Luverne eighth-grader Lexi Heitkamp picks up her first-place card after winning the girls' varsity race at the Adrian Invitational cross country meet Tuesday.By John RittenhouseThree cross country programs from the Star Herald coverage area opened the 2003 campaign at the Wolverine Invitational in Mountain Lake Wednesday, Aug. 27.Adrian fielded complete varsity teams for the meet. The Dragon boys placed 13th out of 14 complete teams, while the girls finished fifth out of 10 complete squads.The Luverne boys placed fourth in the varsity field. The Cardinal girls were incomplete, but a Luverne athlete did win the varsity race.H-BC-E-E, which was incomplete for the girls’ race, placed eighth in the boys’ varsity field.Leading the LHS boys to their fourth-place finish as a team was Tom Ward. Ward, a first-year member of the program, placed 19th in 17:53.Nick Otten (21st in 18:02), Ruston Aaker (23rd in 18:06), Jesson Vogt (34th in 18:25) and Travis Halfmann (54th in 19:39) made contributions to the team effort. Michael Nelson placed 72nd in 20:53 without influencing the scoring.Tyler Bush helped the Patriot boys place eighth as a team with a medal-earning effort. Bush placed fourth with a time of 16:46.Kale Wiertzema (39th in 18:42), Todd Alberty (42nd in 19:00), Derek Haak (55th in 19:46) and John Sandbulte (82nd in 21:40) also competed in the varsity race for H-BC-E-E.Brandon Bullerman led the Adrian boys in varsity competition by placing 33rd in 18:25.Lee Stover (36th in 18:28), Paul Honermann (71st in 20:46), Ethan Wieneke (73rd in 20:55) and Kelly Seeman (77th in 21:20) round out Adrian’s varsity team.Luverne eighth-grader Lexi Heitkamp provided the highlight of the meet for local entries when she won the girls’ varsity race with a time of 15:23.Heitkamp was joined by teammates Amanda Saum (19th in 17:01) and Kelsey Dooyema (38th in 17:59) in the varsity race.Morgan Lynn earned a medal and led the Adrian girls to their fifth-place finish as a team by placing ninth individually with a time of 16:05.McCall Heitkamp (27th in 17:25), Krissi Thier (44th in 18:29), Kelly Banck (48th in 18:37) and Megan Henning (49th in 18:35) padded Adrian’s team tally.H-BC-E-E’s Cassi Tilstra ran in the girls’ varsity race, finishing 23rd in 17:07.Here is a look at the varsity team standings and the junior varsity individual results from the Wolverine Invitational.Boys’ standings: Mounds View 49, United South Central 123, Southwest Christian 132, Luverne 151, Waseca 164, Fairmont 210, Blue Earth Area 212, H-BC-E-E 222, Jackson County Central 229, Windom 240, Worthington 261, Madelia-Truman 278, Adrian 289, Maple River 331.Girls’ standings: USC 55, Fairmont 61, Waseca 166, BEA 167, Adrian 177, JCC 186, Windom 213, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 222, Worthington 316, Lake Crystal-Welcome-Memorial 333.Junior varsity boysLuverne: Thomas Pinkal, eighth, 11:47; Grant Oldre, 21st, 12:48; Craig Oeding, 40th, 13:07; Eric Kraetsch, 53rd, 13:35; David Nelson, 66th, 14:09; Jerome Willers, 81st, 14:51.H-BC-E-E: Lee Jackson, 10th, 11:58; Dustin Verhey, 23rd, 12:45; Devin DeBoer, 32nd, 13:00; Adam Finke, 37th, 13:07; Kerry Fink, 56th, 13:46; Michael Bos, 63rd, 14:03; Jared Drenth, 70th, 14:16; Tom Nolte, 89th, 15:27; Luke Tiesler, 90th, 15:27; Grant Hoogendoorn, 104th, 16:21; Dustin Walters, 115th, 19:00; Derek Drenth, 117th, 19:11.Adrian: Pete Jensen, seventh, 11:54; Kyle Knips, 24th, 12:46; David Brake, 49th, 13:20; Aaron Mormann, 50th, 13:31; Jared Boltjes, 60th, 13:53; Dustin Lonneman, 65th, 14:09; Eldon Vaselaar, 71st, 14:17; Kyle Henning, 93rd, 15:36; Trent Lutmer, 100th, 16:02; Collin Lynn, 102nd, 16:06.Junior varsity girlsLuverne: Kayla Raddle, fourth, 6:05; Justine Heintzman, 19th, 6:28; Amanda Kannas, 21st, 6:31.H-BC-E-E: Amanda Tilstra, second, 5:51; Mya Mann, third, 5:59; Amanda Connors, 22nd, 6:33; Jill Weitgenant, 29th, 6:40; Rayna Sandoval, 37th, 6:49; Darian Herman, 77th, 11:30.
