Cook County High School junior Jack Haussner ran his fastest 110 high hurdles race of the year at the Minnesota state track championships on Saturday, June 9 to finish in 10th place.
The state meet was held at Hamline University in St. Paul.
“It was an outstanding state meet for Jack,” said head coach Chris Hegg. “He came in seeded 20th out of 20 runners. He had an outstanding run to be in the mix and finish fifth in his heat out of eight entrants. Since there were two more heats, we figured he was totally out of it. It turned out his heat was by far the fastest. Jack just missed the finals by two hundredths of a second, with a big PR on 16.07, good for 10th place.”
Training to run the 110-meter high hurdle is somewhat of a challenge for a high school athlete in Cook County. With no track to train on, high hurdles are set up on the road in the Grand Marais Recreation Park.
“The coaches and I take a tape measure and chalk and set up hurdles in the park,” Jack said. “It’s a little different than running on a track, a little slower, but it’s pretty much the same.”
While the hurdles are placed the same distance, as they would be on the track, running on the road is really nothing like running in spiked shoes on an all-weather track. Timing and getting your steps down is everything in the 110-meter high hurdles race, and Haussner has done remarkably well given his disadvantage.
Jack said he plans to do some running this summer, but will add weight training to his routine to get ready for football where he is a wide receiver for the Vikings. He’s also interested in finding a summer camp for track where he can get some more instruction in running the hurdles.
“After state I have been thinking about running the hurdles in college, so I’m definitely looking at ways to improve, and going to a track camp could help me,” said Haussner, who was talking on his cell phone from an airport in the Twin Cities.
When the call ended Jack boarded a plane with his father. The two of them were flying to Alaska to go on a fishing trip. Jack was excited about the prospects of getting away and catching fish, but 12 months from now he hopes to be back at the state meet, moving up in place, of course.
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