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Saturday’s state cross country meet in Northfield was a momentous one for the Luverne High School boys’ cross country team.
They were the first boys’ team from Luverne to compete at the state event since 2012, and they became only the fifth team in the school’s history to qualify for the event.
This year’s LHS boys’ team placed ninth out of 16 teams competing in Class A. It was a second-best finish for an LHS team; the best team finish was eighth place in 2004.
This year, two LHS runners — brothers Camden Janiszeski and Owen Janiszeski earned all-state honors. It was the first time two runners from Luverne earned the high distinction in the same year.
LHS had only two all-state cross country runners in the past 20 years.
Camden Janiszeski, a junior, placed 15th out of the 159 runners competing in Class A with a time of 16:59.04 over the 5,000-meter course.
Owen Janiszeski, a freshman, placed 17th with a time of 17:02.54.
Winning the Class A race was Perham High School senior Jacob McCleary with a time of 16:09.54.
Luverne tallied 222 points for its ninth-place finish. Nova Classical Academy team placed first with 122 points.
Three other runners contributed to the LHS team score: senior Griffen Jarchow, 18:00.58, 94th place; freshman Sage Viessman, 18:25.28, 117th; and freshman Leif Ingebretson, 18:39.23, 124th.
Sophomore Ryan Fick ran the course in a time of 18:41.49 to finish 136th, and junior Camden Hoven, 19:53.28, for 149th place.
Junior Carsen Tofteland and freshman Kaleb Hemme were alternate runners for the LHS team.
After the race, coach Peter Janiszeski commended the team.
“I couldn’t be more proud of you guys,” he said. “You met every single goal except the last one.”
The last goal was to place better than eighth-place as a team at the state tournament.
Camden Janiszeski said his dad, as a coach, promotes that team aspect to all his runners.
“We always get the analogy at the beginning of the year that we’re one link in a big chain, and that we’re as strong as our weakest link,” Camden said. “Work hard every day and push hard — that’s what we do.”
The Luverne team placed second at the section 3A championships to earn a berth to the state tournament.
During the state contest, Luverne was in 11th and 10th place at the 1,600 meter and 3,200 meter points, passing West Central Area, the section 6A runner-up winner, and Section 3A champions Lac Qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd, who finished 11th.
The 2021 tournament was the first time the Minnesota State High School League implemented the three-class system of A, AA and AAA. Luverne continued to compete in Class A.