By John RittenhouseLuverne’s second consecutive appearance at the Minnesota State Class A True Team Track and Field Championships resulted in a fifth-place finish for the LHS boys Saturday in Stillwater.One year after placing second at the same meet, Luverne slipped to fifth place in the final standings with 325.5 points.Plainview (456.5), Holy Family Catholic (408.5), Mayer Lutheran (390.5) and International Falls (337) topped the Cardinals in team competition.Blue Earth Area (319.5), Esko (313.5), Breckenridge-Campbell-Tintah (305) and Yellow Medicine East (240) capped the field.Working against LHS Saturday was the fact that one of their top performers was unable to compete.Mike Kunstle, a standout sprinter who is an important part of Luverne’s 400- and 800-meter relays, was limited to one event (a 16th-place finish in the 100-meter dash).Kunstle injured a leg muscle during the Southwest Conference meet in Luverne Thursday, and it kept him on the sidelines during most of Saturday’s meet."It would have made a big difference if we would have had Mike at full-strength," said LHS coach Craig Nelson."I think we could have had the potential to place second or third as a team with him. Without him, we placed about where I thought we would in fifth. We didn’t do quite as well as we hoped to."Luverne did receive some championship efforts from Chris Ashby. Ashby, who placed third with a time of 11.7 in the 100-meter dash, took top honors in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles with respective 15.55 and 40.5 efforts.Jake Hendricks helped the Cardinals place second in two events at the meet.Hendricks placed second in the 400-meter dash in 50.5 and ran a leg with the 800-meter relay, which finished second in 1:35.23. C.J. Xaisongkham, Tim Miller and Jordan Siebenahler joined Hendricks in the relay.Hendricks (22.97 in the 200) and Thomas Christiansen (10:25.35 in the 3,200) placed third individually, while Tom Ward (fourth in the 400 in 5309) and Ben Uphoff (fifth in the 300 hurdles in 43.79) turned in other strong individual performances.Uphoff, Ryan Jscobsma, Christiansen and Ward placed fifth in the 1,600-meter relay with a 3:42.04 effort.Here is a look at the rest of Luverne’s performances at Saturday’s meet.Eighth place: Ward, 800, 2:10.98; Jake Hendricks, long jump, 18-11 1/4.Ninth place: 3,200 relay (Jacobsma, Xaisongkham, Erick Phommaracksa and Mark Van Aartsen), 10:01.32; 400 relay (Xaisongkham, Phommaracksa, Van Aartsen and Siebenahler), 47.91.10th place: Aaron Altman, discus, 117-8; Miller, triple jump, 37-3 1/4.11th place: Craig Rogers, discus, 114-0; Uphoff, 110 hurdles, 17.61; Siebenahler, 200, 24.18; Steve Schneiderman, 3,200, 11:01.93.12th place: Ward, high jump, 5-6; Uphoff, triple jump, 36-10 1/4; Christiansen, 1,600, 4:48.59.13th place: Miller, high jump, 5-4.14th place: Craig Rogers, shot, 40-3; Siebenahler, long jump, 17-11.15th place: Miller, 800, 2:15.8.16th place: Schneiderman, pole vault, 9-0; Kunstle, 100, 12.3; Schneiderman, 1,600, 5:05.7.17th place: Devin Nelson, pole vault, 9-0.18th place: Sam Dooyema, shot, 36-7 1/4.