When Tom Krieger read in the local paper that Austin High junior Evan Sorenson was threatening to break the school record in the 110-meter high hurdles, he wandered down to Wescott Field to get himself a look.

Krieger has held the AHS record since setting it in 1979 at the most crucial time -- in the finals of the state track and field meet. Krieger won the state title in 14.74 seconds, making the mark that Sorenson has been shooting for all season long.

"I've stopped out three or four times to see him run," Krieger said. "I read it in the paper that my record was in jeopardy so I had to go see who was doing it."

Sorenson qualified for the 2003 State Track and Field Championships by winning the Section 1AA meet Saturday in Northfield, clocking his personal-best 14.91 in last Thursday's preliminaries. The 110-highs is just one of his three events at state, however, as the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and the pole vault are his other obstacles.

"I know that he has the potential to continue to get better," said AHS girls' track coach Nancy Jones, who worked a lot in the offseason with Sorenson on the hurdles. "He's got the motivation to do that. He made that commitment and it worked really well for him."

Sorenson ran a personal-best 39.89 in the 300 to qualify as the section runner-up, and he also cleared 13 feet, 7 inches to meet the state standard in the pole vault. There may be nothing this kid can't do if he wants it bad enough, including breaking Krieger's record.

"He can do it, he has run faster as a junior than I did," Krieger said. "He's got a few more things he can work on."

Krieger has provided Sorenson with moral support in his quest to be the best, and Sorenson sees this weekend's state tournament as the perfect forum for that journey.

"It's nice to have someone to push you," Sorenson said. "He's given me some good tips, and he's been in the big races before.

"He's kind of like my idol, I look up to him a bit."

Sorenson starts the preliminaries of the pole vault at 10 a.m. Friday at the National Sports Center in Blaine. The opening height is 12 feet, but Sorenson will likely skip to 12-6 before taking his first attempt.

In the meanwhile, the preliminaries of the 110-highs start at 10:55 a.m. Sorenson will be in Lane 3 of the second heat, with Big Nine Conference rival Craig Dahl of Mankato East in Lane 5. Dahl was a four-event champion at the Big Nine meet in Austin two weekend's ago, including the winning time of 14.77 in the 110-highs.

The top two runners from each heat and the next five best times qualify for Saturday's finals, which are scheduled for 11:12 a.m. Defending state champion Lawrence Lipsey of Bloomington Kennedy is in the first heat. Sorenson ranked 14th in last year's preliminaries and did not advance.

"First I want to make it to the finals and then I want to try and get on the podium (top six)," Sorenson said. "I'll have Dahl there to push me. If I run my own race I should make finals.

The 300 hurdles preliminaries are at 12:10 p.m. on Friday, and Sorenson will be in the second heat -- opposite Dahl. Sorenson will be in Lane 6, where he was in last Saturday's section finals.

"Now I know I can run fast, I just need to do it again," Sorenson said after clocking his personal record.

Friday's pole vault competition is a final, and the 300 hurdles finals will run Saturday at 2:12 p.m.