By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth cross country teams made their 2001 debut at the Wolverine Invitational in Mountain Lake Wednesday, Aug. 29.

As has become a tradition, Patriot coach Tom Goehle limited his runners to junior varsity competition for the first meet of the year.

"We do it (run at the junior varsity level) to ease into the season," Goehle said. "I was really happy with the way things went because the kids gave a spirited performance. They ran really hard. It was an excellent way to start the year."

Sixteen H-BC-E boys ran in Mountain Lake, where they dominated the team competition by winning the junior varsity title with 22 points.

Brad Haak, Tyler Bush and Lee Jackson led the charge by placing first, second and third with respective 10:58, 11:23 and 11:51 efforts during the two-mile event.

Matt Buck and Greg Van Batavia capped the team scoring by finishing sixth and ninth with respective 11:58 and 12:07 times.

Rounding out the Patriot boys are Kale Wiertzema (16th in 12:25), Nathan Fick (18th in 12:38), Devin DeBoer (19th in 12:47), Nathan Mahone (20th in 12:48), Derek Haak (37th in 13:35), John Sandbulte (39th in 13:49), Paul Jess (42nd in 13:54), Kerry Fink (50th in 14:09), Jared Drenth (73rd in 14:49), Adam Finke (85th in 15:45) and Justin Hinks (107th in 19:14).

The Patriot girls placed fourth in a 19-team field with 124 points.

Cassi Tilstra set the pace for H-BC-E by finishing second in 5:58 in the one-mile race.

Brittney Rozeboom, Becky Broesder, Amanda Tilstra and Stacy Bush contributed to the team effort by placing 11th, 27th, 29th and 55th with respective 6:24, 6:42, 6:44 and 7:03 times.

Kim Janssen placed 93rd in 9:25 without contributing to the scoring.

By Jolene Farley
The search continues for a new Hills-Beaver Creek superintendent to replace Tom Knoll, who left in July.

Interim Superintendent Daryl Williams updated School Board members on the hiring process at Tuesday's meeting.

The closing date for applicants is Friday, Sept. 14. The district has received about 20 applications so far.

Williams advised board members they would need to schedule some time the week after the cut-off date to review applications and decide whom they want to interview.

He suggested the board come up with a ranking of characteristics desired in a superintendent to be used to formulate the questions asked during the interviews.

Board Chair Roland Crawford characterized the applications received so far as "some good, some way over-qualified for us."

Williams advised the board to keep in mind, "people move for different reasons, sometimes location or they want to move to a rural area."

Williams plans to ask for staff input on the hiring at an in-service on Monday.

In other board business:
A marketing brochure to "let people know what the Hills-Beaver Creek district has to offer" will be distributed around the area.

The brochure provides background information on the district and details academic and extracurricular programs offered by the school.

The board suggested putting the brochures in convenience stores and at city hall. They also thought realtors would be interested in passing them out to potential Hills area residents.

The School Board meeting scheduled for Monday, Aug. 27, is cancelled. The next meeting will be Monday, Sept. 10.

By Lori Ehde
It's been more than three months since Luverne's Carrie Nelson was murdered while working at Blue Mounds State Park, but the case remains a top priority for both local and state investigators.

"All leads are taken, and all are followed up on," said Assistant County Terry Vajgrt. "It's a very methodical process."

The latest update to the story is a possible increase in the reward money offered for information leading to an arrest. The amount currently stands at $15,000.

Vajgrt said he and local law enforcement met in St. Paul Aug. 24 to review evidence to date with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

"We have no significant developments and sometimes that's the hardest news to release," Vajgrt said Tuesday. "But without question, the case continues to be a top priority."

He said the St. Paul meeting involved himself, Rock County Sheriff Ron McClure, Investigator Clyde Menning, eight to 10 BCA agents and a representative from the Minnesota Attorney General's office.

"Forensics scientists at BCA are working hard on the case examining physical evidence," Vajgrt said.

"At least one BCA agent at all times is working exclusively on the case - and that's in addition to the forensics scientists.

"Our local investigator, Clyde Menning, is working almost exclusively on the case, following up on leads."

Nelson, 20, was found beaten to death at the Blue Mounds State Park entrance building in the afternoon of Sunday, May 20.

Still key to solving the murder is information on the watch found at the scene of the beating.

Investigators think the watch was worn by the person responsible for the robbery and murder.

The digital watch face bears the logo "Field Ranger" and is silver. The watchband is tan with brown leather accents.

Anyone with knowledge of a person wearing a watch matching this description is asked to call the tip line at (507) 283-1301.

By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth celebrated a season-opening football victory after upending Lakeview 27-12 in a non-conference tilt played in Cottonwood Friday.

Senior quarterback David Top threw a pair of touchdown passes and senior tailback Chris Reid ran for 201 yards and two touchdowns to highlight the win for H-BC-E.

Although the Patriots turned the ball over six times in the game, H-BC-E produced six turnovers and never trailed in the contest.

Patriot coach Dan Ellingson seemed pleased with H-BC-EÕs offensive performance, which featured 343 total yards and 257 rushing yards.

"I was happy overall," he said. "We moved the ball real well, which was something I was concerned with entering the game. When we got the ball inside the 10-yard line, we were able to score. That's something we're trying to emphasize this year. I'm a little concerned because we did have six turnovers, but we got some big runs out of Reid and two touchdown passes from Top. That's good for our offense."

H-BC-E controlled play in the first half while opening a 21-0 lead.

The Patriots lost a scoring opportunity to start the game when Top was intercepted in the end zone to end H-BC-E's first possession, but the defense forced Lakeview to punt moments later.

Reid took matters into his own hands when he dashed 29 yards for a touchdown to end H-BC-E's second possession. A missed extra-point attempt kept the score at 6-0.

The difference remained at six points until the second quarter, when the Patriots struck twice.

After a Lakeview punt, the H-BC-E offense put together a 55-yard drive that ended with Reid scoring from nine yards away. When Top hit Brad Haak for a successful two-point conversion pass, the Patriots had a 14-0 lead.

The Patriots took advantage of a Lakeview mistake to score again before the second quarter was complete.

H-BC-E defender Kyle Braun recovered a fumble on the Lakeview 30-yard line, which set up a short drive that ended with Top and Haak hooking up for a nine-yard touchdown pass.

Tyler Bush booted the extra point to make it 21-0 difference that would stand for the remainder of the first half.

Lakeview trimmed H-BC-E's lead to 15 points (21-6) when Taylor Kroger scored on an eight-yard run in the third quarter, but that would be as close as the hosts would get to catching H-BC-E.

Patriot Chris Tiesler recovered a fumble on the Lakeview 38 during the fourth quarter, which set up a nine-yard touchdown pass from Top to Darin DeBoer moments later. A blocked extra-point attempt kept the score at 27-6.

Lakeview capped the scoring when Tyler Jeseritz found the end zone from two yards out with 3:00 remaining in the game.

The Patriots will open Southwest Ridge Conference play tomorrow in Heron Lake, where they meets Southwest Star concept.

SSC sports a football program that was winless in the 1999 and 2000 seasons, but it stunned Lake Benton 27-8 during a game played in Heron Lake last Friday.

"I'm sure they are up after beating LB," Ellingson said. "They have a really good quarterback, and they are a quick team that runs the option well. It will be a big challenge for us."

Team statistics
H-BC-E: 257 rushing yards, 86 passing yards, 343 total yards, 14 first downs, six penalties for 50 yards, six turnovers.

Lakeview: 231 rushing yards, 23 passing yards, 254 total yards, 13 first downs, five penalties for 45 yards, six turnovers.

Individual statistics
Rushing: Reid 25-201, Jesse Leuthold 16-54, Top 3-3, Tiesler 1-minus 1.

Passing: Top 9-14 for 86 yards.

Receiving: Haak 5-61, DeBoer 2-15, Reid 2-10.

Defense: Leuthold 11 tackles, Curt Schilling 11 tackles, Tiesler one fumble recovery, Braun one fumble recovery, Haak six tackles and two interceptions, Brant Deutsch four tackles, one fumble recovery and one sack, DeBoer one interception.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth baseball team went 1-4 during a busy five-game week.

The Patriots lost a pair of games to Adrian (see game stories elsewhere in the sports section), split a double-header against Southwest Star Concept-Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster in Heron Lake Friday, and lost a home decision to Murray County Central Tuesday.

H-BC-E was facing one of the top teams in Section 3A when it hosted the Rebels Tuesday.

MCC scored four runs in the first two innings and coasted to an 11-1 victory in a game that ended by the 10-run rule after six innings of play.

The Patriots were in striking position when Justin Van Maanen chased home Steve Swayze, who walked early in the bottom of the third, with a fielderÕs choice to make it a 4-1 difference.

MCC, however, blanked the Patriots the rest of the way while plating three runs in the fourth inning and four more in the sixth.

Van Maanen took the pitching loss for the Patriots. He yielded 11 runs and 10 hits while registering seven strikeouts in six innings of work.

Clint Roozenboom, Darin DeBoer, David Top and Paul Jess all singled for H-BC-E.

The Patriots dominated play while rolling to a 14-0 win over SSC-SV-RL-B during the first game of FridayÕs twin bill in Heron Lake. The hosts edged H-BC-E 3-2 in the nightcap.

A strong pitching performance by Top was the key to victory in Game 1.

Top twirled a five-inning shutout while yielding four hits. He fanned three batters.

H-BC-E supported its pitcher by scoring three runs in the first inning, two in the second, one in the third and eight in the fifth.

DeBoer, who was two-for-two at the plate, drove in a run with a single in the first inning. Top added a sacrifice fly and Van Maanen received an RBI for a ground out to make it a 3-0 difference.

DeBoer doubled home a run before scoring on a wild pitch in the second to make it 5-0, and Vlad Pastushenko singled home a counter in the third to make it 6-0.

The Patriots used six hits and three walks to produce eight runs in the fifth inning.
Roozenboom also had two hits for H-BC-E in the opener.

Game 2 was a nail-biter that went to SSC-SV-RL-B.

The hosts scored two runs in the first and one in the fourth to gain a 3-0 cushion.

H-BC-E countered with single runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth but came up one run short in the scheduled five-inning contest.

Roozenboom, who had two hits in the finale, singled home H-BC-EÕs first run in the fourth inning. Kevin Van Batavia doubled and scored on TopÕs sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Van Maanen pitched all five innings in the finale. He recorded two strikeouts while yielding two hits.

The 2-4-1 Patriots host Bethany Christian for a double-header Monday.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth girls' golf squad was unable to produce its first win of the season during a triangular meet played in Adrian Tuesday.

Adrian and Fulda served as H-BC-E's opponents during the Adrian triangular, an event the Patriots placed third in with a 219-stroke total.

Fulda won the team title with 176 strokes. The host team placed second with 194 strokes.

Jessica Martens led the Patriots during the event with a 14-over-par 50.

Jessica Wassenaar, Melissa Fagerness and Marla Groen chipped in 53-, 54- and 62-stroke scores to H-BC-E's team total.

Kari Jansma shot a 72 without influencing the scoring.

Fulda's Erin Oakland became the medalist by shooting a five-over-par 41.

Autumn Wolf led Adrian with a 10-over-par 46.

The 0-3 Patriots played Red Rock Central in Larchwood, Iowa, last night.

By John Rittenhouse
The 2001 season got off to a rough start for Hills-Beaver Creek as the Patriots lost a 3-0 match to Sibley-Ocheyedan in Sibley, Iowa, Tuesday.

S-O is a team that has had H-BC's number in recent years, and that proved to be true again Tuesday.

The Generals beat the Patriots in a five-game match in Hills last fall, but they only needed three games to top H-BC this time.

"We were very inconsistent," said Patriot coach Nicole Fey. "There were some spurts when we got our passes to the setter and looked really good. Then we got into a slump, and we had a hard time getting out of it."

S-O, on the other hand, used its height at the net (the Generals have three players 6-0 or taller) to control the action on the court while outscoring H-BC 45-13 for the night.

The Generals secured a 15-4 win in the opener before H-BC made things closer while falling 15-8 in the second game.

S-O completed the sweep by coasting to a 15-1 win in the finale.

"They had some tall girls up front. We had a hard time trying to beat their block," Fey admitted.

Tonya Leenderts and Brittney Olson turned in strong serving performances for H-BC.

Leenderts was eight of eight with two aces. Olson was seven of eight with three aces.

Erin Boeve led H-BC at the net by completing 10 of 15 spikes and registering eight kills.

The 0-1 Patriots host Comfrey in the Red Rock Conference opener tonight. H-BC travels to Rock Rapids, Iowa, for the Central Lyon Tournament Saturday before returning to Rock Rapids to take on CL in a duel match Tuesday.

By John Rittenhouse
Tuesday proved to be a good day for a pair of Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth boys' cross country teams.

Competing at the Dragon Invitational in Adrian, the Patriot varsity and junior high boys' squads came away with team titles at meet's end.

The varsity boys scored 47 points to nip Luverne, which tallied 48 counters. Adrian was third with 65 points.

The junior high boys secured the top three individual places while winning their team competition with 23 points.

All in all, it was a good day for the Patriots.

"We performed well as teams, and the kids ran well individually," said Patriot coach Tom Goehle.

Brad Haak set the pace for the varsity boys by winning the race with a time of 18:46.

Matt Buck (sixth in 20:46), Nathan Fick (11th in 21:13), Kale Wiertzema (14th in 21:37) and Lee Walraven (15th in 21:46) made contributions to the winning team tally.

Paul Jess finished 24th in 25:34 without influencing the scoring.

Nathan Mahone, Devin DeBoer and Kerry Fink helped the boys' junior high team secure a title by placing first, second and third with respective 6:21, 6:22 and 6:35 times.

John Sandbulte and Adam Finke placed eighth and ninth in 7:09 and 7:14 to cap the team scoring.

Grant Hoogendoorn and Justin Hinks finished 12th and 19th in 7:48 and 10:11 without influencing the scoring.

Patriots Amanda Tilstra and Stacy Bush ran in the girls' junior high race, placing sixth and ninth with respective 7:39 and 8:11 efforts.

Brittney Rozeboom and Becky Broesder placed third and seventh with times of 20:44 and 21:35 in the girls' junior varsity race.

Jared Drenth placed 14th with a time of 18:58 in the boys' junior varsity run.

"This was a good starting point for us," Goehle said. "For a lot of these kids, these were their longest races of the season. We found out what we need to improve on, and we'll work hard on doing it."

H-BC-E runs at the West Lyon Invitational at the Meadow Acres Country Club near Larchwood, Iowa, Monday.

Megan Westrum and her mother, Angie, Steen, arrive at Hills-Beaver Creek Elementary for Megan's first day in kindergarten Tuesday morning. Megan excitedly blurted out that her teacher's name is Mrs. Fischer.

Photo by Jolene Farley