Huskies boys send historic amount to state
Owatonna’s Lucas Ginskey beats a competitor over the hurdles in his 110-meter high hurdles race. Ginskey placed sixth behind teammate Seth Johnson (second) in his first-ever state tournament as a freshman. Staff photo by Johnnie Phillips
Owatonna boys track and field was represented by 13 athletes at St. Michael-Albertville High School for the Class AAA state meet last week,
The amount of Huskies competing on the big stage was the largest grouping Head Coach Kevin Stelter has sent in his career.
“It was a real great first day from all of our guys with a lot of them qualifying for the finals. Zach Dahnert was excellent in the shot put and then guys like Nolan Ginskey, Seth Johnson, Jordan Gleason and Lucas Ginskey all came out and did really well,” said Owatonna Head Coach Kevin Stelter.
Senior Nolan Ginskey was the team’s most decorated athlete present, returning to state after winning the 4x200-relay title last season and qualilfying in four events in 2025.
Ginskey’s tremendous section results set him up to compete in the 100- and 200-meter dash events, as well as the long jump and triple jump in the field.
He proved why he was voted as Owatonna’s Senior Athlete of the Year by managing to qualify for the finals in both of his sprints, ultimately finishing eighth in the 200-meter and ninth in the 100 for two podium placements.
In the field, Ginskey leaped his way to seventh in the triple jump and 12th in the long jump, earning him a grand total of three podium finishes in four events.
Despite Ginskey’s monster effort, Owatonna’s best finishes of the state tournament belonged to hurdler Seth Johnson and 400-meter competitor Jordan Gleason.
Johnson returned to state as the reigning 110-meter high hurdle champion, but a fast field saw him finish second in his final sprint.
The senior’s 14.38 was a fast time, but an incredible 13.94-second dash by Rochester Century’s Joshua Kyei-Baffour was more than enough to earn the win.
For reference, Johnson secured his 2024 title with a 13.98, while the Minnesota all-time record sits at 13.88.
Gleason was a bright spot for the Huskies as well and had Stelter extremely optimistic about his future after a monster performance at his first state meet.
“Jordan was fantastic. He’s been getting better every week. We thought he might finish the finals in sixth, seventh or eighth, but coming around the final corner he was in the lead and we were all like, ‘He might win this.’ We’re really excited for him,” said Stelter.
The freshman took second place with a 49.36-second run that finished just over half a second behind the champion from Hastings.
His path to the finals was not an easy one by any means as his prelim sprint was good enough for ninth, making him the last qualifier for the finals.
Also earning a podium finish was senior shot put athlete Zach Dahnert.
Dahnert turned in a sixth-place performance by hitting a personal record distance of 53 feet, 8.5 inches in the finals.
The senior had steadily improved all season reaching a previous record of 51 feet, 7.25 inches at sections before exploding for a new record by over two feet at state.
Joining Dahnert in sixth place was freshman Lucas Ginskey.
Another young gun hungry for a future full of state accolades found himself on the podium after finishing sixth in the same finals heat as Johnson in the 110-meter high hurdles.
Other Huskies that made their mark at state included junior Dawson Levy (19th – 3,200-meter), Senior Terell Miller (25th – high jump), freshman Cooper Routh (25th – high jump), senior Jack Sorenson (Did not finish – 1,600-meter race) and the 4x800-relay team (10th place.)