By John RittenhouseThe Luverne track teams participated in the Section 2AA True Team Track and Field Championships during a cold and wet day at Mankato East High School Thursday.Rain forced the meet to be delayed a number of times, but the Cardinals completed the event along with the other teams.The Luverne girls turned in a strong performance by placing third out of nine teams. The LHS boys placed sixth in an eight-team field.Cardinal coach Craig Nelson was pleased by the efforts produced by both teams, especially the LHS girls."To place third is great," Nelson said. "Considering Fairmont and Mankato East placed first and second respectively at last year’s state true team meet, finishing third behind them this year makes us feel very good."Danielle Cook turned in the top individual performances for LHS by finishing second in the 300-meter hurdles and third in the 100-meter hurdles with respective 49.65 and 16.13 times.Luverne placed third in the 3,200-meter relay with a time of 10:30.7. Victoria Arends, Tera Boomgaarden, Sadie Dietrich and Lexi Heitkamp ran the race for the Cards.The 400- and 800-meter relay teams placed fourth with respective 54.07 and 1:53.1 times. Callen Bosshart, Amanda Dooyema, Cook and Jenni Christensen ran the 800. Bosshart, Dooyema, Cassie Pap and Nicole Willers formed the 400-meter team.Heitkamp, Christensen and the 1,600-meter relay team produced fifth-place points for LHS.Christensen ran 200 meters in 27.15, and Heitkamp was timed at 1:04.19 in the 400-meter dash and 12:48.77 in the 3,200-meter run.Christensen, Dooyema, Dietrich and Arends turned in a 4:28.9 in the 1,600-meter relay.The Cardinal boys did well to place sixth in a strong eight-team field."The boys’ team competition was really tight," Nelson said. "We were missing one athlete, and I think it made a really big difference."Cardinal Marcus Walgrave spent the day assaulting the LHS record book.Walgrave bettered his own record in the 110-meter high hurdles by placing second in 14.5, and he set a new standard in the 200-meter dash by placing second in 22.5. The old record of 22.76 was set by Justin Hendricks in 1999.Walgrave also placed second in the 300-meter hurdles in 39.88.Tyler Elbers and Tim Rust cracked the Top 5 in individual events. Elbers ran 100 meters in 11.23 to place fourth. Rust cleared 11-0 in the pole vault to finish fourth.The 400-meter relay team of Elbers, Rust, Chris Morgan and Andrew Hulstein placed fourth in 46.6.Here is a look at the team standings and the rest of places earned by LHS athletes during Thursday’s meet.Girls’ standings: Fairmont 511, Mankato East 500, Luverne 337, Blue Earth Area 301.5, Worthington 292.5, New Ulm 285, Mankato West 284.5, Lake Crystal-Welcome-Memorial 241, St. Peter 148.5.Boys’ standings: MW 442, ME 439, LC-W-M 279, SP 254.5, Fairmont 250, Luverne 244.5, BEA 227, Worthington 202.Luverne girlsSixth place: Arends, 800, 2:34.38; Marissa Stewart, shot, 34-2.Seventh place: Kelsey Dooyema, 1,600, 6:02.22; Willers, 200, 28.03; K.Dooyema, 3,200, 12:48.77; Stewart, discus, 95-8; Arends and Maggie Kuhlman, high jump, tie for seventh place at 4-6.Ninth place: Boomgaarden, 800, 2:39.48; Cassie Pap, long jump, 13-8 3/4; Pap, triple jump, 31-1.10th place: Dietrich, 1,600, 6:10.94; Kuhlman, 300 hurdles, 54.11; Willers, 100, 13.3.11th place: Bosshart, 100, 13.43; Kuhlman, triple jump, 31-0.13th place: Kuhlman, long jump, 13-3 1/2; Hilary Hansen, 400, 1:07.62.15th place: LaRae Kor, discus, 78-6.16th place: Jessica Willers, 100 hurdles, 19.19.17th place: Kor, shot, 26-6 1/2.Luverne boysSixth place: 3,200 relay (Nick Otten, Ruston Aaker, Kyle Bitterman and Jake Hendricks), 9:05.3; 1,600 relay (Hendricks, Rust, Aaker and Scott Goebel), 3:52.58; Rust, 100, 11.38; Elbers, high jump, 5-10.Eighth place: 800 relay (Elbers, Cody Gehrke, Morgan and Hulstein), 1:36.5; Otten, 3,200, 10:50.44; Morgan, shot, 40-5.Ninth place: Hulstein, 110 hurdles, 16..62; Morgan, 300 hurdles, 45.44; Goebel, 800, 2:13.9.10th place: Goebel, 1,600, 5:03.2; Gehrke, 200, 24.78; Hendricks, 400, 5627; Hulstein, high jump, 5-6; Nick Van Wyhe, shot, 38-2 3/4.11th place: Gehrke, long jump, 16-10 3/4; Casey Swenson, discus, 108-1.12th place: Aaker, 400, 57.34; Bitterman, 800, 2:17.3.13th place: Aaker, pole vault, 9-0; Tom Gluf, discus, 100-5; Ben Cornish, long jump, 15-8 1/2.14th place: Cornish, triple jump, 32-9.16th place: Jon May, 3,200, 12:37.58; May, 1,600, 6:03.71.
