By John RittenhouseThe Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton cross country runners received their second taste of competition this year at the Adrian Invitational Tuesday.The Patriots still have some work to do in order to regain their place as one of the area’s top programs, but they are making progress in the mind of coach Tom Goehle."I thought this was a great practice meet for us," he said. "It was a good opportunity to get in a hard run and do it competitively. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we’re on the right track."H-BC-E-E’s boys placed third in varsity team competition with 84 points. Southwest Christian (31) and Luverne (53) topped the Patriots in the standings. Adrian (101), Pipestone (140) and Southwest United (190) capped the field.Tyler Bush led the Patriots during the meet by winning the varsity race with a time of 17:54.Todd Alberty (11th in 19:33), Kale Wiertzema (15th in 20:00), Derek Haak (24th in 21:24) and Adam Finke (33rd in 22:14) made contributions to the team effort.John Sandbulte (38th in 22:47), Devin DeBoer (42nd in 23:35), Jared Drenth (43rd in 23:41) and Michael Bos (45th in 24:18) also ran in the varsity race.With Dustin Verhey leading the way, the H-BC-E-E boys’ junior varsity squad placed second as a team in Adrian. No point totals were available.Verhey won the race in 6:17.Cody Penning (11th in 6:59), Steven Harsma (12th in 7:01), Grant Hoogendoorn (16th in 7:23) and Luke Tiesler (18th in 7:26) padded the team tally.Derek Drenth (20th in 7:45), B.J. Kruse (21st in 7:50) and Dustin Walters (26th in 9:01) ran in the junior high race without influencing the scoring.H-BC-E-E’s Cassi and Amanda Tilstra placed fourth and 10th with respective 17:42 and 18:47 times in the girls’ varsity race.Patriots Rayna Sandoval (third in 6:56), Amanda Connors (fourth in 6:56), Jill Weitgenant (sixth in 6:59) and Darian Herman (eighth in 11:54) ran in the girls’ junior high event.The H-BC-E-E runners will attend a meet in Garretson, S.D., Monday.
