By John Rittenhouse
Cross country teams from the Star Herald coverage area captured team championships at the Worthington Turkey Trot Sunday.
The Luverne girls emerged as the team champion of the varsity race by a slim, one-point margin. The Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton boys topped LHS by nine points to win a team trophy.
The Cardinal girls nipped Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 54-55 and five other complete teams to secure their championship.
Solid individual efforts by Sadie Dietrich (eighth in 16:18), Lexi Heitkamp (ninth in 16:22) and Victoria Arends (10th in 16:27) set the stage for Luverne's win.
Amanda Saum and Kelsey Dooyema finished 14th and 15th with respective 16:41 and 16:46 times to pad Luverne's team tally. Breanna Studer and Jessica Willers placed 40th and 43rd in 20:26 and 21:05 without influencing the scoring.
With Tyler Bush and Zach Hadler leading he way, H-BC-E-E's boys repeated as team champion of the meet. Bush placed second individually with a time of 16:59. Hadler was seventh in 17:54.
The Patriots topped Luverne 55-64 and five other complete teams.
Todd Alberty (11th in 18:23), Greg Van Batavia (14th in 18:30) and Kale Wiertzema (21st in 18:43) made contributions to H-BC-E-E's team success.
Luverne's Jake Studer, Nick Otten and Jesse Kuhlman placed eighth, ninth and 10th with respective 18:04, 18:10 and 18:21 times.
Ruston Aaker (18th in 18:41) and Dusty Antoine (19th in 18:42) padded Luverne's team tally. Trevor Maine placed 28th in 19:09 during his first varsity race without influencing the scoring.
Adrian had incomplete teams for both varsity races.
Krissi Thier finished 22nd in 17:23 for the AHS girls. Paul Honermann (20th in 18:41), Brandon Bullerman (25th in 19:00), Chad Janssen (29th in 19:25) and Kelly Seeman (47th in 20:57) raced for the Dragon boys.
Here is a look at the team standings and the other individual performances from SaturdayÕs meet.
Girls' standings: Luverne 54, T-M-B 55, Jackson County Central 69, Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster-Southwest Star Concept 107, Windom 112, Murray County Central 118, Worthington 149.
Boys' standings: H-BC-E-E 55, Luverne 64, Southwest Christian 100, JCC 113, Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin 121, Windom 136, Worthington 141.
Junior varsity girls
H-BC-E-E: Erika Fransen, seventh, 14:33; Rayne Sandoval, 15th, 15:37.
Junior varsity boys
Luverne: Travis Halfmann, fourth, 12:13; Brent DeGroot, 19th, 13:13; John May, 20th, 13:17; Michael Nelson, 30th, 13:34; David Nelson, 31st, 13:48.
H-BC-E-E: Derek Haak, first, 12:00; Devin DeBoer, 11th, 12:49; John Sandbulte, 13th, 12:55; Michael Bos, 21st, 13:32; Jared Drenth, 25th, 13:38; Justin Hinks, 39th, 16:38.
Adrian: Eldon Vaselaar, 40th, 16:59.
Junior high girls
Luverne: Justin Heintzman, seventh, 7:00; Amanda Kannas, 20th, 7:33.
H-BC-E-E: Mya Mann, second, 6:54; Amanda Tilstra, fourth, 6:59.
Adrian: Morgan Lynn, first, 6:49; McCall Heitkamp, seventh, 7:01; Erica Thier, 10th, 7:20; Megan Henning, 11th, 7:22; Kaitlin Leinen, 15th, 7:27.
Junior high boys
Luverne: Eric Kraetsch, first, 6:28.
Adrian: Ethan Wieneke, second, 6:33; Aaron Mormann, fourth, 6:38; Kyle Henning, 11th, 7:06; Collin Lynn, 12th, 7:06; Tony Thier, 13th, 7:08; Brett Springman, 14th, 7:12; Dustin Lonneman, 15th, 7:13; Tim Zaske, 19th, 7:29.
H-BC-E-E: Adam Finke, third, 6:36; Grant Hoogendoorn, seventh, 6:55.