Luverne’s Nick Otten begins his leg of the 3,200-meter relay after taking the baton from Ruston Aaker during the Cardinal Quadrangular in Luverne Tuesday. The Luverne team placed third in the event.
By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne boys’ track team made its home debut during the Cardinal quadrangular Tuesday.
No team standings were kept at the meet, but it appeared the Cards were able to hold their own against the competition by winning seven events in their outdoor opener.
"The boys did well," said Cardinal coach Craig Nelson. "We had a couple of minor mishaps in handing off the baton, but that is something we can work on. We showed good improvement from last week to this week, and we appear to be developing some depth. We had a lot of kids score."
Marcus Walgrave had a fantastic meet for LHS that featured him winning three of the team’s seven meet titles. Walgrave won the 100-meter dash (11.16), the 110-meter high hurdles (11.16) and 300-meter low hurdles (40.31).
Justin Van Wyhe posted a pair of wins for LHS by producing the top distances of 19-1 1/4 and 41-1 3/4 in the long and triple jumps.
Cardinal Cody Gehrke won the shot put with a toss of 39-6, and Ruston Aaker took top honors in the 400-meter dash with a time of 55.44.
Luverne’s 1,600-meter relay team placed second with a time of 3:44.25. Scott Goebel, Jake Hendricks, Nick Otten and Tim Rust formed the team.
Chris Morgan (16.97 in the 110 hurdles), Jerome Willers (24.97 in the 200), Tony Willers (108-1 in the discus) and Andrew Hulstein (5-8 in the high jump) placed second in individual events for LHS.
Luverne will host the annual Cardinal Relays Tuesday. Field events begin at 3:30 p.m.
Here is a look at the rest of Luverne’s Top-Six finishers from the Cardinal Quadrangular.
Third place: 3,200 relay (Kyle Bitterman, Nick Otten, Aaker and Goebel), 8:57.6; Hulstein, 110 hurdles, 17.05; Rust, 100, 11.68; Hendricks, 400, 56.58; Morgan, 300 hurdles, 45.6; Nick Van Wyhe, shot, 36-10.
Fourth place: Goebel, 800, 2:16.05; T.Willers, shot, 36-6; Tyler Elbers, high jump, 5-8.
Fifth place: Gehrke, 300 hurdles, 49.26; Ben Cornish, 200, 25.6; Otten, 800, 2:19.78; Tom Gluf, discus, 104-3.
Sixth place: J.Willers, 100, 12.06; Cornish, long jump, 16-8.
