MULTI-TASKING — Fairmont’s Ellie Hernes (right) maintains her lead over Cardinal teammate Hadley Artz during the high hurdles on Bob Bonk Track during Saturday’s track & field triangular in Fairmont. Hernes went on to win the event, with Artz taking second. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — Ellie Hernes and Hudson Artz combined to capture 25% of the individual events to guide the hometown Cardinals to first and second place, respectively, at Saturday’s track & field outdoor triangular on the Fairmont High School campus.

Hernes proved a perfect 4-for-4 by sweeping both hurdle events to complement winning the triple jump and high jump, while Hudson Artz made a clean sweep of the three sprint races — 100, 200 and 400 meters.

Ironically, Hernes fended off Fairmont teammate Hadley Artz — Hudson’s younger sister — for top honors on Bob Bonk Track. Hernes bested Hadley Artz in the 100-meter hurdles, 16.38-17.21, while breaking the tape in 49.6 to outduel Artz’s runner-up time of 52.5 in the 300-meter hurdles.

Hernes edged Fairmont teammates again in clinching victories in the field events. Hernes outleaped Jazlyn Geerdes for first in the triple jump, 36-4 1/4–33-2, before inching by both Vanessa Bliesmer and Shaye Dietz in the high jump. Hernes cleared 4-8, while Bliesmer squeezed by Dietz for second, with both making 4-6.

“Ellie cleared 4-4 in her first high jump ever last meet, so to improve by 4 inches today was outstanding,” said Fairmont head coach Bob Bonk.

Corene Moeller struck gold in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes, Alexa Bush swept the throws, while Laura Thompson and Macy Hanson dominated the long-distance runs to help pace Fairmont’s runaway 116.5-63.5 victory over Mankato East in the girls’ team standings. Maple River was third with just six points.

“Corene impressed me with her speed, while Alexa was a bit of a surprise in winning both the shot and discus,” said Bonk.

Moeller crossed the finish line first in the open 100 in 13.1 to fend off teammate Carissa Saxton’s runner-up 13.3, while the Cardinal junior standout broke the 27-second mark to garner the 200. Moeller posted a 26.9 to outduel Mankato East siblings Cami Schuh (27.5) and Avery Schuh (27.6), respectively.

Cami and Avery are the daughters of former Fairmont baseball standout Ryan Schuh and the nieces of former Cardinal sprint record-holder Mari Schuh Quam.

Bush outdueled teammate Mackenzie Householder to win the shot put, 31-5 1/2–29-4, while fending off teammate Kennedy Becker for top honors in the discus, 81-9–71-3.

Hanson produced a first-place time of 5:23.8 to pocket first place in the 1,600-meter run, while Thompson coasted to a winning time of 11:16.1 in the 3,200. Thompson then demonstrated her resiliency by returning to the track a couple of events later to anchor Fairmont’s first-place 4×400 relay. Householder, Moeller, Saxton and Thompson traded handoffs for a winning time of 4:26.1.

Ava Rodning, Meredith Nemmers, Saxton and Geerdes capped the Cardinals’ winning ways by striking gold in the 4×100 in 54.7.

Rodning added a second-place showing in the 400-meter run (1:11.5), Brooklyn Pfeffer was runner-up in the 800 (2:36.7), Rachel O’Connor cleared a second-place height of 7-6 in the pole vault, while Emily Frank earned silver in the long jump (14-8 1/4) for Fairmont.

Despite Hudson Artz’s triple-sprint sweep and Armando Hernandez’s pair of individual victories in the triple and high jumps, Fairmont placed second to Mankato East, 74.5-71.5, during the boys competition.

Maple River netted third at 40.

Hudson Artz blistered the tarred surface in 11.1 to strike gold in the open 100, posted an impressive 22.5 to cruise to victory at 200 meters and then capped the sweep with a first-place time of 52.3 in the 400. Fairmont’s Nolan Schultze placed second in the quarter-mile race in 55.7.

“Hudson put together a nice triple win on the track today,” said Bonk. “Very impressive.”

Hernandez continued his strong showings in the field events by spraying the triple jump sand at 39 feet even to place first before literally getting vertical. Hernandez arched his way over the high jump bar at 5-10 to double up his winning effort.

David Maakestad packed a 1-2 scoring punch for Fairmont in the hurdles. Maakestad struck gold in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 42.3 to best teammate Landon Gilbertson’s runner-up time of 45.9.

Maakestad, who posted a second-place time of 16.4 in the high hurdles, later ran the anchor leg on Fairmont’s first-place 4×400 relay team. Schultze, Blaze Geiger, Gage Cyphers and Maakestad combined for a winning time of 3:41.8.

Hank Artz, the younger sibling of Hudson and Hadley, generated points for the hometown Cardinals by placing second in both throwing events.

Artz heaved the shot to a runner-up mark of 41-11 before hurling the discus to a second-place distance of 118 feet even.

Maple River’s Ethan Fischer unleashed a towering toss of 177-3 to coast to the discus crown.

Weather permitting, Fairmont is scheduled to compete against host Blue Earth Area, Jackson County Central, Maple River and United South Central at 4:15 p.m. Tuesday at Wilson Field in Blue Earth.