By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth track teams opened the 2002 season at the Class B version of the Dan Lennon Invitational in the Dakota Dome in Vermillion, S.D., Tuesday.
Twenty-eight Patriots received the opportunity to compete on the University of South Dakota campus.
The select group of Patriots posted seven top-10 finishes during the meet, which was not a bad performance for a program that has been practicing for one week.
"This was a great practice for the rest of the season," said Patriot coach Tom Goehle. "We got a chance to compete, post some times and set some standards to improve upon."
Brad Haak proved he's ready to roll after winning the 800-meter run for the third straight season at the meet.
Haak, who is Minnesota's reigning Class A champion in the 800, won Tuesday's race with a time of 2:05.8.
Chris Reid made a bid to join Haak as a meet champion in the long jump. Reid placed second in the event with a distance of 20-5 1/2.
It looked like Reid might place in the 60-meter dash when he produced the third best time of 7.36 in the preliminaries, but a false start in the semifinals knocked him out of competition.
Haak and Reid ran legs with H-BC-E's 800-meter relay, which placed fourth with a time of 1:39.96. Lee Jackson and Tyler Bush are the other members of the squad.
Jackson placed 10th in the 800 with a 2:15.9 effort.
Cassi Tilstra turned in the strongest performance for a Patriot girl by finishing eighth in the 800 in 2:42.
Bev Wurpts placed ninth in the 800 and 10th in the 1,600 with respective 2:44.1 and 6:03 times.
The Patriots are scheduled to run at the Cardinal Quadrangular in Luverne Tuesday,