By John RittenhouseThe Luverne girls emerged as the team champion of the Luverne Cardinal Invitational cross country meet staged at the Adrian Area Country Club Thursday.The LHS varsity squad fought off some stiff competition offered by Sioux Falls Lincoln to win the meet by one point.The Cardinals scored 47 points to nip Lincoln, which tallied 48 counters, by one. Six other complete teams ran at the meet.Top-10 efforts produced by Lexi Heitkamp, Amanda Saum and Kayla Raddle helped the Cardinals win the meet. Heitkamp finished fourth in 15:31, Saum seventh in 15:58 and Raddle eighth in 16:01.Amanda Kannas and Kelsey Dooyema capped the team scoring for LHS by finishing 13th and 15th with respective 16:55 and 17:07 times.Kristy Heikes placed 22nd in 17:40 without influencing the scoring.Adrian fielded a complete girls’ team that placed third with 73 points. Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth ran an incomplete team.Adrian eighth-grader Morgan Lynn used a late push to win the individual title with a time of 14:59.Leslie Stover placed sixth in 15:56, Erica Thier 11th in 16:33, Megan Henning 23rd in 14:44 and Krissi Thier 38th in 18:27 while making contributions to Adrian’s team effort.Kelly Banck placed 41st in 18:47 without impacting the scoring.H-BC-E’s Ashley Bucher and Jill Weitgenant placed 24th and 37th with respective 17:45 and 18:22 efforts in the girls’ varsity race,Lincoln scored 22 points to top second-place Luverne (38 points) and five other complete teams to win the boys’ varsity team championship.Tom Ward and Thomas Pinkal turned in strong performances for the Cardinals, finishing second and third with respective 17:44 and 17:46 times.Steve Schneiderman, Nick Otten and Dusty Antoine made contributions to the team effort by finishing 10th, 11th and 14th with 18:06, 18:07 and 18:29 times.Travis Halfmann (23rd in 19:00), David Nelson (35th in 20:08), Michael Nelson (38th in 20:08), Craig Oeding (39th in 20:11), Eric Kraetsch (51st in 21:22), Tyler Muck (68th in 24:12) and Jerome Willers (69th in 24:16) ran without influencing the scoring for LHS.The Adrian boys placed third in varsity team competition with 96 points. H-BC-E sported an incomplete team.Lee Stover led the Dragons by placing 13th in 18:09.Brandon Bullerman, Ethan Wieneke, Jarod Boltjes and Robert Swayze finished 20th, 22nd, 24th and 27th with respective 18:55, 18:58, 19:04 and 19:18 times to cap the scoring for AHS.Aaron Mormann (28th in 19:28), Bryce Antelope (33rd in 19:50), Brad Brake (37th in 20:05), Jack Albertson (40th in 20:17), Dustin Lonneman (45th in 20:54) and Eldon Vaselaar (66th in 23:51) ran for Adrian without impacting the scoring.H-BC-E’s Grant Hoogendoorn and Jared Drenth placed 55th and 56th in 21:38 and 22:00 for H-BC-E.Here is a look at the varsity team standings and junior high results from Thursday’s meet.Girls’ standings: Luverne 47, SFL 48, Adrian 73, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 101, Worthington 120, Murray County Central 157, Westbrook-Walnut Grove-Red Rock Central 190, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 212.Boys’ standings: SFL 22, Luverne 38, Adrian 96, Flandreau Indian School 103, MCC 135, Worthington 152, T-M-B 200.Junior high boysLuverne: Davonte Maine, 13th, 6:14; Matthew Stensland-Bos, 21st, 6:52; Nick Den Herder, 34th, 8:41.Adrian: Nathan Reyne, first, 5:32; Ross Wieneke, second, 5:42; Michael Graff, sixth, 5:58; Zach Runia, eighth, 6:02; Kyle Henning, 10th, 6:04; Jordan Pater, 12th, 6:10; Nick Kellen, 18th, 6:36; Huston Heitkamp, 25th, 7:05; David Bird, 26th, 7:06; Nick McCaan, 31st, 7:48.H-BC-E: Tyler Paulson, third, 5:43; Dustin Verhey, fourth, 5:52; Brent Kramer, fifth, 5:53; Luke Tiesler, 14th, 6:22; Andrew Hoyme, 15th, 6:24; Tyler Kruid, 16th, 6:26; Tom Nolte, 17th, 6:35; Alex Angelo, 20th, 6:42; Derek Drenth, 22nd, 6:57; Karic Wiertzema, 26th, 7:06; Sam Luze, 29th, 7:20; B.J. Kruse, 30th, 7:40.Junior high girlsLuverne: Rachel Saum, fourth, 7:02; Christy Van Dyke, fifth, 7:06; Ashley Kraetsch, 12th, 7:32; Whitney Oehlerts, 15th, 7:39.Adrian: Hailee Heitkamp, first, 6:29; Anna Sauer, eighth, 7:09; Alissa Sauer, 14th, 7:34; Samantha Vaselaar, 17th, 8:31.H-BC-E: Courtney Hoogendoorn, sixth, 7:08; Brooke Tilstra, 11th, 7:29.
