RAPID CITY - One of the best races at Tuesday's Rapid City Developmental Track and Field Meet was the one that didn't count.

The developmental meet is an opportunity to get top runners, jumpers and throwers qualified early for the state meet and give younger athletes exposure to their first competitive atmosphere of the season.

As it turned out, a lot of things needed tweaking at O'Harra Stadium on a cold, cloudy early spring day.

A key showdown produced a nail-biter finish, unfortunately negated by a timer malfunction.

Rapid City Central's Gabe Palmer and Mike Hanley of Rapid City Stevens battled stride for stride in the final heat of the 300 hurdles.

Palmer appeared to edge Hanley at the line, but no times were recorded because of an equipment malfunction.

A Stevens coach timed Hanley unofficially at 42.45, and Central coach Dave Dolan figured Palmer would have been about a tenth quicker.

Timer woes also negated the final heat of the boys 100 hurdles. The clock was apparently triggered late at the starter's gun.

Meet officials decided to throw out those results as well and rerun the final heat. Palmer clocked a 15.18, while Hanley stumbled at mid-track and didn't post a time.

"That's frustrating to have two races thrown out like that," said Dolan. "You always want to get a good time in as quick as you can, because a kid can get hurt, or you can run into bad weather."

The Cobblers had a triple winner in Jasmyne King. Her performances in the 200, 400 and long jump automatically qualified her for the state meet in those events, where she is the defending champion.

Also meeting the state meet qualifying standard for the Cobblers was Caitlin Templeton in the high jump, Anna Gagliano in the girls 100 hurdles and Rachel Nilles in the girls 100 dash.

"We can know where we're at and gauge from there what we need to work at in the events and put together some relay teams for the upcoming meets," Dolan said. "It's a good starting point."

Stevens had automatic state qualifiers in Brooke Garner (girls discus, shot put), Becca Bedard (girls 100) and Tyler Niederwerder (boys 400).

Spearfish's Kyle Martens turned in a 6-foot, 3-inch effort in the high jump, and was close to his 6-5 personal best from last year, according to Spartan coach Aaron Nida.

"We're looking for some good things from him," said Nida.

Sturgis' Daine McNenny was a double winner in the boys 100 and 200 dashes. His 11.03 state meet standard time in the 100 thrilled Scooper coach Cody King.

"For this cold weather, that's unbelievable for him to run that fast," King said.

"Overall, except for the weather conditions, I couldn't be happier, just to get out and run against someone other than our own teammates," King said.

The lone event winner for Douglas was Chandler Mikkonen in the boys shot put.

Douglas coach Bill Langston said the Patriots boys should contend, while the girls team will be young and inexperienced.

"Three-fourths of our kids are freshmen and sophomores, so I was happy with what we did today," said Langston.

The Patriots will host the Early Bird meet on Saturday at Box Elder.