By John RittenhouseThe Section 3A Cross Country Championships staged at the Adrian Area Country Club Thursday developed into a good meet for programs representing the Star Herald coverage area.Athletes representing Luverne, Adrian and Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton earned trips to the Minnesota State Class A Cross Country Championships in Northfield Saturday with their performances during section competition.The top two teams and top 10 individual finishers at the section level advance to the state meet.Luverne’s boys’ and girls’ teams qualified by finishing second in the final standings.One H-BC-E-E boy and one Adrian girl cracked the Top 10 individually, locking up spots in their respective state races.The state meet will be staged at St. Olaf College in Northfield Saturday. The Class A boys’ race is set for 1 p.m. with the girls’ race to follow at 2 p.m.Luverne coach Bruce Gluf was beaming with excitement after Thursday’s event in Adrian.One year after sending his first girls’ team to a state meet, Gluf was excited about the prospect of having two teams race in Northfield."This a great day in the history of our program," Gluf said after the meet. "Having both teams qualify for state is incredible. It shows what kind of kids we have in our program. It’s been a dream season, and I can’t say enough about these kids."Both LHS teams had to overcome different forms of adversity during the season to get to Northfield.The Cardinal girls, who placed 12th at the state meet in 2002, faced a number of setbacks during the season. One of the team’s top runners from 2002 dropped out of the program, and injuries and illnesses kept some athletes out of meets during the course of the year.The LHS girls were at full-strength Thursday, and it showed as they placed second out of 15 complete teams at the section meet."We had three runners place in the Top 12, and we had five girls place in the Top 30," Gluf said. "That’s amazing. I can’t say enough about these girls." Canby-Minneota-Lincoln HI won the team title with 49 points, while LHS placed second with 67 counters.The Luverne boys faced their share of challenges during the season, too.The Cardinals opened the season without their top two runners (Jake Studer, a two-time state qualifier, and Jesse Kuhlman) from 2002, but they showed steady improvement throughout the campaign. After placing second at the Southwest Conference meet Oct. 14, the LHS boys gained confidence that they would be a tough team to beat at the section level.Luverne’s faith was tested when it found out that it would have to compete without one of its top runners (due to a rules violation) in Adrian, but the Cardinals met the challenge by performing well as a team."We lost our No. 2 runner to a rules infraction, but the boys were able to pull together as a team and run the races of their lives. All seven of our runners ran outstanding races. They wanted to get to state bad, and they got it done," Gluf said.The Cardinal boys placed second out of 17 complete teams in the section field with 86 points. Southwest Christian won the team title with 62 counters.The effort of sophomore Tom Ward has helped the Cardinal boys emerge as one of the area’s premier teams.Ward, who has been Luverne’s leading runner all season, placed sixth individually with a time of 17:24 to set the pace for LHS.Ruston Aaker and Jesson Vogt cracked the Top 20 by finishing 12th and 19th with respective 17:39 and 18:03 times.Thomas Pinkal and Travis Halfmann capped the team scoring by placing 24th and 28th with 18:19 and 18:31 efforts.Dusty Antoine and Michael Nelson placed 35th and 85th with respective 18:48 and 20:29 times without influencing the scoring.The emergence of Lexi Heitkamp as the best runner in Southwest Minnesota has been a key to success for the Luverne girls this year.Heitkamp remained unbeaten for the 2003 season by winning the Section 3A individual championship with a time of 14:58.Amanda Saum and Kayla Raddle also ran strong races to help Luverne’s cause in Adrian.Saum placed fifth in 15:47. Raddle finished 12th in 16:08.Victoria Arends and Kelsey Dooyema round out the scorers for LHS by placing 25th and 30th with respective 16:52 and 17:04 times.Kristy Heikes and Amanda Kannas finished 64th and 80th with respective 18:00 and 18:45 efforts without influencing the scoring.Gluf said the Luverne teams will do more than hold their own while mixing it up with the state’s best in Northfield Saturday."We’re going up there thinking we can place in the Top 6 as teams. We can do it," he said. "We’ll have to run well, but we have the horses to do it."H-BC-E-E junior Tyler Bush and Adrian seventh-grader Amanda Lynn will represent their programs in Northfield.Bush extended what has been a very successful season by placing second individually with a time of 17:01.Bush will be make his second consecutive appearance at the state meet. He placed 15th in Class A last year, earning a berth on the All-State Team.Lynn’s outstanding season will continue at the state meet after placing 10th with a time of 15:57.Lynn, who has been competing at the varsity level for the first time this season, will be making her initial appearance at the state meet. She will be the first Adrian athlete competing in Northfield since Jason Eickhoff qualified as an individual in 2000.Both Bush and Lynn led their respective teams to solid finishes at the section meet.The H-BC-E-E boys placed sixth with 200 points. Adrian placed sixth with 166 points on the girls’ side.Kale Wiertzema (25th in 18:21), Dustin Verhey (51st in 19:16), Todd Alberty (62nd in 19:38) and Derek Haak (64th in 19:47) made contributions as a team.John Sandbulte and Adam Finke placed 69th in 20:00 and 94th in 20:49 respectively without influencing the scoring for H-BC-E-E.Adrian’s boys topped the Patriots in the team standings by finishing fourth with 152 points.Lee Stover led the Dragons by placing 26th in 18:22.Brandon Bullerman (29th in 18:32), Paul Honermann (31st in 18:34), Chad Janssen (34th in 18:47) and Pete Jensen (37th in 18:50) made contributions to Adrian’s team effort.Ethan Wieneke and Aaron Mormann placed 59th and 65th with respective 19:27 and 19:48 times without padding the team score for AHS.Joining Lynn as contributors to the scoring for the Adrian girls are McCall Heitkamp (21st in 16:42), Krissi Thier (43rd in 17:22), Kelly Banck (52nd in 17:39) and Megan Henning (56th in 17:41).Sarah Kruger placed 84th in 18:55 without influencing the scoring for AHS.The H-BC-E-E girls fielded a complete varsity team that placed seventh in the section field.Cassi Tilstra led the Patriots by placing 23rd in 16:49.Mya Mann (27th in 16:57), Amanda Tilstra (40th in 17:20), Jill Weitgenant (45th in 17:25) and Rayna Sandoval (51st in 17:38) formed the H-BC-E-E team.Here is a look at the final team standings from the Section 3A meet.Boys’ standings: SWC 62, Luverne 86, Redwood Valley 103, Adrian 152, Jackson County Central 189, H-BC-E-E 200, Windom Area 204, C-M-LH 208, Murray County Central 310, Springfield-Cedar Mountain Comfrey 311, Yellow Medicine East 314, BOLD 314, Pipestone Area 319, Martin County West 324, Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin 331, Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s 429.Girls’ standings: C-M-HL 49, Luverne 67, MCW 86, JCC 123, S-CM-C 164, Adrian 166, H-BC-E-E 170, RWV 234, Windom Area 251, MCC 268, ML-B-O 304, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 309, YME 314, BOLD 315, SESM 366
