BLAINE -- Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Southland freshman Ashton May got out of the blocks with her fearlessly long strides taking her into the lead of the 400-meter dash, somewhere that will likely become familiar to those who watch her run over the coming years.

May qualified fifth for and finished sixth in the Class A finals of the State Track and Field Meet Friday and Saturday in Blaine, resetting her personal-best time of 58.86 seconds to complete her springboard of a freshman season.

"It was awesome just being here, and I hope to do it again next year," May said after accepting her medal in front of the fans at the National Sports Center. "I wanted to get out strong and run my best race and I did that."

May was seeded fifth for Saturday's finals after clocking her former personal-best time of 58.93 in the preliminaries. She lowered her time again on Saturday but fell back one spot against the best competition in the state.

"I was hoping that I'd make it here to the finals," she said. "I wasn't nervous at all, I just wanted to run my best."

Teammate Rebecca Stier, an eighth-grader, did not place in the discus finals on a rain-soaked Friday afternoon. Stier's third and final attempt in the preliminaries netted her 90-feet, 9 inches for her 16th-placed performance. Stier threw 113-5 to win the Section 1A meet a week previous.

May also qualified for state in the 200-meter dash, but failed to qualify from Friday's preliminaries after placing seventh in her heat and 14th overall with a time of 26.71.