By John RittenhouseSix Cardinal athletes in the Luverne High School track program turned in all-state performances in Blaine Saturday.Luverne sent a delegation of seven athletes to compete at the Minnesota State Class A Track and Field Championships in Blaine.With all but one of the LHS entries earning all-state status (the top nine individual finishers and relay teams earn all-state honors), Cardinal coach Craig Nelson said the experience was a rousing success."In the many years I’ve coached track here, this was one of the most rewarding weekends we’ve had at a state meet," Nelson said."I’m sure we’ve had some state meets equal to or a little better than this one. But to have the kids shine the way they did shows the type of dedication we had to track this season. It was a great weekend."The highlight of the weekend proved to be a pair of second-place performances turned in by the boys’ 800-meter relay team and Lexi Heitkamp during the girls’ 800-meter run.Not having to compete in a preliminary race, the 800-meter relay team turned in a solid showing during its lone race of the weekend. Juniors Jake Hendricks, Tom Ward, Jordan Siebenahler and Mike Kunstle ran a 1:31.81 during Saturday’s finals, placing second to a team from Annandale (1:29.62) consisting of four seniors.The LHS team’s 1:31.81 bettered the school record effort of 1:31.89 it used to set a new Section 3A meet record the week before."The 800 relay ran very well," Nelson said. "To improve your time at this time of year is hard to do, and that’s all we wanted them to do at state. You don’t have any control over what the other teams do. We just told them to go out there, run your fastest race and to the best you can. They did that."Heitkamp, a freshman, continued a streak of setting a new school record in the girls’ 800 during both her races at the state classic.After winning the section title with a time of 2:21.31 in Redwood Falls June 2, Heitkamp ran the field’s fastest preliminary time (2:17.99) in Blaine on Friday.She turned around on Saturday and posted a 2:17.65 in the finals, but Kingsland senior Nicole Calabrese turned in a 2:15.4 to win the state title."What can you say about Lexi other than she ran against some of the best athletes in the state of Minnesota, and she came in second place," Nelson said."For those of us who’ve been watching her run for some time now, we’re not surprised. It’s incredible to be a ninth-grader and be able to say you’re the second-fastest athlete in the state."The Luverne boys, who compiled 21 points and tied for 15th place as a team at the state meet, also received all-state individual performances from freshman Chris Ashby, Hendricks and Kunstle.Hendricks and Ashby placed fifth in the 400-meter dash and 300-meter hurdles respectively.Making his second appearance at the state meet in the 400, Hendricks qualified for the finals in the event for the first time by running a 50.5 during Friday’s preliminaries. It was the fifth-best time of the 15 runners competing in the preliminaries.Hendricks turned in a 50.92 and placed fifth in Saturday’s finals.Glencoe-Silver Lake senior Jesse Posusta won the state title with a 48.73."Jake did a lot better job this year compared with last year. He didn’t make the finals last season. Both races he ran this year were very solid," Nelson said.Ashby capped what was an attention-grabbing season by turning in a pair of strong races in Blaine, too.He ran a 40.63 during Friday’s preliminaries, which proved to be the seventh-best effort in a field of 16 runners. Ashby recorded a 41.31 in the finals, which was good for fifth place.Wadena-Deer Creek junior Eric Asfield won the state title with a 39.75."For a ninth-grader to have that kind of success in the 300-meter hurdles, which is a highly-technical endurance race, is simply outstanding. There are not many freshman who had more success at the state meet than Chris did," Nelson said.Kunstle rounded out the all-state performances by placing ninth in the 200-meter dash.He ran a 23.1 Friday, which was the seventh-best effort of the 16 entries in the 200. Kunstle ran a 23.89 and placed ninth in Saturday’s finals.G-SL’s Posusta won the state title in the 200 with a time of 22.22.Kunstle also ran in the 100-meter preliminaries Friday, recording an 11.29 (the 13th-best time of 27 runners) without advancing to the finals."Mike had a full schedule of running three events at the state meet, which is a tough thing to do. He made the finals in the 200, he just missed the finals in the 100 and he ran very well for the 800-meter relay on Saturday. I see Mike as a person that can go back to state and improve on all of his individual finishes next year."Luverne sophomore Ben Uphoff ran in the 300-meter hurdles on Friday without advancing to the finals. Uphoff turned in a 42.51, the 16th-best time in the preliminaries.
