STATE-BOUND — Members of the Fairmont Cardinal girls and boys track & field teams qualifying for the Minnesota State High School League’s Class AA state meet on Friday and Saturday at St. Michael-Albertville High School include, back row (l-r): Macy Hanson, Laura Thompson, Corene Moeller, Carissa Saxton, Ellie Hernes and Mackenzie Householder. Front row: Hudson Artz, Sawyer Tordsen and Hank Artz. (Photo by Charlie Sorrells)

ST. MICHAEL — Fairmont’s senior trio of Ellie Hernes, Hudson Artz and Laura Thompson will set their sights on making their respective prolific prep track & field careers come full circle at the Class AA state meet at St. Michael-Albertville High School on Friday and Saturday.

Thompson, who will compete in cross country and track & field at Augustana University, kicks off the Cardinal contingent’s efforts in the 3,200-meter run’s finals at 9 a.m. Friday. Thompson, who has a seed time of 11:02.02, will open in Lane 4 of the first flight.

“Laura has put in a lot of miles through the years, and is one of the most focused and hardest-working distance runners I’ve ever coached,” said Fairmont legendary head coach Bob Bonk. “She set the school record in the 3,200 at last year’s Class A state meet with a time of 10:54.4 to place second.”

While the entire 2020 spring track & field campaign never took place due to the Covid pandemic, Thompson did earn a state medal by finishing eighth in the 2-mile run as a freshman in 2019.

Thompson will return to the SMA track at 12:46 p.m. Friday as an integral cog in the Cardinals’ 4×400-meter relay team. Corene Moeller, Thompson, Macy Hanson and Carissa Saxton will exchange handoffs in Lane 6 of the preliminaries’ second heat. Fairmont’s foursome, which posted a seed time of 4:09.75, will aim at earning a spot in Saturday’s 4×400 finals at 12:36 p.m.

“I think we have a good chance to make the finals in all of our events. If you accomplish that, you’re guaranteed a state medal,” said Bonk.

Moeller, who generated a Mercurial seed time of 1:00.63, will run in the 400-meter dash’s preliminaries at 11:20 a.m. Friday. The fleet-footed Moeller, who will line up in Lane 2 of Heat 1, will look to advance to Saturday’s 11:22 a.m. finals.

Seven minutes after Moeller’s 400 prelims, Hudson Artz will compete in his final state meet when he takes to the blocks in Lane 2 of Heat 2 in the boys’ 400-meter qualifier. Artz will shoot for a spot in Saturday’s 11:30 a.m. finals.

Hudson Artz, who posted a seed time of 50.56 this spring, earned a bronze medal with a third-place time of 50.04 during the 2021 Class A state competition’s open 400. The Fairmont senior standout — who will play football for North Dakota State in the fall, opened his outstanding high school track career by running legs on the Cardinals’ state championship 4×400 relay team and the fifth-place 4×200 relay squad as a freshman in 2019.

“Hudson is so self-motivated. He’s been the leader in practice all year, and sets the tone for our entire team everyday,” said Bonk.

Moving to the field events, Hernes will take aim at two more potential state medals in the horizontal jumps — the long jump on Friday and the triple jump on Saturday. Hernes, who will compete in track & field at Bethel University, will take to the long jump pit at 9 a.m. Friday. The Cardinals’ captain, who generated a seed distance of 17-3 3/4, will go airborne from the No. 5 spot in the second flight.

Hernes returns to the field area during Day 2 and will hit the triple jump runway at 9 a.m. Saturday. After netting a seed mark of 37-11 1/4, Hernes will leap from the No. 6 spot out of a field of eight in the second flight.

Hernes, who claimed 11th in the long jump in 2021 at state, is coming off a state runner-up triple jump of 38-0 1/4 last spring. Hernes earned her first state track medal by garnering seventh place in the triple jump — 35-4 1/2 — during the 2019 Class A state competition as a freshman.

“I think Ellie probably has one of our best chances to be a state champ in the triple jump, but she’s only seeded third or fourth going in,” said Bonk. “She’s very determined, so now we’ll have to wait to see how she does.”

Similar to Hernes, Fairmont throwers Hank Artz and Sawyer Tordsen will compete on different days in their respective field specialties. Hank Artz, who produced a seed distance of 51-3, will open the shot at 9 a.m. Friday from the No. 4 spot in the eight-thrower second flight. Hank Artz just missed earning a state medal last spring by placing 11th with a heave of 47-8 3/4.

Tordsen will step to the discus area at 10:15 a.m. Saturday with his eyes set on an all-state showing. Tordsen, who hurled a seed mark of 155-1, will throw fourth out of the nine-athlete second flight.

In the Class A state competition, Blue Earth Area senior Luke Norman will hurl the discus during Day 2 — Friday — at the SMA campus at 5:15 p.m. Norman, who qualified by standard with a mark of 148-2, will throw second out of nine in the second flight.

Blue Earth Area teammate Eloise Blair and Madelia/Truman/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Martin Luther’s Ryan Koberoski will kick off the area contingent’s effort during the Class A state meet this afternoon.

Blair, who’s battled back from a labrum tear in her shoulder during the fall volleyball campaign, will run the high hurdles prelims at 4 p.m. today. Blair, who posted a seed time of 16.6, runs in Lane 7 of Heat 1. The Buc junior will look to qualify for Friday’s 5 p.m. finals.

Koberoski, who turned in a seed time of 51.94, will run in the 400-meter dash prelims at 5:51 p.m. today at SMA. Koberoski, who will take aim at reaching Friday’s 6:40 p.m. finals, runs in Lane 6 of Heat 2.

Fairmont’s Nelson Remington will compete in all three of his Class AA state wheelchair division events on Saturday. Remington will compete in the 100 meters at 10:19 a.m., the 800 meters at 12:10 p.m. and the 200 meters at 12:24 p.m.