The blink of an eye. That’s how close Larkin Meyer was to qualifying for the State Track Meet in the 110-meter high hurdles on Saturday night at Davis High School.

The Hughson senior – running in what turned out to be his final race in black and gold – turned in his fastest time ever at 14.45 seconds in the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Meet. That left him in sixth place but was just 0.05 seconds from the automatic qualifying time of 14.40, which would have earned him a spot in this week’s State Meet in Fresno.

“It’s like half a shoe length, probably. It’s really, really short amount of time,” was the way Hughson coach Mark Perry described how close Meyer came to making it. “It was his best race ever. There are no regrets.”

Not that it’s any consolation, but Meyer was part of the fastest group of high hurdlers in 15 years at the Masters Meet.

“He would have made State every year with that time except for 2009,” Perry said. “It goes to show the level of competition in that race.”

Meyer was eligible to compete in four events at Masters after his performance a week earlier at the Section Small Schools Meet, but dropped the 330 low hurdles and long jump to focus on the high hurdles and the 4x100 relay in an effort to conserve his energy.

That paid off when he won his high hurdles heat on Friday night in 14.86. The relay team – which also included

Malakai Sumter, Ben Lighthall and David Delgado – ran their fastest time ever at 43.40 but didn’t qualify for finals.

Individually, Sumter recorded a time of 11.27 in the 100 and 22.49 in the 200 but didn’t advance out of the heats in either event. Levi Walker went 38 feet, 11 inches in the triple jump but didn’t make the finals. Pole vaulter Case West was unable to compete after having wisdom teeth removed earlier in the week.

The Hughson girls 4x800 relay team of Alejandra Gonzalez, Sophie Benham, Noeli Gomez-Orozco and Maggie Scarioni ran 10.30.45 – their fastest time of year -- but didn’t qualify.

“It was a great season,” Perry said. “I’m very happy and pleased with how everybody progressed this year.”