Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton's Lee Jackson sprints to the finish line with Luverne's Dusty Antoine during the Section 3A Cross County Championships in Slayton Thursday. Jackson placed 22nd to help the Patriots win the boys' team championship and earn a trip to the state meet in Northfield.
By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton cross country coach Tom Goehle thought the pressure would be over once his boys' varsity team completed the Section 3A race in Slayton Thursday.
He was mistaken.
The Patriot coach knew his boys had a chance to be the first H-BC-E-E team to qualify for a state meet if they ran well at the section championships, and that wish was granted as all seven runners turned in their best times of the season during the race.
What Goehle wasn't counting on was the nervousness he would experience after the race, when the meet judges were calculating the results of the 13-team meet.
"Waiting for the final results became the longest 30 minutes of our lives," Goehle said Friday. "We knew it would be close, and we were hoping to finish in the top-two."
The top-two teams and top-10 individual finishers at the section level earn berths in the state meet, so there was a lot on the line as the Patriots and their coach waited for the final results to be tabulated.
Goehle was all too familiar with the feeling of disappointment that comes with falling short of cracking the top-two teams in the section field.
Last year, when the Patriots competed as Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth, the boys' team finished third in the final standings. It was a good effort that Goehle was proud of, but there was an emotional letdown when the reality of not reaching the state meet as a team kicked in.
The way things turned out in Slayton, the longest 30 minutes in the lives of Goehle and his runners had a happy ending. The meet’s final results revealed that H-BC-E-E not only cracked the top-team, but it will be representing Southwest Minnesota as the Section 3A champion at state competition.
H-BC-E-E won the section team title with 63 points, nipping second-place Canby-Minneota-Lincoln HI (64 points).
"We just wanted to be in the top two," Goehle said. "To win the section championship was a bonus. Right now we're excited to be going to state. The kids know that they have been blessed, and they are thankful for it."
H-BC-E-E will cash in its bonus Saturday at St. Olaf College in Northfield, where Minnesota State Class A and AA Cross County Championships are staged. The Class A boys' varsity race is scheduled for 11 a.m.
If H-BC-E-E had not qualified for the state meet as a team, two Patriots would have advanced to Northfield individually.
Tyler Bush and Zach Hadler, the team's top two runners most of the season, both finished in the top-10 as individuals.
Bush, who placed 12th at last year's section meet as a freshman, led the Patriots by finishing third in Slayton. He produced a time of 16:46.
Hadler, an Edgerton High School senior, finished eighth with a time of 17:12.
Greg Van Batavia, Kale Wiertzema and Lee Jackson turned in equally important performances that contributed to H-BC-E-E's winning team tally.
Van Batavia placed 16th in 17:44, Wiertzema 17th in 17:49 and Jackson 22nd in 18:00.
Patriots Todd Alberty and Derek Haak finished 26th and 38th with respective 18:10 and 18:43 times without influencing the team scoring.
"Our boys ran awesome," Goehle added. "There's no other better way to say it. All seven of them ran their fastest times of the year, and most were by a pretty considerable margin."
Four Patriot girls ran at the section meet without earning trips to state.
Amanda Tilstra led the way by placing 58th in 17:55.
Mya Mann, Erika Fransen and Corinna Braun finished 65th, 72nd and 96th with respective 18:12, 18:20 and 20:07 times.
"We didn't have a complete girls' team, but I was happy with the way our girls competed. They all ran their best times of the season. I was happy they went out running their best races," Goehle said.
Here is a look at the boys' varsity team standings from the Section 3A meet.
Standings: H-BC-E-E 63, C-M-LH 64
, Jackson County Central 73, Luverne 88, Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin 108, Southwest Christian 182, Redwood Valley 197, Windom 210, Adrian 227, Yellow Medicine East 292, Bold 305, Southwest Star Concept-Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster 374, Martin County West 378.