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Hurdlers Eric Gunderson and Mitch Johnson each finished in the top three of a hurdles race, while Nick Kannel was a part of two top-three finishers for the Holmen High School boys track and field team at Tuesday's Mississippi Valley Conference meet at Logan.

Gunderson defended his championship in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 40.04 seconds. Gunderson tied the meet record set by Central's Eric Ganson in 1992, with that the third-oldest league meet record behind Andy Esten's time of 1 minute, 57.34 seconds in the half-mile and Ryan Carlson's discus toss of 165 feet, 9 inches.

The senior also got in some speed work, taking eighth in the open 100 in 12.01 seconds, and teaming with Kannel, Johnson and Ely Finucane to take third in the 4X400 relay. Gunderson was ninth overall and second among underclassmen at last year's Division 1 state meet in the 300 hurdles.

“He just needs to keep gradually improving,” Holmen head coach Steve King said. “We'd like to see him keep improving and get under 40 seconds at the sectional (Thursday at Holmen at 3:30 p.m.). The goal is to get back to state.”

The Vikings also host the regional Monday at 3:30 p.m. at Empire Stadium. The top four finishers in events advance to sectionals, where the top two finishers in events advance to state.

Johnson added top-five times in both hurdles races. The sophomore was fourth overall and first among sophomores/freshmen in the 300 hurdles in 42.55 seconds, while taking fifth overall and first among sophomores/freshmen in the 110 hurdles in 16.37 seconds.

Kannel took third in the open 400 in 41.18 seconds, but did it in finishing behind two state-level runners in Central's Martin Moe and Logan's Jake Whitewater. Kannel finished ahead of Onalaska's Ryan Nolte and Nate Trannel, each of whom have been a part of state relay teams. Kannel also was eighth in the open 200 in 23.6 seconds.

“It was his first time against real quality opponents,” King said of Kannel. “He has the potential to get under 51 seconds, and if you get to under 51 seconds in the 400 you've got a shot to go to state.”

Brandon Beilke paced the HHS throws crew, taking third in the discus at 131 feet, 8 inches and eighth in the shot put at an even 39 feet. The senior also was eighth in the long jump at 19-3 3/4. Holmen also got scoring throws of sixth in the discus from Nick Torgerson (124-3) and shot put from Andy Kannel (40-11).

King said the Vikings chances in the team chase were hurt by injuries. The depth of field in relation to HHS also was evident in the mile, where Mike Behringer set a school record with his time of 4 minutes, 29.32 seconds. It was good for fifth place behind Zach Wilhelmy of Aquinas, Tomah's Derek Storkel, Logan's Bobby Glotfelty and Onalaska's Dan Roth, each of whom seem likely to be at the state meet in two weeks in one form or another.

“Not having Jesse Tiedt available to compete hurt us a little bit,” King said. “Behringer's finish showed how tough the mile field was. But he also was right there for the top three in that race.”

Other scorers for Holmen included Nate Tiedt, Lucas Purnell, Ian Halberg, Evan Gillmore, Terry Durkin, Mike Priem, Cameron Olson and Alex Kerkman. For a complete set of MVC meet records, go to www.gomvc.org/MVRECORDS.DOC.