RAPID CITY - Mike Hanley earned a candy treat his first time out in the 110 hurdles at Thursday's Rapid City Stevens Intra-squad meet. The Raider junior hopes to translate that into an even sweeter prize come state track meet time in May.

The Raider tradition is to award a Tootsie Pop to any track team member setting a "P.R." or personal record in an event.

Hanley's time of 15.4 seconds on a chilly Thursday afternoon at Sioux Park was indeed his best, and he wasn't even at full tilt.

"A 15.6 was my best time last year. If I can P.R. my first meet, that's pretty good. I hope I can improve even more then," Hanley said.

"This meet just gets the cobwebs out, and lets you run the distance you're going to run. Most of our training this year, we've just run one or two hurdles," said Raider hurdles coach Lyle Pagel.

"We're only going at about 70 percent for this first full-week phase," Hanley said. "Next week, we'll kick it up to 80-85 percent.

Last year the Raiders were noticeably absent from the top of the state track meet standings in both 110- and 300-meter hurdles. Hanley said Thursday's clocking in the 110 - the hurdles event - gives him a chance to be well into the 14-second bracket later in the year. That would put him within range of last year's state meet winning time of 14.43 set by Matt Tetzlaff, who swept both hurdles events last year.

"We're working up to be at 100 percent by the end of the season," Hanley said. "The state meet's the goal."

"He had a good day today. He's gotten stronger. He's worked hard in the weight room," said Pagel. "It's still early, but we're hoping to do a little better this year."