Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton runner Greg Van Batavia makes a move to pass a Southwest Christian athlete during Tuesday's Dragon Invitational in Adrian. The Patriot boys won the varsity team title at the event.
By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton boys' cross country team posted its first meet victory of the season Tuesday in Adrian.
Mixing it up with four other complete teams (two more squads were incomplete) at the Dragon Invitational, the Patriots took top honors at the event with 26 points.
Luverne, Southwest Christian and Adrian round out the field with 43, 70 and 112 points respectively.
"Our boys fared very well," said Patriot coach Tom Goehle. "They ran really well as a group. They tried to run together as long as they could."
Tyler Bush and Zach Hadler set the stage for victory by placing first and second with respective 17:50 and 18:32 times.
Lee Jackson placed sixth in 19:24, Greg Van Batavia eighth in 19:40 and Todd Alberty ninth in 19:57 to round out the team scoring.
Kale Wiertzema (11th in 20:10), John Sandbulte (24th in 22:13), Michael Bos (27th in 23:32), Jared Drenth (29th in 23:38) and Justin Hinks (35th in 29:42) also ran in the varsity race for H-BC-E-E.
Erika Fransen was H-BC-E-E's lone entry in the girls' varsity race. She placed 18th in 20:22.
Mya Mann, Amanda Tilstra and Rayne Sandoval finished second, third and ninth with respective 6:31, 6:33 and 7:20 times in the girls' junior high race.
Adam Finke and Grant Hoogendoorn placed second and fourth with times of 6:16 and 6:42 in the boys' junior high event.
"I'm really happy with where our times are at for this time of year. We are a lot better from where we were at last year at this time," Goehle concluded.
The Patriots will run in the Garretson, S.D., Invitational Monday.