DAYTON — Cale Wilson will run for a state championship Saturday morning here at Welcome Stadium in the OHSAA Division II Track and Field Championships.

The Clinton-Massie junior was second in his heat and has the fourth fastest time going in to the finals of the 400-meter dash.

He also competed in the long jump and finished ninth.

“He’s a good jump,” CM boys track and field coach Scott Rolf said. “He’s still working on some technique things … he probably could have gotten in to the 21s (21 feet).”

Wilson had a 20-5 jump as his best of three in the preliminary round, which turned out to be good enough to make the final nine.

In the finals, Wilson had a 19-4.75 and then a 20-8.75. At that time, after two jumps by all nine competitors, Wilson was on the podium in eighth place.

However Donovan Delph of Eastmor Academy had a 21-0.25 on his final jump to pass Wilson, who opted out of his third attempt to run the open quarter.

“He came here to be on the podium and be quite high in the 400 and he wanted to focus on that,” Rolf said. “This (long jump) is a bonus.”

Wilson said he gave it his all in the long jump for the five jumps he had but, like so many others, the distance just wasn’t there.

“Everyone is generally a football below their PR (personal record) and I was around that range,” he said.

Regardless of where he was with one jump to go in the finals, Wilson said there was no way he was making that final attempt.

“That would have been my sixth jump,” he said. “At that point, I would have had to move my steps so far up because I was tired.”

On a breezy, warm morning, Wilson had plenty in the tank for the 400. Though not his best start, Wilson toured the Welcome oval in 49.26 seconds and finished behind Isaiah McCallum of Cleveland Glenville (48.48) in the first heat. McCallum had the fastest qualifying time.

The race for the 400 title is a close one has nine runners are within 1.05 seconds of each other based on qualifying times. Wilson had the fastest time in the state after last week’s regional meets.

“He was a little tired from the long jump,” Rolf said. “Last week, we went over a full second better the second day (in the 400). That’s still one of his better times, one of the top three times in his life. I look for big things (Saturday).”

Wilson said he backed off slightly at the end, feeling secure in his placement as one of the top two in the heat. In the preliminary races, the top two in each of the three heats advances to the finals along with the next two fastest times.

“I knew I was going to qualify,” he said. “I had confidence in myself. That’s what I didn’t have last year.”

He said the final 100 meters will be key to victory.

“It’s make or break in that last 100,” he said. “If I can run a good last 100 … obviously I have to give myself a chance and stay with them or get ahead. But if you have a bad 100 stretch, your race is done for.”

Reach Mark Huber at 937-556-5765, via email [email protected] or at twitter.com @wnjsports