Blooming Prairie junior Lisi Ingvalson and Hayfield sophomore Lauren Burmeister continued to build upon their already impressive resumes by winning their first individual state track and field titles Saturday at the National Sports Center in Blaine.

Ingvalson, who last season placed in the finals of the 300-low hurdles, stepped to the top of the awards podium by rolling to first place in Saturday’s Class A finals. Ingvalson won her heat of the preliminaries Friday in a time of 45.69 seconds and scored her first state track crown by bettering that time. She outran St. Cloud Cathedral’s Abby Lieu by less than 25-hundredths of a second, clocking in at 45.28 for first.

Ingvalson had also qualified for state in the 100-meter hurdles but did not advance into Saturday’s finals after her time stood 11th-best in the preliminaries. Her effort of 16.35 matched her Section 1 runner-up time and would have been good enough for seventh place in Saturday’s Class A finals. Only the top nine times from prelims moved on into the final heat. The ninth qualifying time was 16.18.

Leaps and bounds

Burmeister made her mark in Saturday’s triple jump, taking the top place in the state with a leap of 37-feet 1/2-inch. Her best effort Saturday did not stack up to her Section 1 record jump of 37-2 1/2, but no other state competitor finished within one foot of her top-tier leap.

The Hayfield sophomore also qualified for state in the 400-meter run and advanced to the finals ninth with a time of 1:00.20. Burmeister finished were she stood in the preliminaries, clocking in at 59.33 for ninth place in the state.

Blooming Prairie sophomore Andrea Rumpza surged onto the state scene by winning her preliminary race Friday in the 800-meter run in a dead heat. Her time of 2:18.23 ranked her second heading into the finals, where she was overtaken and finished fourth in 2:18.62.

Led by Ingvalson’s 12 points for first in the 300-hurdles, Blooming Prairie finished tied for 15th as a team with 18 points. Hayfield, including only Burmeister, was tied for 29th with 13 points in the final state standings. Holdingford won the Class A team title with 56 points -- 10 more than the next school.

Verley vaults Blossoms

Blooming Prairie senior Kyle Verley was unable to rack up a state title in the Class A sprints, scoring nine points collectively in the 100- and 200-meter events.

Verley, a state placewinner in previous seasons, could not keep up with Section 1 rival Jered Chambers of Cannon Falls in the 100 finals. Verley qualified tied for eighth with a time of 11.55 in the prelims and came out ninth in 11.59 in the finals. Chambers, qualifying second, scored a state title in 11.32 seconds.

Verley bounced back for his second state finals in the 200, where he improved upon his sixth-place qualifying and scored a third-place result. His finals time of 22.60 was only one-hundredth better than his preliminary effort but it got him a medal just the same. Craig Kotsmith of Milaca, having already won the 400, took first place. Chambers was ninth.

Packers score points

Sophomore Evan Sorenson was unable to qualify for the finals of the Class AA 110-meter high hurdles, leaving it up to Austin High’s field competitors to score points.

Bryan Larson and James Dammen complied, finishing in the top nine in respective field events to put the Packers on the board at the 2002 State Track and Field meet.

Larson finished tied for eighth in Saturday’s high jump competition, tying his personal-record with a leap over 6-feet 3-inches. Dammen was unable to duplicate his personal-best, placing ninth at a height of 13-0. The upperclassmen combined to score 2.5 points, scoring Austin a 58th-place finish as a team.

Austin High did not advance any competitors to last year’s state meet.