By John Rittenhouse
A Hills-Beaver Creek Elementary School student won a pair of titles at the Hershey's Minnesota State Track and Field Meet in Sartell Saturday, June 29.
Karic Wiertzema, who won the softball throw (144-6) and the 400-meter dash during the District Meet in Pipestone June 22, posted wins in Sartell during the same events.
Wiertzema, who competes in the 9-10 boys' division, tossed the softball 120-3 and ran 400 meters in 1:11.6 to win his state titles.
Wiertzema also was a member of a 400-meter relay team that won a district title and placed third at state with a time of 1:04.23.
Caleb Ellingson, Colton Bass and Cory Tilstra are the other members of the team.
Bass also qualified for the state meet in the 100-meter dash by finishing second at the district meet. Bass placed eighth at state.
Ellingson won the 100-meter dash at the district level, but he didn't compete in that event at state.
Cody Penning, Amanda Tilstra and Andrew Scholten also represented H-BC at the state meet.
Penning and Scholten compete in the 11-12 age group, while Tilstra is in the 13-14 division.
Penning placed second in the 400-meter dash at the district level and was sixth at state. Scholten was second in the district and 10th at state in the 800-meter run. Tilstra was second in the district and fourth at state in the 1,600-meter run.
Mya Mann, a member of the girlsÕ 13-14 division, placed second in the 800-meter run during the district meet. She did not attend the state event.
Others to compete at the district level include: Heather Hansel, Brooke Tilstra, Mary Buys, Nathan Fransman, Rayna Sandoval, Joel Van Batavia, Joel Buys, Preston VandenBosch, Blake Crawford and Amanda Connors.