By John RittenhouseThe Luverne boys’ bid to defend their 2002 team championship at the annual Cardinal Relays came up two points short Thursday.Brandon Valley kept the Cardinals from repeating as the team champions by nipping LHS 128-126.Southwest Christian (122), Fulda (95.5), Jackson County Central (67), Worthington (61.5), Windom (54), Adrian (34) and Westbrook-Walnut Grove-Red Rock Central (13) round out the nine-team field, which was whittled down from 12 teams that were scheduled to appear prior to being postponed April 8."We came within two points of repeating," said Cardinal coach Craig Nelson. "We thought this was a meet we should have won. We got disqualified in one relay we should have won, and we were missing Chris Morgan. Still, we had some outstanding performances. The boys took advantage of what was a perfect day for a track meet."For the second straight meet, LHS senior Marcus Walgrave posted three wins in impressive style.He won the 110-meter hurdles and 100-meter dash with respective 15.59 and 11.53 times. Walgrave saved his best effort in the 300-meter hurdle when he placed first and set a new school record with a time of 39.52. Walgrave set the old standard of 40.56 in 2001.Justin Van Wyhe, Tyler Elbers, Tim Rust and Andrew Hulstein also won individual events. Van Wyhe covered 41-2 1/2 in the triple jump, Elbers ran 200 meters in 23.77, Rust cleared 12-0 in the pole vault and Hulstein cleared 6-0 in the high jump.Luverne’s Elbers, Rust, Hulstein and Cody Gehrke took top honors in the 400-meter relay with a time of 46.81.Nick Otten turned in Luverne’s lone second-place performance by running 3,200 meters in 10:59.46.Here is a look at the rest of Luverne’s top eight efforts during the Cardinal Relays.Third place: 3,200 relay (Jake Hendricks, Otten, Kyle Bitterman and Ruston Aaker), 8:58.69; Aaker, 400, 54.1; Van Wyhe, long jump, 19-1 3/4.Fourth place: Scott Goebel, 1,600, 5:04.79; Ryan Wynia, pole vault, 9-0.Fifth place: Rust, 100, 12.19.Seventh place: Aaker, pole vault, 8-0; Bitterman, 800, 2:18.42.Eighth place: Jerome Willers, 200, 25.36; Gehrke, shot, 39-11.
