By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne girls' track team captured its fourth consecutive Sub-Section 10A team championship during the annual post-season meet staged in Pipestone Thursday.
Luverne racked up 177.5 points to race past second-place Pipestone-Jasper, which tallied 138 points.
Considering the fact Craig Nelson didn't think LHS was the favorite to win the meet, the Cardinal coach was a happy man after the meet.
"We didn't go to this meet confident that we were going to win it," Nelson said. "The girls rose to the challenge and performed very well. We're equally excited about having 17 girls qualify for the section meet. That's very good representation for our team.Õ
The top four individuals and relay teams qualify for section competition during the sub-section meet.
The Section 3A meet will be staged in Benson today. Meet time is 4 p.m.
Luverne will be led in Benson by three individual sub-section champions and one champion relay team.
Jenni Christensen and Sadie and Hannah Dietrich won the 200-meter dash, 400-meter dash and 800-meter runs with respective 27.89, 1:06.07 and 2:29.78 times.
The Dietrichs also were members of Luverne's 3,200-meter relay, which won a sub-section crown with a time of 10:19.74. Patricia Willers and Victoria Arends are other members of the team.
Luverne's 400-, 800- and 1,600-meter relays earned trips to Benson by placing second at the sub-section level.
Callen Bosshart, Nicole Willers, Maggie Vanden Hoek and Amanda Dooyema ran 400 meters in 55.76, Bosshart, Danielle Cook, Vanden Hoek and Christensen teamed up for a time of 1:55.15 in the 800, and Dooyema, Christensen and the Dietrichs ran 1,600 meters in 4:21.52.
Cook, Tracey Scheidt, Amanda Aning and Serena Franken will compete in Benson after placing second in individual events Thursday.
Cook, who was third in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 51.86, was second in the 100-meter dash in 13.59.
Aning, who cleared 4-6 to place third in the high jump, came in second after clearing 9-6 in the pole vault.
Scheidt cleared the 100-meter hurdles in 17.62 to place second, and Franken was second in the discus with a toss of 90-8.
Bosshart, Arends, Nicole Cronquist and Adria Sherwood placed third in individual events to advance to the section meet.
Bosshart, Arends and Cronquist ran 200, 1,600 and 3,200 meters in respective 29.35, 5:52.5 and 13:44.07 times.
Sherwood whipped her discus 89-10 to place third.
Andrea Drost, Patricia Willers and Cassie Pap round out Luverne's section-qualifiers.
Drost placed fourth in the 800-meter run in 2:42.97, Willers was fourth in the 300 hurdles in 52.33, and Pap placed fourth in the triple jump with a distance of 29-0.
Here is a look at the team standings and the rest of LuverneÕs top eight finishers from the sub-section meet.
Girls' standings: Luverne 177.5, P-J 138, Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth 119.5, Murray County Central 107, Edgerton 65, Southwest Christian 54.
Fifth place: Abby Klosterbuer, 400, 1:09.59; Scheidt, 300 hurdles, 53.27; Allana Gacke, pole vault, 6-6; Marissa Stewart, shot, 31-4 3/4.
Sixth place: Dooyema, triple jump, 28-9 1/2.
Seventh place: N.Willers, 100, 14.23; Chelsea Park, 1,600, 6:59.08; Maggie Kuhlman, 3,200, 15:08.9; Pap, long jump, 14-0 1/4.
Eighth place: Gacke, triple jump, 27-7; Jessica Willers, 100 hurdles, 19.92; Kuhlman, 400, 1:14.56; Christina Smidstra, 100, 14.28.