By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth track athletes traveled to South Dakota to open the outdoor portion of their 2002 schedule Thursday.
Competing in eight-team fields at the Beresford Booster Club Track Meet, both the H-BC-E boys' and girls' squads placed fifth at the event.
The meet was staged in cool temperatures, but Patriot coach Tom Goehle didn't seem disappointed by the conditions or the efforts of his athletes.
"It was a good meet. The kids ran and competed well," he said. "This will give us some times we can measure against with our upcoming meets."
The Patriot boys came away with four meet titles.
Chris Reid, who placed second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.6, won the 200-meter dash in 24.1 and took top honors in the long jump with a distance of 21-0 1/4.
Brad Haak won one individual event and ran a leg with H-BC-E's winning 3,200-meter relay team, which was timed at 8:59.62.
Tyler Bush, Lee Jackson and Greg Van Batavia teamed up in the 3,200 with Haak, who won the 800-meter run in 2:06.68.
Two second-place performances were the top efforts produced by the Patriot girls at the meet.
Erin Boeve covered 15-4 1/2 to place second in the long jump.
Amanda Connors, Melinda Feucht, LaDonna Sandstede and Cassi Tilstra finished second in the 400-meter relay with a time of 56.62.
Here is a look at the rest of H-BC-E's top-six performances during the meet.
H-BC-E boys
Third place: Haak, high jump, 5-5; 400 relay (Reid, Bush, Van Batavia and Haak), 48.09.
Fourth place: 1,600 relay (Bush, Jackson, Van Batavia and Adam Sieff), 3:59.63.
Fifth place: Bush, high jump, 5-3; Jackson, 400, 58.04.
Sixth place: Kale Wiertzema, 1,600, 5:29.55; John Sandbulte, 3,200, 12:51.62.
H-BC-E girls
Third place: Boeve, 100, 13.49; 3,200 relay (Bev Wurpts, Mya Mann, Brittney Rozeboom and Tilstra), 10:48.46.
Fourth place: Rozeboom, triple jump, 28-5; medley relay (Sandstede, Feucht, Mann and Tilstra), 5:00.
Fifth place: Wurpts, 3,200, 14:02; Kelly Mulder, long jump, 13-8.
Sixth place: Sandstede, long jump, 12-11; Mulder and Tilstra cleared 4-2 to tie for sixth place in the high jump.