By John RittenhouseSeven athletes representing Luverne High School completed the spring season at the Minnesota State Class A Track and Field Championships in Blaine over the weekend.Four Luverne girls competed in two events at the meet, and three Cardinal boys mixed it up with the state’s best in six events.Unfortunately for the Luverne delegation, team points were hard to come by.A ninth-place in one event gave the Cardinal girls one team point. A six-way tie for ninth place in one event gave the LHS boys one-third of one team point.The girls’ 3,200-meter relay team turned in a ninth-place effort in Saturday’s finals.Senior Tera Boomgaarden, sophomores Victoria Arends and Kelsey Dooyema and eighth-grader Lexi Heitkamp ran a combined 9:57.67 during the event.Their effort was more than eight seconds off the pace they set when meeting the state-qualifying standard and placing second during the section meet nine days earlier.Cedar Mountain, the team that beat the LHS squad during section competition, won the state championship with a 9:26.83 performance.Heitkamp also made an appearance in the girls’ 1,600-meter run Saturday.The eighth-grader ran a 5:25.4, finishing 13th out of 16 runners in the Class A field.Heitkamp’s time Saturday was four seconds off the pace she established when placing second at the section meet. She needed to run a 5:18.21 to place in the top nine.Lac qui Parle Valley freshman Nikki Swenson, who won the Section 3A title in the 1,600, became a state champion after running a 4:57.4.Senior Tim Rust came away from the meet with the lone place for the Cardinal boys at the state classic.Rust cleared 12-6 to earn a share of ninth with five other athletes in the pole vault, giving the Cardinals one-third of one team point.Rust, who cleared 13-3 to win the section championship, could have used the 13-6 height he cleared during the regular season to his advantage at the state meet. Mankato Loyola sophomore David Gierut won the state championship by clearing 13-6.Rust also competed in two sprinting preliminaries Friday without advancing to the finals.He turned in an 11.77 during first of two heats in the 100-meter dash, placing eighth in the heat. Rust’s preliminary time was 17th of 18 runners trying to earn a spot in the finals. He needed to run a 23.13 to advance to Saturday’s finals.Blue Earth Area senior Brian Baumann won the state title in the 100 with a time of 11.11.Rust also ran in the 200-meter dash preliminaries Friday, placing seventh out of eight runners in the first of two heats with a time of 23.62.His time in the preliminaries was 13th out of 15 runners participating. Rust needed to run a 23.13 to qualify for Saturday’s championship race, which was won by Minneapolis De LaSalle sophomore Alexander Robinson with a time of 22.52.Both of Rust’s preliminary times were off the pace he established while placing second in the 100 (11.52) and 200 (23.19) during the section meet finals.LHS senior Justin Van Wyhe competed in two jumping events Friday and Saturday at the state meet.Van Wyhe tested the talent in the long jump Friday, producing a distance of 18-10 in the preliminaries.Of 15 athletes who had their distances measured during the long jump, Van Wyhe sported the 12th best effort. He needed a distance 19-7 3/4 to place in the top nine. Martin County West senior Jeff Lillevold won the state title with a distance of 21-1.Van Wyhe competed in the triple jump Saturday.He recorded a 40-7 1/4 distance in the preliminaries, placing 13th out of 15 jumpers.Van Wyhe needed a distance of 41-5 to place in the top nine. New York Mills sophomore Ted Rud won the state title with a distance of 44-9 1/2.Both of Van Wyhe’s distances at the state meet were shorter than the distances he recorded while placing second in the long jump (20-2 1/4) and triple jumps (41-8 3/4) during the section meet.Luverne sophomore Jake Hendricks competed in the 400-meter dash preliminaries Friday without advancing to the finals.Hendricks ran a 52.99 during the second of two heat races. He finished eighth in his heat and 16th out of 16 runners in the preliminaries.Hendricks needed to run a 51.21 to qualify for the finals.Staples-Motley senior Josh Smith won the 400-meter dash title with a time of 49.13 Saturday.
