Photo by Jake Olson: Fairmont's Brier Lenort closes out the boys 4 by 800 relay during Friday afternoon's Section 2AA Track and Field Championships at Gustavus Adolphus College. Lenort, Jordan Thompson, Carter Hanson and Cooper Gudahl won the event with their time of 8:05.61.

ST. PETER – The hot summer sun that persisted on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus was a telltale sign of what was to come during Day 2 of the MSHSL Section 2AA Track and Field Championships.

Area teams and individuals aimed to blaze their own trail to the following Class AA State Tournament up in St. Michael. While the Fairmont boys (63.5) and girls (53) placed seventh and eighth as a collective, Cardinal head coach Jesse Walters had six more individuals/events punch their ticket to next week’s festivities, making it eight total from the two-day section finale.

“Everything that I expected to happen did, which is still hard to do,” Walters said of his team’s state qualifying performances. “It’s hard to go out and still execute. There’s some added pressure there, and it’s not as easy as one would think. You get one shot at it. You had to do it today.”

Fairmont also saw 13 new season or personal bests from individuals who missed the state bid line. It wasn’t just a handful of events that performed well at one of the season’s biggest stages; it was the entire team as a collective. This is something Walters was extremely proud to see from his team – peaking at the right time.

” A lot of kids ended their careers today, but they ended them with their best performance,” he continued. “There is nothing to hang our heads on if your season ended with a personal best.”

“It’s an incredibly strong section here. A lot of what we saw will be at the podium at state or placing really high. So it was nothing to hang our heads about if you went home third or fourth in something. I was very happy with how the kids prepared and competed.”

Track events

The early highlight in St. Peter came from the boys’ 4 by 800 relay team. The group of Carter Hanson, Jordan Thompson, Cooper Gudahl and Brier Lenort has been a steady stream of points for Fairmont, sitting steadily in the 8:20 range throughout the spring.

But the year’s biggest moment required an even better output. And after Lenort strided across the finish line, the quartet soon realized their new season-best time of 8:05.61 was enough to break the state qualifying standard. It’s the second straight year Fairmont will have this relay at the state meet.

“I had multiple thoughts of what could happen from that group today, and that [result] was on the very high end,” Walters said. “And in relays it’s hard. You have four kids coming together to run. One kid getting a personal record is great, but you need to have all four at the top of their game to run that good of a time.”

Two more relay units just missed the state qualifying times by a handful of seconds later on in the afternoon.

Nathaliah Johnson, Madi Thompson, Harlee Fastnacht and Emelia Klanderud reached their pinnacle time of the year in the 4 by 200 relay, finishing with a sixth-best 1:47.27 that was two ticks off the needed criteria.

The boys’ 4 by 100 relay missed the qualifying cut by 0.53 seconds six races later. Cole Brockman, Dakota Wiley, Kaden Bell and Tavian Harvey finished with a time of 43.76, placing third, and falling behind Mankato East (42.84) and Mankato West (42.69).

“We were very close on some other races,” Walters said. “I thought the kids did an excellent job of having some hope and going for it. They competed very well.”

Wiley later helped the Cardinals secure their second and third state qualifying track events. The senior first did it on the individual side with his outstanding showing in the 400-meter sprint.

After setting a personal best during the Day 1, preliminary race (50.90), Wiley doubled down in the final run around the oval, finishing with an even better time of 50.16. This was the third fastest sprint of the event behind New Ulm’s George Gag (49.58) and Worthington’s Austin Kinser (48.87), respectively.

The Cardinals used Wiley’s outstanding endurance in the 4 by 400 meter relay to close out the event. He was the anchor behind Carter Hanson, Lenort and Thompson’s 3:26.71 first-place finish, edging Mankato East by 0.02 seconds to take home gold. A pure photo finish.

Field events

The season of success continued for Ellie Perkins. Perkins not only showed up in her usual high-flying pole vault routine, but also hurdled a 35-10-50 triple jump, which placed her above the state qualifying standard and fifth place meet finish.

Perkins (10-11) then got third in the aforementioned pole vault behind Dassel-Cokato’s Addison Anderson (11-02) and Autumn Deutz from Marshall (11-07). It’s the third consecutive season she’s qualified for this event. Perkins got fifth in the state last spring.

“It was a tough situation with both events being on the same day,” Walters said. “With that pole vault, it was a high percentage chance we knew she would be there. But to have to be bouncing from triple jump to pole vault, that’s difficult to do, and she did a good job mentally. Locking in and focusing on what she was doing.”

Walters and throws coach Brad Johnson caught a glimmer of potential from first-year track athlete Kaylee Kloeckner during the early portions of the season. The freshman initially danced with meeting the state qualifying mark of 36-01 during Fairmont’s handful of opening meets.

Her steady climb through the ensuing months peaked at the right time on Friday. Kloeckner passed the mark by five inches with her toss of 36-06 to finish fourth in the section. She and teammate Addison Folkerts, who previously qualified for discus on Wednesday, have represented the throws team well all spring. This week was just another example.

“She [Kloeckner] came in and threw pretty well at the start of the year. Coach Johnson and I both told her that if she worked at this, the state standard distance is not out of question for you,” Walters said. “And she’s done everything and more than what we’ve asked her to do.”

“Addison Folkerts, too, has done a great job of getting in on discus. It’s really exciting to have two girl throwers this year.”

The Class AA State Tournament will take place at St. Michael-Albertville High School on June 5 and 6. Preliminary events will take place on the first Friday, and the finals on Saturday. Both meets are set to begin at 9:00 a.m.