The Luverne boys’ track team was well represented at the Minnesota State Class A Track and Field Championships.
The annual showcase of the state’s best track athletes was staged Friday and Saturday at Hamline University in St. Paul.
The Cardinals had seven boys compete at the state meet in three different events.
Luverne athletes placed on the podium in two of three events.
“We used all of our alternates this year and everyone contributed,” said Luverne head coach Pete Janiszeski.
“The effort and selflessness by the kids was tremendous from my perspective,” the coach added.
The 1,600-meter relay topped the Luverne boys’ results with a fifth-place finish.
In the prelim race Friday, Jordy Thone, Ashton Sandbulte, Jonah Friedrichsen and Jed Dooyema qualified for the finals with a time of 3:28.38.
Friedrichsen suffered an injury before competing in the high jump and was replaced by senior Nicholas Kiers in the relay finals.
Thone, Sandbulte, Kiers and Dooyema finished the 1,600-meter relay race in 3:28.01 to place fifth in Class A and contribute five points to Luverne’s team total.
Friedrichsen, who won the Section 3A championship in the high jump, was unable to compete in that event in St. Paul because of the injury.
The Cardinals also competed in the 3,200-meter-relay at the state meet.
Brayden Tofteland, Dalton DeSollar, Kiers and Thone finished with a time of 8:38.70 in the 3,200 relay, which placed fifteenth overall.
Dooyema also competed at the state meet in the 400-meter dash.
He qualified for finals by placing first in his heat with a time of 50.53 in the prelims.
In the finals, Dooyema placed eighth in Class A with a time of 51.25 and contributed two points to the team.
Luverne finished 44th overall as a team in the boys’ competition with seven points. Jordan‘s boys’ team placed first overall in Class A with 87 points.
“Just getting to state is a huge accomplishment,” Janiszeski said.
“Our replacements stepped right in and did a great job,” he added. “We couldn’t have had the success we did without the team effort of everyone.”