Jack Haussner finishes second at state in the 110-meter hurdles

In only his second year of running the high hurdles CCHS senior Jack Haussner was able to run fast enough to place second in the Class A field at the 2019 Minnesota state track meet. Jack also qualified in the 200-meter dash and long jump but failed to advance to the finals in those events. Staff photo/ Laurie Johnson

Coming out of the prelims, CCHS senior Jack Haussner had the fastest 110-meter high hurdle time, 15.12, in the Class A field at the 2019 Minnesota state high school track meet, which was held on the Hamline University track June 7-8.

Unfortunately, said Viking assistant coach Chris Hegg, Jack had a poor start in the finals. He made up a lot of ground in the middle of the race but clipped the last four hurdles and couldn’t quite catch Jason Ekiyor of Providence Academy, who won the race in 14.96.

Jack finished second in 15.28, his third-fastest time ever.

Jack joins Barney Peet, class of ’65 and Craig Futterer, class of ’78 who each ran 14.8 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles, and like Jack, both finished second at the state meet.

Jack competed in two other events but failed to qualify for the finals in the 200-meter run or in the long jump. During the track season Jack had a long jump best of 2’11”, which would have been good for fifth if he could have duplicated that effort at the state meet.

This was only the second year Haussner has competed in the hurdles. His junior year he finished 10th at state, running a then lifetime best of 16 seconds.

With no track and field facilities in Cook County, Jack practices hurdling in the Grand Marais recreation park on the somewhat flat pavement. This year he had eight hurdles to practice with. The 110 meter high hurdles race features 10 hurdles, and steps between hurdles are essential to learn to run fast. Cook County has no long jump pit, so Jack had to figure out his steps and launch point at the meets.

In other words, Jack’s success has been nothing short of phenomenal based on the limited resources he had at his disposal to help him prepare for track meets.

Now it’s off to the University of Minnesota where he has been accepted into the computer engineering program. A 3.9 GPA in high school, Jack will concentrate on academics first, but he also intends to walk on at the U in track and field and will benefit from the daily competition, facilities, and training he will receive. We wish him the best.