By John RittenhouseThe Luverne boys made a bid to win the team championship of the annual Cardinal Relays before coming up 13 points short Tuesday.The Cardinals battled Southwest Christian throughout the meet before the Eagles pulled away to outscore the Cards 137-124.Jackson County Central (73), Windom (72), Fulda (56), Worthington (38), Westbrook-Walnut Grove-Red Rock Central (33) and Adrian (25) capped the eight-team field.Luverne performed well enough to win six meet titles and place second in four events, but it wasn’t enough to best the Eagles."We did some experimenting during this meet, and we had some glitches on the boys’ side," said Cardinal coach Craig Nelson. "Still, we had some excellent performances, and I think our boys will have a very good season."The meet was a good one for Justin Van Wyhe, who won two individual titles for the Cards. Van Wyhe produced the winning distances of 19-1 1/2 and 42-9 1/2 in the long and triple jumps respectively.Tim Rust, Tyler Elbers and Ryan Wynia captured one individual title each for the Cards. Rust ran 100 meters in 11.71, Elbers cleared 6-2 in the high jump and Wynia cleared 10-0 in the pole vault.Luverne also fielded the winning 3,200-meter relay team consisting of Thomas Pinkal, Ruston Aaker, Scott Goebel and Nick Otten. The squad turned in a time of 8:43.42.Elbers and Jake Hendricks placed second in the 200- and 400-meter dashes with times of 24.0 and 53.82.Luverne placed second in the 400- and 800-meter relays with 46.86 and 1:38.81 efforts. Jordan Siebenahler, Aaker, Van Wyhe and Rust ran the 400. Hendricks, Aaker, Siebenahler and Rust teamed up in the 800.The Cards will run at a quadrangular meet in Fairmont Tuesday. Here is a look at the rest of Luverne’s Top-Eight finishes during the Cardinal Relays.Third place: Tony Willers, discus, 127-5; 1,600 relay (Hendricks, Van Wyhe, Goebel and Elbers), 3:47.Fourth place: Goebel, 1,600, 5:05.74; Elbers, 400, 54.73; Otten, 800, 2:13.2; Mike Nelson, pole vault, 9-0.Fifth place: Pinkal, 3,200, 10:57.98; Nick Van Wyhe, shot, 40-10 1/2.Seventh place: Travis Halfmann, 1,600, 5:27.7; Matt Rosin, shot, 39-4; Aaker, pole vault, 8-6.Eighth place: Ben Uphoff, 110 hurdles, 21.37; Andy Stegemann, 800, 2:22.5; Chris Ashby, 200, 26.6.
