Local runners’ story in contention for world sportsmanship award
A pair of local runners – Liana Blomgren of Mountain Lake and Gracie Bucher of Windom – have been nominated for a Laureus World Sports Award – the Laureaus “Best Sporting Moment of the Year” for October. The August-October winners go to the world Laureus Awards.
Their sports story dates back to October 2016, and the Minnesota State High School League’s Section 3A Cross Country Meet at Luverne. It is a tale of sportsmanship and empathy.
Here is a background snippet on what sparked their story:
No, Mountain Lake Area (MLA) Wolverine girls cross country runner Liana Blomgren did not advance to the 2016 Minnesota State Class A Meet, but, in the girls 5,000-meter at the Section 3A run at Luverne on Thursday, October 27, the Wolverine harrier won the hearts of fans and runners with her unselfish act of sportsmanship – which, unfortunately, ended up with her disqualification (DQ).
During the girls race, Liana, then a senior at Mountain Lake Public High School, who had qualified for state in the past, closed out her career by assisting Windom Area High School’s runner, Gracie Bucher, an eighth-grader at that time, across the finish line. Gracie, too, was DQ’d.
Gracie had collapsed in the final 100 meters of the race, and Liana, who was running just behind her, assisted Gracie to her feet – and ran with her the rest of the way to the chute.
That act of empathy received statewide recognition when KARE 11’s special Emmy-winning news reporter Boyd Huppert brought the story to television during one of his “Land of 10,000 Stories” reports, broadcast during a Tuesday night, November 29, 10 p.m. news broadcast.
And, the duo’s story went to force a change to the rule.
Liana is now a freshman at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, while Gracie is back running cross country for the Eagles as a high school freshman.
Liana’s Wolverine was Mountain Lake Public Elementary School (MLES) sixth-grade teacher Kyle Blomgren. Her mother, Kim Blomgren, is a first-grade educator at MLES, is a volunteer cross country coach.
About the Laureus World Sports Awards
The Laureus World Sports Awards is held annually, celebrating the most remarkable men and women from the world of sport along with their achievements from the previous calendar year.
The Laureus World Sports Awards was established in 1999 by Laureus Sport for Good Foundation founding patrons Daimler and Richemont, and is supported by its global partners, Mercedes-Benz and IWC Schaffhausen. The first ceremony was held on May 25, 2000 in Monte Carlo.
In order to find the winners of the Awards, the Laureus Nominations Panel composed of professional sports editors, writers and broadcasters vote to create a shortlist of six nominations in five categories:
To find the winners of the Laureus World Sports Awards a Nominations Panel of the world’s leading sports editors, writers and broadcasters vote to create a shortlist of six nominations in five categories:
- Laureus World Sportsman of the Year.
- Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year.
- Laureus World Team of the Year.
- Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year.
- Laureus World Comeback of the Year.
The nominations for two additional categories – the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year and the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability are produced by Specialist Panels.
The members of the Laureus World Sports Academy then vote by secret ballot to select the Award winners.
In addition, Laureus sponsors “Best Sporting Moment of the Year” awards, decided by public vote.
The Awards support the work of Laureus Sport for Good, which supports over 100 community projects in around 40 countries. Though the Awards bring a high profile focus onto the very best of professional sport, it is also those at the most grassroots level that benefit too by aiming to use the power of sport the end violence, discrimination and disadvantage and prove that sport has the power to change the world. These projects have already helped to improve the lives of more than one-and-half million young people through the use of sport.
Winners receive a gold Cartier Laureus statuette of the human form against an engraving of the continents.
For more information – or to vote for the award – go to: https://www.mylaureus.com.
