-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Andrea Anderson of Gowrie hugs her son Colin Johnson of Southeast Valley after he won boys 2A 400 hurdles on Friday inside Drake Stadium

DES MOINES — Colin Johnson made history here Friday night under the lights at the state track and field championships.

Johnson, a senior for Southeast Valley, became the school’s first-ever boys track champion when he laid down a blistering 52.71 to capture the Class 2A 400-meter hurdles title inside Drake Stadium.

Coming out of the third heat, Johnson knew the time he needed to beat to claim gold. He did so entering with the third-fastest district time, recording a new personal best in the process.

“It feels so amazing,” Johnson said. “Knowing that I will forever be in my school’s history books is so special to me.

“I just feel on top of the whole world right now.”

Since consolidating schools, Southeast Valley was in search of its first state champion on the boys side, as Kiersten Fisher won a title for the girls. Southeast Webster and Southeast Webster-Grand never had one, as Prairie Valley’s Don Lewis won a state championship back in 1968.

Johnson entered the final hurdles back of the lead before hitting his stride and sprinting past Underwood’s Tayden Hull down the homestretch. He finished the race off with almost a dive over the line before laying on the Blue Oval for several seconds to soak it all in.

After, Johnson immediately ran to his mother, Andrea Anderson, in the crowd as the two embraced.

A hurdler since seventh grade, Johnson ignored the advice of his same family members to continue on with the event.

“My family thought I was too small to run them — and to be fair, I was,” he said. “When I got into high school, I kind of was adopted by Jace Hanson. He took me under his wing and led me until he graduated.

“Just being able to accomplish this for my school is such an honor.”

Johnson’s teammate, Alex Burger, finished ninth in the 400 hurdles with a time of 56.03. The junior earned a silver earlier this year in the same event at the Drake Relays.

In the 110-meter hurdle prelims, Johnson just missed out on advancing to the finals, finishing seventh in the prelims in 15.14. Teammate Kolton Ollinger, a junior, was 22nd in the 400 hurdle prelims.

Southeast Valley’s 4×400-meter relay of Ollinger, Burger, Keelan Wellman and Logan Jaeschke placed 13th in the prelims while the 4×100 of Casey Hanson, Jaeschke, Bryce Harrison and Kayden Showers finished 18th in the prelims.

Burger, Ollinger and Johnson will be joined by Hanson on Saturday in the finals of the shuttle hurdle relay, as the quartet clocked the second-fastest prelim time on Thursday at 59.80. The Jaguars are also in the sprint medley relay.

For the girls, Sage Lane, Mae Searcy, Madelyn Farley and Avrie Hanson placed 14th in the 4×200 relay in 1:47.95, as the 4×100 with the same quartet finished 22nd in the prelims.