Luverne High School track coach Craig Nelson is having a pretty good year.It started with his accepting the Minnesota State Track and Field Coaches Association’s Class A Coach of the Year Award (for the 2005 season) during a ceremony in Brooklyn in late January.Since then, Nelson guided the Cardinals through another sensational regular season that was highlighted by a return trip to the Minnesota State Class A True Team Championships in late May.Repeating as the Section 3A True Team champions probably carried a lot of weight when Nelson was named the Section 3A Coach of the Year after LHS won the team championship at the section event in Pipestone two weeks ago.Then came last weekend, when a group of seven Nelson-led LHS boys accomplished something no other Cardinal track team has in the history of the school — winning a team championship at the state meet.All things considered, I think winning the state championship will be what Nelson holds in his heart the longest when he has time to reflect on this special year.The championship was not earned by only some special athletes who will go down in history as some of Luverne’s best runners of all time. It also was a product of good coaching from a staff that had the foresight to put the athletes in the best possible position to succeed.Nelson and his staff earned my respect two weeks before the state meet.I was a little disappointed when the Cardinals were unable to win the Sub-Section 10 team title in late May.Nelson and his coaching staff were not concerned in the least after placing second to Southwest Christian at the sub-section event. Instead, they had their eyes on bigger prizes."To be honest, we were not trying to win the sub-section meet. In fact, this was the first year we didn’t enter kids in five events for as long as I’ve been the coach," he said."We were focusing on getting our best athletes together in relays and placing them in individual events that we thought they had the best chance to do well in at the state meet."Needless to say, the coaching strategy worked.The best decision the staff made was not to adjust anything when it came to seniors Jake Hendricks, Jordan Siebenahler, Mike Kunstle and Tom Ward.All they did the last two years was set school records in the 400- and 800-meter relays that will be tough to beat any time soon, and they did it at the expense of sacrificing potential success in individual events.The coaching staff also deserves credit for putting together a formidable 1,600-meter relay team, which clinched the state title by placing fourth on Saturday.Nelson and everyone else who follows the program know Luverne has a jewel in sophomore hurdler Chris Ashby.Ashby also has the potential to succeed in short sprints, but the coaching staff thought putting him in the 1,600-meter relay with Ward, senior Tim Miller and junior Ben Uphoff was the best move for the team this year.The coaching staff proved to be right with every decision they made, and the end result was a team championship that wasn’t so unexpected as some might think."We thought we had a chance to win with this group way back at the beginning of the year," he said."The state meet was suited to the type of team we have. To be successful at state, you need to have quality athletes. With this particular group of kids, who are some outstanding sprinters, we thought we had a chance to win it, and we did."Along with being exceptional athletes, the seven LHS boys who brought home a state title on Saturday have another special trait.They are very coachable athletes who are not afraid to try new things."To win a state championship the way we did, you need to have the right type of kids who are willing to buy into what the coaching staff is selling,"