By John Rittenhouse
All three cross country programs from the Star Herald coverage area got together for the first time this season at the Dragon Invitational in Adrian Tuesday.
Athletes representing the Luverne, Adrian and Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth programs competed at the meet in varsity, junior varsity and junior high races.
The H-BC-E boys made a strong showing at the varsity level by scoring 47 points to win the team championship. Luverne finished one point behind the Patriots with 48 counters, and Adrian finished third with 65 points.
Murray County Central ran away with the girls' team title by scoring 33 points. Southwest Star Concept was second with 45, and Luverne was third with 70.
Adrian fielded an incomplete team in girls' varsity competition, and H-BC-E had no runners entered in the race.
Brad Haak led the Patriot boys to victory by winning the varsity run with a time of 18:46.
Matt Buck finished sixth with a time of 20:46, and teammates Nathan Fick (11th in 21:13), Kale Wiertzema (14th in 21:37) and Lee Walraven (15th in 21:46) helped H-BC-E's winning cause.
Patriot Paul Jess placed 24th in 25:34 without contributing to the team tally.
Jake Studer and Nick Otten set the pace for the Luverne boys by placing second and third with respective 19:15 and 19:41 times.
Jesse Kuhlman (seventh in 20:59), Jesson Vogt (13th in 21:22) and Kyle Bitterman (23rd in 24:22) round out the scoring for LHS.
Adrian's Jason Eickhoff and Josh Markl led their team by placing eighth and ninth with 21:06 and 21:07 efforts.
Paul Honermann (12th in 21:17), Derek Vastenhout (16th in 22:12) and Kelly Seeman (20th in 23:32) chipped into Adrian's effort as a team.
Jake Salter placed 21st in 23:50 without influencing the scoring for AHS.
Luverne may have placed third in the girls' varsity team competition, but it did have the top runner in the field on Tuesday.
Sadie Dietrich, an LHS freshman, won her first cross country individual title with a time of 17:47. A strong kick in the final 200 yards allowed Dietrich to pass a pair of runners to record her win.
Breanna Studer (15th in 21:40), Nicole Cronquist (16th in 21:56), Krista Wynia (18th in 22:29) and Jessica Willers (20th in 23:44) helped the Cards place third as a team.
Kelly Banck and Krissi Thier turned in strong efforts for Adrian in the girls' varsity race, placing eighth and ninth with respective 19:30 and 19:53 times.
Here is a look at how the individuals from Luverne, Adrian and H-BC-E fared in the junior high and junior varsity races Tuesday.
Junior varsity boys
Luverne: Devan Goembel, fourth, 16:48; Dusty Antoine, sixth, 16:52; Ruston Aaker, eighth, 17:24; Taylor Graphenteen, 13th, 18:47; Travis Halfmann, 15th, 19:05; Michael Nelson, 20th, 20:32; Brent DeGroot, 21st, 21:08; Nick DeWispelaere, 23rd, 23:47.
Adrian: James Matthiesen, 10th, 17:49; Kyle Knips, 12th, 18:39.
H-BC-E: Jared Drenth, 14th, 18:58.
Junior varsity girls
Luverne: Amanda Saum, fourth, 19:11; Sara Wynia, 16th, 25:28.
H-BC-E: Brittney Rozeboom, third, 20:44; Becky Broesder, seventh, 21:35.
Junior high boys
Adrian: Joe Henning, fifth, 6:51; Ethan Wieneke, seventh, 7:06; Colin Lynn, 10th, 7:34; Aaron Mormann, 11th, 7:46; Dustin Lonneman, 14th, 8:01; Trent Lutmer, 17th, 9:32; Eldon Vaselaar, 18th, 9:57.
H-BC-E: Nathan Mahone, first, 6:21; Devin DeBoer, second, 6:22; Kerry Fink, third, 6:35; John Sandbulte, eighth, 7:09; Adam Finke, ninth, 7:14; Grant Hoogendoorn, 12th, 7:48; Justin Hinks, 19th, 10:11.
Junior high girls
Luverne: Victoria Arends, first, 6:49; Kelsey Dooyema, second, 7:15; Amber Church, 11th, 9:38.
Adrian: Samantha Ferguson, fourth, 7:33; McCall Heitkamp, fifth, 7:34; Megan Henning, eighth, 7:57; Kaitlin Leinen, 10th, 8:36.
H-BC-E: Amanda Tilstra, sixth, 7:39; Stacy Bush, ninth, 8:11.