dup and Jaeda Koziolek in the long jump. Dup came in 20th place with a jump of 14-05.75 and Koziolek finished in 26th with a jump of 13-07.50.

Eighth grader Maleah Anthony and junior Grace Pfennig ran in the 100-meter dash, finishing in 26th and 27th, respectively. The duo also competed in the 200-meter dash, coming in 28th and 30th with times of 31.02 and 31.59, respectively.

Eighth grader Michaela Attig and seventh grader Imogene Brumbaugh ran both hurdles events. Attig took 25th in the 100-meter hurdles and 21st in the 300-meter hurdles. Brumbaugh finished 26th in both the 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles.

The Tigers will resume the meet Saturday morning with the 1,600-meter run, the relay races and Ruei in the 110-meter hurdles finals. Check back to the Tribune for full results as they become available.