By Lori EhdeFederal investigators are still reviewing documents seized from a Luverne residence on April 17 after bank officials filed "suspicious activity" reports on sizable deposits.Ali Kassim Alinizi has not been charged with a crime and is not in custody, but Dave Heller, supervisor of the Sioux Falls Federal Bureau of Investigation said it’s important to look into any transactions of this nature.He said that Alinizi is presumed innocent until evidence suggests otherwise, but the fact that he was operating a non-registered wire transfer business raises red flags with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.Alinizi reportedly deposited nearly $15,000 between Sept. 4 and Sept. 12, 2001. Late last year and early this year, the John Morrell night cleanup worker made $200,000 in deposits, including $68,000 in cash.Banks involved include Luverne’s First National Bank and two South Dakota banks.Alinizi has told officials he’s helping families in America send money to family members in Iraq.He said he used to send wire transfers, but has stopped because he didn’t have a license.U.S. law requires money transfer businesses to register with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, but Alinizi and his "Ali Western Union" were not registered.Heller said that there were no new developments in the case as of Tuesday. But officials are looking into whether Alinizi’s deposits may be connected to a pair of two brothers in Denver, Qassim Abdulla Jaber Al Samar and Maitham Abdulla Jaber Al Samar, who are accused of illegally sending more than $7 million to Iraq in the past two years.Alinizi, who lives at 403 E. Main St., could not be reached for comment and his listed phone number is no longer in service.

By Lori EhdeFederal investigators are still reviewing documents seized from a Luverne residence on April 17 after bank officials filed "suspicious activity" reports on sizable deposits.Ali Kassim Alinizi has not been charged with a crime and is not in custody, but Dave Heller, supervisor of the Sioux Falls Federal Bureau of Investigation said it’s important to look into any transactions of this nature.He said that Alinizi is presumed innocent until evidence suggests otherwise, but the fact that he was operating a non-registered wire transfer business raises red flags with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.Alinizi reportedly deposited nearly $15,000 between Sept. 4 and Sept. 12, 2001. Late last year and early this year, the John Morrell night cleanup worker made $200,000 in deposits, including $68,000 in cash.Banks involved include Luverne’s First National Bank and two South Dakota banks.Alinizi has told officials he’s helping families in America send money to family members in Iraq.He said he used to send wire transfers, but has stopped because he didn’t have a license.U.S. law requires money transfer businesses to register with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, but Alinizi and his "Ali Western Union" were not registered.Heller said that there were no new developments in the case as of Tuesday. But officials are looking into whether Alinizi’s deposits may be connected to a pair of two brothers in Denver, Qassim Abdulla Jaber Al Samar and Maitham Abdulla Jaber Al Samar, who are accused of illegally sending more than $7 million to Iraq in the past two years.Alinizi, who lives at 403 E. Main St., could not be reached for comment and his listed phone number is no longer in service.

By Sara StrongRock County and Gold’n Plump agreed to settle a property valuation and tax lawsuit Tuesday.Just more than a year ago, Gold’n Plump filed a petition in Minnesota Tax Court claiming its property had been assessed at a value greater than it was due, resulting in the company paying higher taxes.Rock County Assessor Tom Houselog worked closely with the company through the process of reaching a settlement.Gold’n Plump paid $20,398 in 2002.Houselog said the 2002, 2003, 2004 tax valuations have been adjusted. Before this settlement, the 2001 taxes were already collected. Because of that, Gold’n Plump dismissed the claim for that year, and Rock County won’t have to pay back any difference.Gold’n Plump is scheduled to pay $15,304 this year, based on the property’s court stipulated value of $443,800. The 2003 (payable 2004) assessed value of $568,100 will be adjusted to $458,600. Of course, in 2004 and 2005 if there are additions or expansions on the property, the value will be reassessed.Previously, the Assessor’s Office used a formula based on a value of $9.60 per square foot, but will now start with $7.50 per square foot for the 2003, and $7.75 per square foot for 2004 and 2005 assessments.In other tax items, Rock County is part of a state-wide tax petition to reduce property tax payments to all counties in which Northern States Power (Xcel Energy) owns property. In Rock County, that is $22,607, but it’s much less than many counties collect.Tuff Village is also disputing its 2003 property tax bill, which is $20,540 including assessments. Tuff questions why it didn’t receive an exemption as an institution of Pure Public Charity.Feedlots privateIn a unanimous vote, the Rock County Board of Commissioners Tuesday asked for legislation to get feedlot information classified as "security information."Currently, feedlot permits must go through a public process, or at least be a matter of public record. The vote came on the heals of a similar Nicollet County resolution.In Nicollet County, the reasoning behind the resolution was to protect producers from bio terrorism from animal rights activists.Highway DepartmentResident address signs will be installed this summer, following last summer’s installation of street signs.Even though residents will have house number signs early on, the county isn’t finalizing the addressing system until the entire county is signed. People will get letters telling them their new address, at which time they will be able to formally change their address with the Post Office. Then, the postal system will honor both old and new addresses for a year. The Rock County Highway Department is installing the signs, which will be made by Lyle Signs, Eden Prairie, for $15,332.88.Address sign placement in front of properties will depend on conditions such as trees or electrical lines. Rock County Engineer Mark Sehr said he is willing to work with homeowners on places they’d prefer the blue and white signs to be posted.Rock County roads also got approval for improvement Tuesday.Three miles of County State Aid Highway 4, from the city of Luverne to CSAH 11 will be completely reconstructed. That project was awarded to Central Specialities, Alexandria, with the low bid of $1,340,014.79.Central Specialties was also awarded the low bid for milling and overlay of existing pavement on various other roads in the county. That bid was for $1,181,235.

Ellsworth High School senior Blake Brommer chips on to the first green during Monday’s golf match between Hills-Beaver-Creek-Ellsworth and Southwest Christian at Meadow Acres Country Club near Larchwood, Iowa. The Eagles defeated the Patriots by a 173-193 tally.By John RittenhouseThe Luverne boys’ golf team was put to the test of playing in four different events during a six-day span.The Cardinals lost a match by a tie-breaker in Pipestone Thursday before downing Red Rock Central by 13 strokes in Sanborn Friday. After placing fourth at the Worthington Invitational Saturday, Luverne lost a six-stroke decision in Jackson Tuesday.Luverne, 12-10 overall, plays at the Fairmont Invitational Saturday.JCC 165, Luverne 171The Cardinals finished Southwest Conference play with a 2-4 record after dropping a six-stroke decision in Jackson Tuesday.JCC’s Kyle Kocak led all players at the event by shooting a three-over-par 40.Colby Anderson carded a 41 to lead the Cardinals.Steven Berghorst and Andy Haakenson shot 42s for LHS, while David Nelson and Tony Smedsrud registered 46s.Jesson Vogt shot a 47 without contributing to the team effort.JCC topped Luverne 188-195 in the B match. Mike Remme led the Cards with a 46.Worthington inviteThe Cardinals finished in the middle of the pack during Saturday’s invitational tournament at the Worthington Country Club.Luverne placed fourth in the seven-team, 18-hole event with 326 strokes. The Cards finished in front of Southwest Christian (358), Worthington’s Black team (359) and Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster (385) in the standings. Worthington Red (309), Mankato West (315) and Windom (322) led the field.Haakenson paced the Cardinals by shooting an eight-over-par 80 for the tournament.Berghorst (81), Anderson (82) and Smedsrud (83) made contributions to the team effort.Nelson and Vogt shot 87-stroke rounds without influencing the scoring.Luverne 165, RRC 178The Cardinals recorded a 13-stroke victory when they took on Red Rock Central in Sanborn Friday.Luverne’s Haakenson emerged as medalist by shooting a one-over-par 37.Anderson and Vogt turned in 41- and 42-stroke scores, while Berghorst and Nelson produced 45s.Smedsrud shot a 46 without making an impact of the team’s performance.Jesse Fay led the hosts with a 40.With Austin Hoiland shooting a 47 to lead the way, Luverne notched a 195-222 win in the B match.Pipestone 161,Luverne 161A tie-breaker was needed to settle Thursday’s match between the Arrows and the Cardinals in Pipestone.When the four lowest scorers from each team turned in rounds that equaled 161 strokes, the scores produced by the fifth players from each team settled the issue.With Pipestone holding a 43-44 edge in that respect, the Arrows were credited with a victory.Luverne’s Anderson and Pipestone’s Ben Morgan shared medalist honors by shooting two-over-par 38s.Haakenson, Smedsrud and Berghorst contributed 39-, 41- and 43-stroke rounds to Luverne’s team tally.Kirk Oldre and Nelson shot 44- and 45-stroke rounds without influencing the scoring.Vogt shot a 39 to lead Luverne in B squad competition.

By John RittenhouseBoys’ track teams from Luverne and Adrian performed well at the Trojan Relays in Worthington Tuesday.The Cardinal boys won the Class AA team championship at the meet. Adrian’s boys finished fourth out of eight teams in Class A.Marcus Walgrave had another outstanding meet individually for LHS.Walgrave set meet records while winning the 110- and 300-meter hurdles with 14.82 and 39.59 times. Cardinal coach Craig Nelson said his time in the 110-meter event is a new school record, besting the 1988 standard of 14.84 set by Brian Hoime.Walgrave also won the 100-meter dash in 11.45.Tim Rust and Tyler Elbers also captured meet titles for the Cardinals. Rust cleared 12-0 in the pole vault. Elbers cleared 6-2 in the high jump.Luverne also fielded the winning 400- and 800-meter relays, which recorded 46.34 and 1:36.17 times respectively. Elbers, Rust, Cody Gehrke and Andrew Hulstein ran the 400. Elbers, Gehrke, Chris Morgan and Hulstein competed in the 800.Hulstein cleared 6-0 to place second in the high jump. Justin Van Wyhe covered 40-8 1/4 to place second in the triple jump.Luverne’s 1,600- and 3,200-meter relays placed second with respective 3:39.29 and 8:45.24 times. Jake Hendricks, Ruston Aaker, Scott Goebel and Kyle Bitterman formed the 1,600-meter team. Bitterman, Aaker, Nick Otten and Hendricks joined forces in the 3,200.Jared Brake locked up a meet title while leading the Adrian boys to a fourth-place finish in Class A.Brake won the triple jump with a distance of 38-11 1/4. He also placed second in the long jump (18-5 1/4) and 110 hurdles (16.71), and fifth in the discus (116-7).The Luverne girls placed fourth in Class AA and the Dragon girls finished seventh in the Class A field.Marissa Stewart had an outstanding meet for the Cardinals. She won the shot put and discus competitions with tosses of 34-3 1/2 and 107-0.Luverne also won the medley relay with a time of 4:33.17. Nicole Willers, Amanda Dooyema, Lexi Heitkamp and Victoria Arends formed the team.Heitkamp placed second in the 1,600-meter run in 5:38.03. Danielle Cook finished second in the 300-meter hurdles in 47.91.The girls’ 1,600-meter relay team turned in the best performance for Adrian at the meet. Emily Thier, Amanda Lynn, Sarah Jensen and Jolene Reisdorfer covered the distance in 4:29.79 to place second.Here is a look at the rest of Luverne’s and Adrian’s Top-Eight finishers from the Trojan Relays.Luverne boysThird place: Elbers, 400, 54.58; medley relay (Ben Cornish, Gehrke, Hendricks and Goebel), 3:58.14; Otten, 3,200, 10:53.3; Van Wyhe, long jump, 19-2 1/2.Fourth place: Rust, 100, 12.05; Hulstein, 110 hurdles, 17.5; Goebel, 1,600, 4:45.81.Seventh place: Aaker, pole vault, 8-6.Eighth place: Thomas Gluf, discus, 108-0.Adrian boysThird place: Kyle Knips, 400, 53.75; medley relay (Anton Klingenberg, Jordan Brake, Pete Jensen and Lee Stover), 4:00.73.Fourth place: Casey Knips, discus, 117-5; 800 relay (Klingenberg, Chad Janssen, Billy Anderson and K.Knips), 1:40.28; 1,600 relay (Stover, Janssen, Honermann and K.Knips), 3:48.06.Fifth place: 400 relay (Anderson, Janssen, Jordan Brake and Klingenberg), 49.88; 3,200 relay (Stover, Honermann, Brandon Bullerman and Josh Croat), 9:30.97.Sixth place: C.Knips, shot, 39-10 1/2; Bullerman, 3,200, 11:37.45.Luverne girlsThird place: 800 relay (Callen Bosshart, Dooyema, Cook and Jenni Christensen), 1:51.56; 1,600 relay (Christensen, Dooyema, Sadie Dietrich and Arends), 4:16.87.Fourth place: Christensen, 400, 1:04.64; 400 relay (Bosshart, Cassie Pap, Maggie Kuhlman and Willers), 53.66.Fifth place: Cook, 100 hurdles, 16.94; Kelsey Dooyema, 1,600, 5:54.71; Tera Boomgaarden, 3,200, 13:52; Kuhlman, high jump, 4-6.Sixth place: N.Willers, 100, 13.84; K.Dooyema, 3,200, 13:12.22.Seventh place: Bosshart, 100, 13.99; Heitkamp, high jump, 4-6.Eighth place: Pap, triple jump, 29-10 1/2.Adrian girlsThird place: McCall Heitkamp, 1,600, 6:05.69.Fourth place: Sarah Jensen, 300 hurdles, 55.01.Fifth place: Lynn, 400, 1:08.89; medley relay (Monica Souksanvong, Kelsey Wiertsema, Reisdorfer and Heitkamp), 4:56.31.Sixth place: 800 relay (Reisdorfer, Thier, Lynn and Jensen), 1:58.31

By John RittenhouseThe Luverne girls’ golf team put together an 8-1 record while playing at four events since last Thursday.The Cardinals posted a 23-stroke win in Pipestone Thursday, a 13-stroke victory in Sanborn against Red Rock Central Friday and a 20-stroke victory in Jackson Tuesday. Luverne placed second at the Worthington Invitational Tournament Saturday.Luverne, 16-2 overall, plays at the Fairmont Tournament Saturday before traveling to Adrian for a match Monday.Luverne 202, JCC 222The Cardinals capped a 5-1 Southwest Conference season by besting the Huskies by 10 strokes in Jackson Tuesday.Kim Bennett and Gabe Van Dyk shared medalist honors by shooting nine-over-par 46s on the par-37 course.Jessica Klein and Nikki Van Dyk added 53- and 57-stroke efforts to the team tally.Mindy Lysne shot a 58 and Brittany Boeve a 77 without influencing the scoring.Suzanne Zelinko led the Huskies with a 50.JCC posted a 276-310 win in the B match. Luverne’s Alyssa Klein shot a 58 to capture medalist honors.Worthington inviteThe Cardinals played their way to a second-place finish during Saturday’s tournament at the Worthington Country Club.Fairmont emerged as the champion of the seven-team, 18-hole event with a team score of 337 strokes. Luverne (383), Marshall (388), Mankato West (398), Worthington (399), Windom (415) and Mankato East (433) round out the field.Senior Gabe Van Dyk led the Cardinals and placed third individually by shooting a 12-over-par 84.Bennett (97), Nikki Van Dyk (99) and Lysne (103) figured into the team scoring for LHS.Boeve and Jessica Klein shot 104- and 114-stroke rounds without impacting the team performance.Luverne 182, RRC 195The Cardinals won a 13-stroke decision when they challenged Red Rock Central in Sanborn Friday.Gabe Van Dyke secured medalist honors for LHS by shooting a five-over-par 41.Bennett shot a 43 for the winners, while Lysne, Boeve and Nikki Van Dyk all recorded 49s.Klein shot a 51 without influencing the scoring.RRC’s Molly Arndt led the hosts with a 45.Luverne 187,Pipestone 210The Cardinals picked up a non-conference win when they bested the Arrows by 23 strokes in Pipestone Thursday.Gabe Van Dyk played an outstanding round by shooting a one-over-par 37 to lead all golfers at the meet.Bennett, Nikki Van Dyk and Lysne contributed 42-, 53- and 55-stroke rounds to the winning team tally.Klein and Boeve shot respective 57- and 60-stroke rounds without impacting the scoring.Sara Schulze and Lindsay Lammers led the Arrows with 52s.Alyssa Klein shot a 52 to lead the Luverne B team to victory in Pipestone.

By John RittenhouseA slumping Luverne tennis team is experiencing a six-match losing skid after dropping five matches since last Thursday.Luverne dropped a five-point decision in Pipestone Thursday before losing three times at the Benson Tournament Saturday. The Cardinals fell by nine points to Sioux Falls O’Gorman’s junior varsity team in Sioux Falls Monday, and they received a five-point setback in Blue Earth.The 6-9 Cards will try to end the slide when they host Fairmont today.Luverne plays at the Yellow Medicine East Tournament Saturday before taking on Martin County West in Sherburn Tuesday.BE 6, Luverne 1A young and talented Blue Earth team extended Luverne’s losing streak to six straight matches Tuesday in Blue Earth.The Buccaneers swept the four singles matches and went 2-1 in doubles to cap a solid performance."They have a lot of good athletes," said Luverne coach Greg Antoine. "They are a very athletic team that will be good for a while because they are so young."Luverne’s win came at No. 3 doubles, where Weston Sawtelle and John Kreuch secured a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Matt Schulte and Dalton Moore.BE’s Ty Mastin and Ian Johnson posted a 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 win over Steven Althoff and Kyle Fletcher at No. 1 doubles, and Jak Willette and Grant Holmseth recorded a 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 win over Chris Vickery and Trevor Maine at No. 2.Two of the four singles matches went three sets as Joe Kuechenmeister notched a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Dusty Antoine at No. 1, and Justin Frey nailed down a 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 victory over Patrick Bennett at No. 2.BE’s Jordan Becker saddled David Nelson with a pair of 6-1 setbacks at No. 3 singles. Logan Becker bested Derek Boeve by 6-0 and 6-4 scores at No. 3.O’Gorman 9,Luverne 0The Cardinals came away empty when they took on the Sioux Falls O’Gorman junior varsity team in Sioux Falls Monday.The Knights swept six singles matches in straight sets and lost one set while going 3-0 in doubles."It was a real eye-opener," said Cardinal coach Greg Antoine. "They are a very good team. It was fun to play a team from South Dakota. It’s fun to see other players, and how good we could be some day."O’Gorman’s Nola Wiese, John Swanson and Tom Lonin posted a pair of 6-0 victories over Dusty Antoine, Boeve and Nelson at No. 1, No. 5 and No. 6 singles respectively.Andrew Rance topped Bennett by 6-0 and 6-1 scores at No. 2, Dan English posted 6-2 and 6-0 victories over Fletcher at No. 3, and Matt Finnegan secured 6-1 and 7-5 wins over Vickery at No. 4.Dusty Antoine and Bennett lost the first set (6-1) to Wiese and Rance at No. 1 doubles before tying the match with a 6-2 win in the second set. The O’Gorman team won the tie-breaker by a 7-1 count.English and Finnegan saddled Fletcher and Maine with 6-2 and 6-0 setbacks at No. 2 doubles. Swanson and Lonin bested John Kreuch and Zach Sanderson by 6-1 and 6-4 scores at No. 3.Benson tourneyThe Cardinals ran into some strong competition and came up empty during Saturday’s tournament in Benson.Luverne dropped a tight 4-3 decision to Yellow Medicine East to open the event.Benson handed the Cards a 6-1 setback in the second round, and Cambridge blanked LHS 7-0 in the finale."There were some pretty good teams there," said Cardinal coach Greg Antoine. "We lost three matches, but I think we played better than the scores indicate. It was fun to play against some different teams. It gives us an idea where we are at."Coach Antoine said singles players Dusty Antoine and Nelson played well all day.Antoine posted a pair of 6-2 wins at No. 1 singles against YME’s Nathan Marland in the first round before dropping his next two matches.Nelson won a 6-1, 6-7 (6-8 in the tie-breaker) before wining an 8-6 tie-breaker against YME’s Justin Thomas in the first round. Nelson then dropped his next two matches at No. 4 singles.Fletcher, who went 1-2 at No. 3 singles, split sets with YME’s Jeff Ford before winning the tie-breaker, 8-6. Fletcher’s win accounted for Luverne’s final team point against YME.Luverne’s No. 3 doubles team of Boeve and Weston Sawtelle produced the lone team point against Benson. They topped Russ and Jacob Slaughter by 6-4 and 6-3 tallies.Bennett was winless at No. 2 singles. Steven Althoff played all three matches (one with Maine and two with John Kreuch) at No. 1 doubles, going 0-3. Vickery played in all three matches (one with Boeve and two with Maine), going 0-3 for the day. Matt Kreuch also played at No. 3 doubles along with Sawtelle and Boeve.Pipestone 6, Luverne 1The Cardinals dropped their second match of the season to the Arrows when they entertained their league rivals in a non-conference match.David Nelson posted a win at No. 4 singles for LHS, but the Arrows took three singles matches and swept the doubles matches to prevail by five points."We played better against them than we did the first time," said Cardinal coach Greg Antoine. "It seemed at the end of every good point, they got the point. I think all of our players need to be more patient. They go for the big shot right away instead of picking times to go after it."Nelson recorded 6-4 and 6-2 wins over Jamie Gustafson to account for Luverne’s team point.Pipestone’s Florian Brahnkamp posted 6-0 and 6-2 wins over Dusty Antoine at No. 1 singles, Mike Janssen downed Bennett by 6-4 and 6-2 counts at No. 3, and Damion Weets secured 6-1 and 6-2 victories over Kyle Fletcher at No. 3.Luverne’s Vickery and Trevor claimed a 6-3 win in the first set at No. 2 doubles before dropping a pair of 6-3 decisions in the second and third sets to Casey Carmody and Paul Williamson.Pipestone’s Scott Vander Poel and Pat Wieme nailed down 6-0 and 6-1 wins over Althoff and Boeve at No. 1 doubles. Aaron Prunty and Dave Janssen bested Sanderson and Sawtelle by 6-0 and 6-2 tallies at No. 3.

Luverne senior Karen Jarchow trots home fo a run during Thursday's Southwest Conference softball doubleheader against Worthington in Luverne. Luverne split the set with the Trojans.By John RittenhouseThe Luverne girls’ softball team put together its most successful stretch of the season by winning four games in a six-day span.The Cardinals split a Southwest Conference doubleheader with Worthington during their home debut Thursday before going 3-0 and winning the Fairmont Tournament Saturday. Luverne lost a three-run home game to Murray County Central Tuesday.Luverne, 5-7 overall, hosts Marshall and Redwood Valley for SWC twin bills today and Tuesday respectively. The Cards play at the Southwest United Tournament Saturday.MCC 3, Luverne 0The Cardinals were unable to generate much offense, and it proved costly during Tuesday’s home loss to the Rebels.MCC blanked the Cards in the seven-inning tilt, limiting the host to a pair of hits to Jessy Behr and safety to Kim Shelton.Karen Jarchow pitched well during a losing effort. She recorded 13 strikeouts and surrendered five hits in the game.Fairmont tourneyThe Cardinals posted consecutive victories to win the team championship at the Fairmont Tournament Saturday.Coming off a win in the second game of a home doubleheader against Worthington on Thursday, Luverne ran its season-long winning streak to four straight games by posting a 17-3 win over Windom, a 5-3 victory over Fairmont and a 23-8 win over the Trojans Saturday.The Cardinals scored the six runs in the first two innings and coasted to a 14-run victory over Windom in Game 1.The Eagles scored three runs in the bottom of the second to trim Luverne’s lead in half (6-3), but the Cards scored 11 runs in the final three frames to win handily.Jarchow pitched all five innings to get the win. She allowed six hits and three unearned runs. Jarchow recorded four strikeouts.Behr was three-for-three at the plate with three RBIs against the Eagles. Natalie Domagala added a three-run triple.A late homer gave the Cards a two-run win during a second-round game against Fairmont.The hosts tied the game at three in the top of the fifth, but Domagala’s two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth gave LHS the margin of victory.Domagala led the Cards with two hits in the game.Stacy Lorenzen tossed the first six innings to pick up the win.Jarchow received a save when she replaced Lorenzen in the seventh with runners on first and third. Jarchow got out of the jam when her first pitch turned into a triple play. The pitcher snagged a ball hit back at her for the first out, threw to the first baseman to get the second out, and the first baseman threw to third to pick off a straying runner for the third out.The Cards scored 14 runs in the top of the first and coasted to a 15-run, four-inning win over Worthington in the finale.Jarchow pitched two scoreless innings to record her second win of the day. Sara Wynia pitched the final two innings and was touched for eight runs.Taylor Nelson belted two homers and drove in five runs to lead the Cards at the plate against the Trojans. Behr added two hits.Worthington twin billThe Cardinals picked up their first Southwest Conference win of the season during their home debut against the Trojans Thursday.A rough start for LHS led to an 11-8 defeat in Game 1. The Cards never trailed while coasting to a 15-3 victory in the nightcap.Luverne took a 1-0 lead with an RBI single by Behr in the bottom of the first inning in Game 1, but the hosts were outscored 11-7 the rest of the way in what ended as a three-run loss.The Cardinals did rally to knot the score at seven with a four-run fifth inning, and they matched runs with Worthington in the sixth to tie the game at eight.The Trojans, however, scored three times in the top of the seventh before blanking the Cards in the bottom of the frame to clinch the victory.Luverne’s Lorenzen pitched six and one-third innings and was saddled with the loss. She fanned nine batters and walked six. Jarchow recorded the final two outs.Behr drove in three runs with a three-for-four effort at the plate. Jarchow had two hits with a triple. Domagala had a double for the Cards.Jarchow pitched a strong game to lead the Cards to a 12-run win in Game 2.Jarchow didn’t walk a batter while fanning 12 and yielding five hits. She was touched for single runs in the second, third and fifth innings.Luverne scored six runs in the first two innings and added nine more in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh frames to win handily.Jarchow had three hits (one double and one triple) and drove in three runs to lead the charge. Behr slapped a pair of doubles and one single while driving in three runs. Lorenzen had a triple and a single during a two-RBI performance. Nelson had two hits and one RBI.

By John RittenhouseLuverne and Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton track athletes tested their skills at the Howard Wood Dakota Relays in Sioux Falls Friday and Saturday.The annual event attracted more than 3,000 athletes from a three-state area.LHS and H-BC-E-E represented Southwest Minnesota well by producing a combined 10 top 10 performances during the two-day meet.While H-BC-E-E athletes locked up eight Top 10 efforts, a pair of Luverne boys turned in the best performances.Junior Tyler Elbers led the way by clearing 6-3 and finishing second in the high jump.Senior Marcus Walgrave also had a strong showing in the 110-meter hurdles. Walgrave earned a berth in the finals with a pair of preliminary round races, and finished fourth overall with a time of 14.92 in the championship race.Other notable efforts turned in by LHS boys came from Scott Goebel (12th in the 1,600-meter run in 4:44.46) and Justin Van Wyhe (14th in the triple jump with a distance of 40-10 3/4).The Luverne girls were unable to place in the Top 10 at the meet, but they did turn in some notable efforts.Danielle Cook finished 13th in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 48.88. She also ran a leg with Luverne’s 800-meter relay team, which placed 14th in 1:51.78. Jenni Christensen, Amanda Dooyema and Callen Bosshart are other members of the team.The 3,200-meter relay team of Victoria Arends, Sadie Dietrich, Tera Boomgaarden and Lexi Heitkamp placed 13th in 10:13.69.H-BC-E-E’s boys turned in five top 10 performances during the two-day event.The H-BC-E-E girls placed in the Top 10 in three events and established two program records at the meet.H-BC-E-E’s boys produced the top efforts by recording a pair of fifth-place performances, and senior Chris Reid played a role in both efforts.Reid ran an 11.24 in the finals of the 100-meter dash for one of the fifths.Reid joined forces with Zach Boyum, Todd Alberty and Tyler Bush to finish fifth in the medley relay with a time of 3:45.72.The Patriot boys placed eighth in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter relays with respective 3:39.73 and 8:44.98 times. Alberty, Kale Wiertzema, Lee Jackson and Bush ran in both races.Reid placed ninth individually in the long jump with a distance of 20-6.Erin Boeve came away with the best effort for the Patriot girls when she finished sixth in the long jump with a distance of 16-1.Boeve also ran a leg with H-BC-E-E’s medley relay team, which placed 10th and set a new cooperative program record with a time of 4:31.65.Kelly Mulder, Mya Mann and Cassi Tilstra joined Boeve in the medley.The 3,200-meter relay team of Amanda and Cassi Tilstra, Rachel Kvaale and Mann finished seventh with a time of 10:14.94.Amanda Tilstra set an H-BC school record by running 3,200 meters in 12:53.4.The old standard was 12:55 set by BernDean Rozeboom in 1987.