T-R PHOTO BY STEPHEN KALB-KOENIGSFELD • Zane Johnson leaps over the final hurdle during the 400-meter hurdles Friday at the Iowa Co-Ed State Track and Field Championships. Johnson qualified for the finals with a time of 15.64 in sixth place.

DES MOINES — Of the four boys across all four classes seeded in the first lane in the first heat of the 110-meter hurdles in the Iowa Co-Ed State Track and Field Championships, only East Marshall’s Zane Johnson placed in the top half of his heat.

Johnson did much more than that, however, as he ran a time of 15.64 seconds to finish fourth in his heat, but that time held up as the sixth-best in Class 2A and sent Johnson into the finals for the Mustangs.

After his race, Johnson said his time could have been even better.

“I got a pretty good start but then I hit the seventh hurdle and that kind of put a damper on things because I was winning at that point, but it was good and I still got in at the sixth spot,” Johnson said.

Though he entered with the 19th-best time of the 2A qualifiers, Johnson defied all odds and moved up a whopping 13 spots to secure his place in the finals today.

“I just haven’t been running very well lately but I knew the atmosphere down here was pretty fun and I knew it would be a great atmosphere to run fast,” Johnson said.

Now that he’s in for the finals and has an almost guaranteed medal, Johnson said he’s going to give it his all in the last race and see what happens.

“I obviously want to finish first but at this point I have nothing to lose,” he said. “We are down here at Drake and it’s a great atmosphere and tomorrow there will be twice as many people here with all four classes. It will be pretty great.”

Johnson was nearly earned another medal as well, running the second leg of the boys distance medley along with Austin Elliot, Logan Nicholson and Tyler DeBondt.

The East Marshall boys ran a season-best 3:42.25 to win the first heat of the distance medley, but just pushed out of medal contention in the next two heats and finished in 11th place.

After two strong 200 legs by Elliot and Johnson, Nicholson took the baton in first place for his 400 lap and extended the lead already created by his teammates.

“When Zane came in first I knew we were going to do pretty good because I like running 400s and I knew where I was standing based on the people we were running with, so I just felt good about getting ahead of everybody,” Nicholson said.

It still took a strong closing kick by Tyler DeBondt in the 800 to secure the top spot in the heat, and even with a couple of competitors nipping at his heels DeBondt was able to cross the finish line first, though he said he’s not quite sure how.

“I couldn’t even tell you, I was just trying to stay on my feet and keep plowing,” DeBondt said. “My first lap was a little faster than I would have liked but I just knew if we wanted to get first in the heat I had to finish in first.”

For the Mustang girls, junior Melinda Puumala carried the East Marshall banner, competing in both the 100 hurdles and 400 hurdles after going in the long jump and shuttle hurdle on Thursday.

Puumala finished 16th in the 100 hurdles and 15th in the 400 hurdles, nearly running a personal-best time in the latter, and she said she has one more season to get back down to the Blue Oval and improve on those placings.

“I want to do better next year, every year I want to do better and better,” Puumala said. “I have been doing that in long jump, even this year it was just one place higher, but I am still getting better and that is my goal.”