SPRING STANDOUT — Fairmont junior Ellie Hernes, shown elevating during a horizontal jump en route to a first-place finish at Fairmont High School's field area, has joined teammates Laura Thompson and Hudson Artz as the Cardinals' standouts this spring after missing all of 2020 due to the pandemic. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — After missing a full season in 2020, Fairmont head track & field coach Bob Bonk might have worried about his lineup. But there have been three junior athletes he hasn’t had to worry about at all this season.

Ellie Hernes, Hudson Artz and Laura Thompson have dominated their events throughout the 2021 season. Hernes has regularly earned the Cardinals the top spots in both hurdle events, the long jump and the triple jump. Artz has taken a gold medal in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes in every meet except one, where he claimed second place. Thompson has run everything from the open 400 to the 3,200-meter run and dominates them all.

Thompson has been outpacing opponents on the track since joining the team in seventh grade, including a stately performance in the 3,200 in 2019, where she placed eighth in 11:43.79.

Thompson has upped her performance, breaking the Cardinals’ 3,200-meter record in quad action and taking the fastest Fairmont 1,600-meter time in 24 years.

Meet to meet, Thompson said what she runs is up to Bonk, but she is always excited for the opportunity to help the team.

“For the most part, he just tells us what we’re gonna be in, but he always asks for input,” Thompson said. “I’ve just definitely wanted to try lots of things and seeing what works. It’s been really nice just to have the opportunity to try many different things.

“I really do like them all. I’ve really liked the mile this year, I haven’t run the two-mile as much, but I really liked that one. The 800 is good, really just any of them are good.”

Bonk had high praise for Thompson after coaching her through both track and cross country for so long. He said the way she mixes hard work and likeability leads her to a natural leadership position.

“A person’s never gonna find someone who has a better combination of being humble, likeable and team-oriented, but yet has kind of that tiger in the tank,” Bonk said. “I’d love to take the credit for her, but I can’t. The credit comes from within her. She’s one of the best young people you’re ever going to find.”

Hernes joined Thompson at the state meet in 2019, finishing seventh in the triple jump as a freshman when she leapt 35-4 1/2. Bonk said her hard work is what led her to breaking the school record in the triple jump during triangular action on May 11 with a jump of 37-3.5.

“At the last section meet, I was like three inches from it (the Cardinal record),” Hernes said. “So that was my goal for this season, it’s fun to get that.”

Hernes said her state experience has helped push her to work harder as a junior this year.

“That was super fun, but I was a freshman so I still kind of felt like an underdog on the team,” Hernes said. “I felt like it was just fun to go there and get to have that experience with my friends and my teammates.

“I think that experience helped boost my confidence coming into this season to just go out there and do my best.”

Bonk said part of Hernes’ advancement this season has been naturally getting taller, which has helped with her form, but the added confidence has given her a boost as well.

“For a lot of high school girls, getting to three-step (between hurdles) is a major move,” Bonk said. “She does it without bounding, but just actually sprinting. So that’s been the biggest thing I think for her getting better at the hurdles, and she’s just taller and stronger and I think confidence-wise, you know, there’s a different mindset.”

Artz joined the Cardinals at the state meet in 2019 and experienced the highest level of success, claiming gold alongside Jordan Wolter, Dylan Kennedy and Andrew Moeller in the 4×400-meter relay.

He said that experience, and what he learned from Kennedy and Moeller, who were long-time members of the Cardinal track team, has helped push him every day.

“That was awesome, it was a really good group of guys,” Artz said of his state-winning relay team. “Andrew Moeller and Dylan Kennedy were great leaders. We’re missing them a lot this year, not having them lead the workings, but now I look and say, ‘Hey, I can lead the workouts.’

“I’d say the experience leading up to (state) and all the work ethic they showed, even more than state itself, definitely helped a lot.”

Artz has largely taken that leadership role in workouts, Bonk said. While he was already successful in the 400, Bonk said Artz’s continued growth in the sprints has come from his hard work and ability to control himself.

“The sprints are events, especially the 100 and the 200, where people try so hard, and then they get tight and they slow down,” Bonk said. “He stays so relaxed and he’s been such a good finisher. The guy he ran against today (St. Peter’s Brooks Reicks on May 13), there’s no other way to say it, he is incredible. But Hudson was excited about racing him. It wasn’t, ‘Oh, I’m undefeated and I might get beat,’ it was just, ‘Oh, this is gonna be a great race, it’s gonna be a lot of fun.’ He looks forward to the big moment in the competition and he’s not done yet. I think he’s going to continue to get better and better.”

With all three of the Cardinal juniors having so much success this year, Bonk said he is excited for what the future holds. But he added that the entire junior class has been fantastic from long-time contributors to new track members trying out new events.

“I’ve done this a long time,” Bonk said. “And they’re about as good as I’ve ever had. Not just in their performance, but in the kind of people they are.”