A high-hurdle note.

After the Class A State Track and Field Meet at St. Michael-Albertville High School concluded, Blomberg had two medals to take home with him.

He finished with a fourth-place medal in the 110-meter hurdles after turning in a final time of 15.36. He also took home a sixth-place medal in the 300 hurdles with a time of 41.49.

“It’s been a privilege to coach him,” MVL/NUC head coach Rollin Timm said of Blomberg. “His attitude has been professional, you would say. He’s very dedicated to his skills and very dedicated at working to improve himself throughout the year and we’ve seen that throughout all of his years here. He’s not one that wastes time, does what we ask of him, and the hard work has definitely paid off.”

Photo courtesy of Chris Drummond/Marshall Independent Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop’s Olivia Schwarzrock competes in the Class A state girls’ shot put finals on Friday at St. Michael-Albertville High School.

Blomberg’s times on Friday didn’t match his prelim times from Thursday in the events, nor were they PRs, but Timm said he believes Blomberg will be proud of himself when he has more time to reflect.

And Blomberg’s already looking to improve himself before he begins his college track and field career next year at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

“He was a bit disappointed he didn’t have a better time,” Timm said. “I don’t think the place was as important as the time because he didn’t PR today or anything, but I think when he gets back and has some time to reflect on all that he’s accomplished, he’ll be pretty satisfied with the work that he’s put into it. He asked if he could borrow some hurdles for the summer and get right back to work in training, so he’s looking forward to college already and working to improve his skills there.”

MVL/NUC also saw Kaylee Hunter, Mia Johnson and Anna Schwartz all end their senior year in Thursday’s prelims. The three competed in the girls’ 4×100-meter relay with freshman Averyelle Hopp and finished 15th with a time of 52.19. The team also competed in the 4×200 and took 15th with a time of 1:52.68. Both times were PRs.

Johnson also competed in the 300 hurdles and took 10th (48.42).

Timm said that the leadership Hopp, Johnson and Schwartz brought over the years was huge for the program.

“You think of the conference meets, and we may not have had the numbers of River Valley or anything like that, but those three girls would do whatever was necessary,” Timm said. “It was nice to see them being rewarded for their hard work with a trip up here to state. Mia was able to participate in three events up here, which was pretty amazing when you think about it.”

Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop’s Olivia Schwarzrock just missed out on taking home another medal on Friday after taking 10th in the girls’ shot put with a top throw of 35 feet, 9 1/4 inches. She took third in the discus finals on Thursday (129-11). Nicollet’s Emily Lorentz ended up taking fifth in the girls’ shot put (38-03.75).

The River Valley boys’ 4×200 relay team of Nick Freitag, Caleb Hauger, Jake Heinrichs and Caden Kleinschmidt finished eighth on Friday in the finals with a time of 1:33.32, while Megan Sandgren took ninth in the girls’ 400 with a time of 1:01.38. The River Valley girls’ relay team of Marissa Pabst, Sandgren, Emmie McCone and Lilly McCone took 10th in the 4×800 with a time of 10:06.33.

River Valley also saw Toby Hagen take fourth in the wheelchair 100 (31.61), third in the wheelchair 200 (1:04.40) and second in the wheelchair discus (30-06, PR, Cat. 2). River Valley’s James Hagen took fifth in the wheelchair 100 (34.03) and fourth in the wheelchair 200 (1:11.24).