Sawyer Tordsen

ST. PAUL — Fairmont senior Sawyer Tordsen did not throw in the proverbial towel after three heaves less than 150 feet during the Hamline Elite Meet’s rainy discus competition on Friday night.

Tordsen, the reigning Class AA state discus champion, however, utilized a towel to help him unleash the new No. 2 all-time throw in the Cardinals’ record books.

After reaching only 129-8, 144-11 and 149-6 with the first three of his six throws, respectively, Tordsen became only the second Fairmont thrower to eclipse the 160-foot distance.

Tordsen unloaded a toss of 160-2 with his fourth attempt and then replaced the distance on his No. 2 all-time school mark by stretching the measuring tape to 163-2. He fouled on his final attempt.

“I felt pretty nervous during my first throw as you can tell by looking at the distance,” said Tordsen. “My last three throws I took a towel with me and dried my shoes off. That helped me get a little better movement and by those last three throws, the nerves were finally gone.”

Tordsen’s career-best throw earned him the Hamline Elite Meet’s bronze medal, trailing only Rosemount’s Hayden Bills’ winning heave of 180-6 and Woodbury thrower Jordan Dunigan’s runner-up mark of 170-3.

“I’m getting closer to the (all-time Fairmont) record,” Tordsen said in reference to Cardinal Hall of Famer Steve Ring’s No. 1 discus throw of 164-11 set in 1966. “The Sentinel Relays on this coming Friday (May 5) would be a great time to break the record.”

Fairmont’s mixed 4×400-meter relay team of Blaze Geiger, Corene Moeller, Harper Artz and Nolan Schultze traded handoffs for a seventh-place time of 3:52.35 at Hamline on Friday night.

“They were seeded eighth coming in, so they improved that by one spot,” said Fairmont head coach Jesse Walters.

Fairmont plays host to the 68th annual Fairmont Sentinel Relays at 4 p.m. Friday at Bob Bonk Track.