HAYFIELD — When it comes to running, Hayfield senior Clint Freiheit has tried it all.

He’s ran in cross country, he’s ran in basketball, and now he’s going to be running in the Section 1A track and field meet in Triton next week.

Freiheit is the highest seeded runner in the 400-meter dash, and he also qualified for the 200-meter dash and is on the section qualifying 4 x 800-meter relay team along with Nate Conroy, David Ellis and Michael Kuehn. Freiheit’s qualifying time of 51.76 seconds in the 400 is more than respectable, but he’s hoping to run even better next week as he shoots for his first career state berth.

“I’m seeded first, but two guys have ran faster. Hopefully I can shave a second off there,” Freiheit said. “I’ve just got to run hard and follow my strategy and I should be fine.”

Freiheit’s strategy is directly influenced by his time on the Hayfield cross country team. While the 400-meter dash is more of a sprint, he uses the first part of the race to get warmed up and he kicks it in overdrive for the last 200-meters.

“Cross country showed me who I was and gave me a heart to give it my all in the 400,” he said.

Hayfield head track and field coach Peter Hendricks said that Freiheit has been a strong leader since the first day of the season.

“He’s an unbelievably driven guy. He’s really focused and he’s always working hard,” Hendricks said. “That’s translated to his success and I’d like to see him get to state. He’s put in the time to make a run.”

Freiheit switched from the 800-meter run to the 200-meter dash a couple of weeks ago in order to make his meet schedule easier and he had no trouble with the switch.

“I’m just a utility man. I’ll do whatever needs to be done,” Freiheit said.

Hendricks was impressed with how quickly Freiheit picked up the 200.

“ I didn’t know he had that top end spend, but he does and he’s a versatile guy,” he said.

While he is running strong now, Freiheit has only run track for four years.

“First it was just something to do, but each year I kept seeing big improvements and it ended up being my focal sport,” he said. “I just worked hard and trusted in God. That’s what everybody needs to do to succeed.”