Hills-Beaver Creek athletes Karic Wiertzema (left) and Dustin Verhey (right) won titles at the Hershey’s Minnesota State Track and Field meet in Apple Valley Saturday. Wiertzema won the softball throw in the boys’ 11-12 division. Verhey won the 800-meter run in the boys’ 11-12 division.By John RittenhouseTwo Hills-Beaver Creek athletes won championships at the Hershey’s Minnesota State Track and Field meet in Apple Valley Saturday.Karic Wiertzema and Dustin Verhey are the young Patriots who came up with big performances during the state meet.Wiertzema took top honors in the 11- and 12-year old division of the softball throw with a toss of 159-11.Verhey won the 11-12 800-meter run with a time of 2:45.79.By winning state titles, Wiertzema and Verhey will wait and see if they are selected to compete at the Hershey’s National Track and Field Meet in Hershey, Penn., in August.Five champions from every state are selected to compete at the national level each summer. The state representatives are selected at random.Chelsi Fink and Mya Mann made bids to win state titles before placing second Saturday.Fink was second in the girls’ 13-14 softball throw with a distance 121 feet. Mann finished second in the girls’ 13-14 800-meter run in 2:35.71.H-BC athletes placed fourth in three events at state.Dalton Bass was fourth in the boys’ 9-10 100-meter dash with a time of 15.82. Amanda Tilstra finished fourth in the girls’ 13-14 1,600-meter run with a time of 6:02.89.Wiertzema, Caleb Ellingson, Andrew Scholten and Colton Bass placed fourth in the boys’ 11-12 400-meter relay with a time of 1:02.15.Wiertzema finished fifth in the boys’ 11-12 400-meter dash in 1:12, and Colton Bass was fifth in the boys’ 11-12 100-meter dash in 14.92.Tilstra was fifth in the girls’ 13-14 standing long jump with a distance of 6-10.Terence Reid placed eighth in the boys’ 11-12 softball throw with a toss of 137-9.
