Ellie Hernes

MANKATO — The Fairmont Cardinal girls and boys track & field lineups looked in midseason form during their season-opening indoor competition Friday night on the Minnesota State University campus in Mankato.

Ellie Hernes established one indoor school record, tied another mark, produced three of the Fairmont girls squad’s nine individual gold medals and engineered three of her team’s five top-three showings during the unscored meet.

Hernes sprayed the sand in the triple jump pit at a new school-record distance of 36 feet, 8 1/4 inches to pace the Cardinals’ 1-2-3 sweep in the field event.

Fairmont’s Jazlyn Geerdes captured runner-up triple jump accolades with a hop, skip and leap of 32-0 3/4, while teammate Emily Frank garnered third place by marking at 30-7 1/2.

Hernes also tied the indoor school record by posting a first-place time of 9.59 seconds in the 60-meter high hurdles. Hadley Artz claimed second-place honors at 10.2, while Anna Utermarck capped the Cardinals’ sweep in third at 10.4.

Hernes pocketed her third individual victory by clearing 16-5 to pace Fairmont’s sweep of the long jump competition. Artz nailed down second place in 15-4 3/4, while Rachel O’Connor placed third at 15-2 3/4.

Augustana University commit Laura Thompson and Corene Moeller each contributed two individual wins to Fairmont’s dominant performance, while Carissa Saxton and Utermarck supplied one individual gold medal apiece.

Thompson and Macy Hanson packed a 1-2 point-scoring punch in the 1,600-meter run by crossing the finish line in 5:25.39 and 5:29.65, respectively.

Thompson later halved the distance and captured top honors in the 800 by breaking the tape in 2:28.28.

Moeller claimed first place in the open 400 by blistering the track in 1:03.72, with Blue Earth Area’s Addison Armstrong placing second in 1:05.15.

Moeller later reduced her run in half and spearheaded the Cardinals’ 1-2-3 sweep in the 200-meter sprint. Moeller collected top honors in 28.52, Geerdes netted second in 30:53, while Kennedy Becker took third in 30.7.

Saxton also paced Fairmont’s sweep in the 60-meter dash by breaking the wire in 8.16, with Mackenzie Householder and Becker claiming second and third in 8.42 and 8.6, respectively.

Utermarck and Claire Nemmers rounded out Fairmont’s individual girls top-two finishers by posting a 1-2 showing in the 60-meter low hurdles. Utermarck won the event with a time of 10.56, while Nemmers claimed second in 10.99.

Sophia Keister and Chloe Groe captured gold medals for Blue Earth Area. Keister arched her back over 4-10 to win the high jump for the Bucs, while Groe heaved the shot to a winning distance of 34-8 to fend off Fairmont’s Householder (31-1).

Fairmont also won three of the four relay races in the girls competition.

Carys Gudahl, Ellie Ortega, Elayna Anderson and Hanson traded handoffs for a first-place time of 10:56.11 during the meet-opening 4×800-meter relay.

Meredith Nemmers, Ava Rodning, Frank and Geerdes combined for a winning time of 2:02.9 in the 4×200 for the Cardinals, while Moeller, Artz, Saxton and Thompson generated a first-place mark of 4:35.22 in the 4×400.

In the boys meet, Fairmont’s trio of Hudson Artz, Armando Hernandez and Hank Artz each struck gold in individual competition, Evan Meade set the Cardinals’ boys indoor mark in the 60-meter dash, while three Fairmont relay teams proved victorious in Mankato.

Meade crossed the finish line in the 60-meter dash in a new school-record time of 6.94, but ironically, placed second in the meet to St. Peter sprinting extraordinaire Brooks Reicks.

Reicks posted a time of 6.92 to win the short sprint, while Hudson Artz placed closely behind in third in 7.03.

Hudson Artz went on to combine with teammate Taylor Austin to post a 1-2 showing in the open 400. Artz took top honors in a time of 53.31, while Austin pocketed second in 56.56.

Hernandez cleared a first-place distance of 39-3 1/2 in the triple jump for the Cardinals, while Hank Artz struck gold by heaving the shot to a winning mark of 44-7. Sawyer Tordsen took third in the shot for Fairmont at 38-6.

Meade also led off Fairmont’s winning 4×200 relay team before handing the baton to James Johnson, Hernandez and David Maakestad handled the final two legs as the Cardinals’ quartet earned first place in a time of 1:38.81.

Nolan Schultze, Blaze Geiger, Gage Cyphers and Maakestad combined for a winning time of 3:45.21 in the 4×400, while Carson Pomerenke, Ethan Geerdes, Schultze and Will Niestrath handled the medley relay duties to win in 4:12.44 for Fairmont.

Trey Tumbleson produced three second-place finishes for Fairmont, while teammates Ethan Pockrus, Niestrath and Caleb Chambers each chipped in one runner-up showing.

Tumbleson claimed runner-up honors in the 60-meter high hurdles with a time of 9.31, cleared 19-6 to garner second in the long jump and elevated to 5-8 in the high jump to place second.

Pockrus ran a time of 9.55 to net runner-up honors in the 60-meter low hurdles for the Cardinals, Niestrath crossed the finish line in 2:22.85 to place second in the 800-meter run, while Chambers took second in the open 200 in 25.33.

Fairmont competes in its second and final indoor meet at 10 a.m. Saturday at MSU in Mankato.