Blomberg finished in 15.17 seconds. Teammate Will Kaesermann was seventh at 16.55.

“My start wasn’t the best, but my last five hurdles were good,” Blomberg said.

He also qualified for the state meet by finishing under the qualifying standard in the 300 hurdles, taking third in 40.65 seconds.

“It was a really good race for me. I was almost a second under my previous best,” Blomberg added.

Staff photo by Fritz Busch The River Valley 4x800 relay team took first on Saturday. Pictured from left to right are Marissa Pabst, Lilly McCone, Emmie McCone and Megan Sandgren.

He plans to study mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota Duluth this fall.

Also for MVL/NUC, the girls’ 4×100 and 4×200 relay teams of Kaylee Hunter, Mia Johnson, Anna Schwartz and Averyelle Hopp finished second in 52.96 and 1:52.92; qualifying for the state meet. Miah Johnson also qualified for the state meet, taking second in the 300 hurdles in 48.72.

The River Valley girls’ 4×800 relay team of freshmen Marissa Pabst and Emmie McCone and seniors Megan Sandgren and Lilly McCone easily won in 10:11.42, qualifying for the state meet.

“Our goal was to beat our season best of 10:19. Now we’d like to get under 10:10,” said Lilly McCone.

She plans to study at the University of Sioux Falls this fall.

Sandgren also qualified for the state meet in the 400-meter dash, finishing second in the event in 1:01.79. She plans to major in biology at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

River Valley’s Toby Hagen set a section record winning the wheelchair shot put in 10-08. James Hagen was second in 8-10.

Gibbon Fairfax Winthrop (GFW) senior Treay Taylor qualified for the state meet, finishing second in the 100 in 11.15. He was behind River Valley’s Caden Kleinschmidt but caught him in the second half of the race.

“I was a little slow coming out of the blocks, but it wound up being a good race,” said Taylor.

The GFW boys’ 4×100 relay team of freshman Justin Messner, sophomore Garrett Schmidt and seniors Jack Panitzke and Taylor won in 45.68, earning a state meet spot. Taylor came from behind again.

“Jack and I had a bad handoff,” Taylor said. “I was in third place, but when someone is in front of me, I still feel I can win.”

He plans to major in exercise science, play football and run track at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.

The River Valley 4×200 boys’ relay team of Nick Freitag, Caleb Hauger, Jake Heinrichs and Kleinschmidt finished second in 1:33.7, qualifying for the state meet.

“Good competition pushed us to a good finish,” said Kleinschmidt.

Olivia Schwarzrock won the shot put (39-9.5) and discus (121-03) for GFW and will return to state again this year after taking fifth in the state discus in 2021.

Sibley East won the boys meet with 73 points. GFW had 33 points for eighth place, while River Valley had 31 points and MVL/NUC 25 points.

Jackson County Central won the girls meet with 108.5 points. Sibley East had 44, MVL/NUC and Blue Earth Area 43, River Valley 29 and GFW 27.

For more results, visit https://liveherostiming.com.