By John RittenhouseMore than a decade’s worth of disappointment came to an end Thursday for the Luverne girls’ track team at the Southwest Conference Championships in Windom.The Cardinals ended a 12-year drought of not winning a team title by emerging as co-champion with host Windom.LHS, which last won the SWC title in 1991, matched Windom’s scoring output of 124.5 points."We were very happy to win a co-championship," said Cardinal coach Craig Nelson. "We knew it was going to be a close meet going in, and we talked about that all week. Looking at the final scores, with the top four teams being seven points apart, it proved to be true. Every single person who placed helped make the difference for us."The Cardinals battled Windom to a draw without winning an event title.Luverne, however, did place second in five events to help overcome the field.Lexi Heitkamp, Danielle Cook and Kelsey Dooyema finished second individually. Heitkamp ran 3,200 meters in 12:14.48, Dooyema covered 1,600 meters in 5:43.99 and Cook cleared the 300-meter hurdles and reset her school record in the event with a time of 47.63.The Luverne girls placed second in the 800- and 3,200-meter relays with respective 1:50.55 and 10:13.33 times.Callen Bosshart, Amanda Dooyema, Cook and Jenni Christensen ran the 800. Sadie Dietrich, Tera Boomgaarden, Victoria Arends and Heitkamp teamed up in the 3200.The Luverne boys were unable to repeat as SWC team champions during Thursday’s meet.Marshall and Redwood Valley knocked off the third-place finishing Cardinals."The boys did a nice job, too," Nelson said. "We figured it would be a three team race between Marshall, RWV and us. I was surprised by the numbers Marshall put up to win the championship."Unlike the girls, the Luverne boys won five SWC championships during the meet.Marcus Walgrave, who placed second in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 39.43, won the 110-meter hurdles and 200-meter dash with respective 15.02 and 23.33 times.Tyler Elbers cleared 6-0 to win the high jump, and Tim Rust cleared the bar at 11-6 to win the pole vault.Luverne also won the 1,600-meter relay with a time of 3:38.89. Jake Hendricks, Justin Van Wyhe, Scott Goebel and Ruston Aaker formed the team.Van Wyhe placed second in the triple jump with a distance of 40-7, and Hulstein cleared 5-10 to place second in the high jump.Luverne finished second in the 400-, 800- and 3,200-meter relays with respective 45.84, 1:35.45 and 8:59.3 times.Elbers, Rust, Chris Morgan and Hulstein ran the 400, Elbers, Cody Gehrke, Morgan and Hulstein teamed up in the 800, and Hendricks, Kyle Bitterman, Nick Otten and Aaker formed the 3,200-meter squad.Luverne did emerge as the SWC meet overall champion for the second straight year. The overall title goes to the school that produces the highest combined (girls and boys) team score.Here is a look at the team standings and the rest of Luverne’s top eight finishers during the SWC meet.Girls’ standings: Luverne 124.5, Windom 124.5, Jackson County Central 120, Pipestone 117.5, Worthington 93.5, Marshall 73, RWV 45.Boys’ standings: Marshall 176.5, RWV 165, Luverne 138.5, JCC 70.5, Worthington 55.5, Windom 47, Pipestone 38.Luverne girlsThird place: Cook, 100 hurdles, 16.65; Heitkamp, 400, 1:01.85; Arends, 800, 2:32.63; Marissa Stewart, shot, 32-9.Fourth place: Boomgaarden, 1,600, 5:51.98; 400 relay (Bosshart, Cassie Pap, Erin Hoiland and Nicole Willers), 53.39; Christensen, 200, 28.41; Stewart, discus, 103-4; Hietkamp and Maggie Kuhlman tied for fourth place by clearing 4-6 in the high jump.Fifth place: Serena Franken, discus, 102-3; Willers, 100, 13.85; Dietrich, 800, 2:36.7; 1,600 relay (Christensen, A.Dooyema, Dietrich and Arends), 4:15.12.Sixth place: Kuhlman, 300 hurdles, 53.02; Willers, 200, 28.86; Kuhlman, triple jump, 31-4 1/2.Seventh place: Pap, triple jump, 31-1; K.Dooyema, 3,200, 13:17.78.Eighth place: Bosshart, 100, 14.02; Franken, shot, 28-8; Arends, pole vault, 6-9.Luverne boysThird place: Elbers, 100, 11.9; Aaker, 400, 54.08.Fourth place: Hendricks, 400, 54.46.Fifth place: Hulstein, 110 hurdles, 17.01; Goebel, 800, 2:09.98; Goebel, 1,600, 4:44.49; Van Wyhe, long jump, 18-6 1/2.Sixth place: Otten, 3,200, 10:47.Seventh place: Rust, 100, 12.15; Aaker, pole vault, 8-6.Eighth place: Bitterman, 800, 2:12.93.
