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There was nothing to do now but wait. The winner of the shot put had been announced, but not second place.
The Winona High School senior waited to hear whether or not she was going to state.
She had the second-best throw, but was tied with another.
Finally, her name was called. She was going to state in the shot put. She could breathe again.
“I was a little scared,” Potter said. “I heard the word, but still, I don’t like to get my hopes up.”
Potter went 38-feet, 11¾-inches in the shot, qualifying for her first state track and field meet. She will be pulling double duty, because she won the discus (136-4) to qualify during the opening day of the Section 1AA meet at Carleton College.
Potter won’t be alone beginning Friday at Hamline College for the Class 2A state meet.
She will be joined by teammates Andy Norman and Elliott Heath.
As nerve-wracking the day was for Potter, it may have been even worse for Norman.
The runner-up at last year’s state meet in the discus was “out of sync,” Norman said. “Maybe it was nerves. I don’t know.“
Norman qualified for the discus finals, but he wasn’t throwing well. It only takes one, however, and that’s all he needed.
In his first attempt in the finals, Norman unleashed a 165-3. It provisionally qualified him for state and was good enough for second place.
“I just slowed down and prayed it would go,” Norman said. “I can’t be totally disappointed.“
While Potter and Norman had to bite their nails waiting, Heath made no doubt about his return to state.
The senior, who ran the sixth-fastest time in the U.S. in winning the 3,200-meter Thursday (8 minutes, 57.65 seconds), took the 1,600 Saturday (4:12.48).
“He’s pretty spectacular,” WSHS coach Tim Gleason said. “Some day, we’ll look back in awe at one of the best runners Winona will see.“
For Heath, it was just business as usual.
“The plan today was to just qualify,” Heath said. “It’s all about getting to state. The times don’t matter at this point, but it felt good to finish strong.“
Andrew Storsveen finished strong. He took second in the high jump, clearing 6-feet, 2-inches. Only problem was he was tied with another. The tie breaker goes to who has the least missed jumps and the two were tied there, too.
So they set the bar to 6-4 — the provisionally qualifying height. Storsveen didn’t clear. Neither did his competitor. At 6-3, he didn’t clear either, but his competition did and the WSHS senior ended up third — and without a state berth.
Regardless, Storsveen was proud of his accomplishment.
“I would have rather of went to state, but it’s good going out like this,” said Storsveen, who cleared 6-4 twice this season.
Storsveen was two inches from qualifying, while Aaron Welch was four-tenths of a second from getting to state in the 400 — taking third in 50.73 seconds.
“That was his best race of the year,” Gleason said. “A day like this is bitter sweet (on a coach). You look back at the great things and then the things that were just so close.“
Winona’s Mary Bastian and Alli Martin took third and fourth in the pole vault, both clearing 9-6.
Teammate Chari Lehnertz took third in the discus (121-5) Thursday and fifth in the shot put (38-1¾), Kayla Ewert took fifth in the 800 (2:20.09) and Chad Peterson took fifth in the 100 (11.81 seconds).
