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That was the mindset of Fife Lake Forest Area high jumper Greg Kinney at the Division 4 regional track meet in Marion on Saturday.

It's doubtful anything could have stopped him from his appointed rounds, including rain.

Fortunately, the rain stopped after a brief drizzle threatened to break out into a full blown down pour, and the clouds gave way to partly sunny skies and warm temperatures.

Kinney felt loose and ready. The competition just gritted its collective teeth and prepared for a tight race. And that's exactly what it turned out to be.

With firm footing for his takeoffs, Kinney breezed through the preliminary and semifinal round.

But the competition didn't wilt, and Kinney had to pull out a tight victory with a final jump of 5 feet, 11 inches to beat Jeremy Griffis of Beal City by one inch.

Kinney had jumped 6 feet, 5 inches during the regular season for a school record.

On this day, 5-11 was enough to land the gold medal, and a berth in the state finals on Saturday, June 2.

The Warriors also qualified for state in the 400-meter relay, with the team of A.J. Freeman, Brandon Rookus, Kinney and Johnn Brown finishing third with a time of 46.2 seconds.

Forest Area tallied 32 1/2 points for ninth place as a team. Manton's depth proved crucial in the Rangers winning the regional title with 115 1/2 points. Marion took second with 79 1/2.

Justin Gordon finished seventh in the pole vault with a vault of 9 feet, 9 inches. Johnny Brown had a fourth place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.5 seconds.

A.J. Freeman was seventh in the 100 with a time of 11.8 seconds. Kinney picked up a fifth place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 53.5 seconds.

Rookus tied for 10th in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles with a time of 46.10 seconds. The Warriors 1600-meter relay team of Rookus, Travis Park, Brandon Archambault and Kinney finished seventh in a time of 3:48.