Track and Field: Kimman cousins both top 5 in 100 hurdles

ST. MICHAEL — It’s not very often when two athletes from the same family finish top five at state.

That’s what happened in the Class 1A State Finals as cousins Ashley and Jessa Kimman notched top five finishes in the 100-meter hurdles Friday, June 10, at St. Michael-Albertville High School.

Ashley Kimman, of Pierz, followed her second place in the high jump Thursday with a second-place finish in the 100 hurdles in 14.862, which narrowly beat out Eden Valley-Watkins’ Brielle Kuechle by .005 seconds.

Jessa Kimman, of Pillager, finished fifth in the 100 hurdles in 15.83. A slight improvement from her 15.89 time at prelims Thursday.

“We definitely pushed ourselves to the maxes,” Jessa Kimman said. “Our family is kind of known for this and other people always say, ‘Oh the Kimman cousins and their hurdles.’”

Last year, Jessa Kimman was 12th in the 100 hurdles at state and she said the state experience helped her this time.

“I think the nerves got to me last year,” she said. “I’m just glad I made it to finals.”

Ashley Kimman raced in the 300 hurdles finals and finished fourth in 46.60, an improvement on her 47.21 time in the prelims.

“The fact that we both made it to state and were able to place high together in the same race I think that is very cool,” Ashley Kimman said. “I’m just thankful to be able to make it in the events and coming in I just wanted to do my best.”

Both the Kimmans are juniors, so the hope is the two of them can compete against each other at state next year.

“Maybe one and two (next year),” Jessa Kimman said with a smile.

Ashley Kimman added: “One more year to show them what we got.”

Wadena-Deer Creek’s Brady Domier finished seventh in the 110 hurdles in 15.75. He placed second in the pole vault Thursday.

Crosby-Ironton’s Lucy Lewendowski cleared the pole-vault bar in 8-foot-6 to finish 12th.

The Rangers’ 4x200 relay team of Jordan Mount, John Paul Fitzpatrick, Evan Miller and David Ringhand raced in 1:32.64 to get sixth in the finals.

Staples-Motley’s girls 4x800 relay team of Aften Robinson, Audrey Brownell, Kyanna Burton and Ashley Robben finished in fifth place with a time of 9:48.91.

S-M’s Hunter Miller placed 20th in the high jump at 5-8 and WDC’s Lyrik Haug was 22th in the high jump at 5-8.

Pillager’s Quintin Laveau, who did not compete in the 4x100 or the 4x200 relays Thursday, did complete two long jumps and finished 18th in 17-9.75.