Fergus Falls senior Ainsley Hansen won the Class AA High Jump championship, clearing 5-feet-seven-inches on her second attempt at that height on Friday morning at St. Michael-Albertville High School. The jump equaled her school record height. She missed on 3 attempts at 5-feet-8-inches.
"Ainsley jumped really well today," said Fergus Falls Head Coach Niki Welde. "She went into the meet with a lot of confidence having had such a successful spring. We knew she had 5-7 or 5-8 in her. She met so many goals this year."
"My day started earlier that I had hoped as I woke up at 3:45am and didn't fall back to sleep," said Hansen. "I was really nervous until my first warmup lap, then I settled down. I had a knock at 5-3 and when I was walking off the pit I was thinking, 'what was that all about'. I think I might have been to excited. When I cleared 5-7 I knew I made it before I hit the ground. When they set the bar at 5-8 and I failed to clear it I was kind of disappointed. My legs were tired and I was pretty drained, but this is a great feeling. If you would have told me back on the first day of school that I was going to be on a great basketball team that finished second in the state and that I was going to win the state I jump title I would have told you you were insane. I didn't have that in the books!"
Jordan Lee went 14-03.00 in the pole vault on his second attempt at that height, finishing as runner-up to Brian Schloeder of Rockford, who also cleared 14-03.00, however, he accomplished the feat on his first jump to earn the championship.
Senior Alex Jensen of the Otters claimed third place in the shot put with a distance of 53-feet-six-and-one-half-inches. Jensen will compete in the discus, along with teammate Layton Drouillard on Saturday at 10:15am. Alexandria’s Joseph Lanoux (48-05.00) took ninth place in the shot.
Shane Zierden missed out on a medal in the triple jump, taking eleventh place with a jump of 40-feet-six-and-three-quarters-inches. William Heydt of Alexandria took third with a jump of 44-10.25.
Luke Newman will compete in the AA Boys’ High Jump on Saturday at 9:00am.