Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton was represented by nine athletes at the Minnesota State Class A Track and Field Championships in Blaine Friday and Saturday. They are (from left) Chris Reid, Cassi Tilstra, Erin Boeve, Tyler Bush, Todd Alberty, alternate Kerry Fink, Kale Wiertzema, Lee Jackson and alternate Derek Haak.By John RittenhouseThe Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton boys’ track team found the formula for success at the Minnesota State Class A Track and Field Championships in Blaine last weekend.The Patriots scored points in five events and placed second as a team during competition staged at the National Sports Center.H-BC-E-E compiled 39 points during the two-day event, finishing second to state champion Plainview (63 points) in a field that featured 77 different teams producing points during the meet.The second-place performance is H-BC-E-E’s best effort as a team at a state meet, and it came as a welcome surprise to Patriot coach Tom Goehle."You don’t go to a state meet thinking about winning as a team," he said. "You want the kids to come up with their best performances. To succeed as a team, it usually takes a couple of superb performances by one person, and to get a little help from some others. That’s what we did last weekend."Chris Reid came up with the superb performances for the Patriots.All the senior did was win two individual state championships and place third in another event, and establish two school records in the process."Just to get to the state meet is quite an honor, especially in Minnesota," Goehle said. "When you excel at a state meet like Chris did, you realize that you really are the cream of the crop."Reid’s weekend was highlighted by the state championships he produced in the long jump and 100-meter dash.By winning those events, Reid joins Brad Haak (800 champion in 2001) and Steve Esselink (long jump champion in 1999) as H-BC athletes to win individual state championships.Reid’s first title came Friday, when he took top honors in the long jump.On his second jump in the preliminaries, Reid broke off a 22-4 1/2 effort that surpassed his old school record of 21-9 3/4.Reid passed on this third jump during the preliminaries so he could run in the 100-meter dash preliminaries. He recorded jumps of 21-10 1/2 and 21-8 1/2 in the finals, but his 22-4 1/2 effort in the preliminaries proved to be the winning distance. Triton’s Jamin Eggert placed second with a distance of 21-8.Reid, who placed fifth in the long jump at last year’s state meet, could have produced a longer distance Friday if his timing had been right."I really didn’t do too much right," he said. "I was missing the board by about a foot and a half. I felt good jumping, but I knew I was way behind the board," he said.Reid’s timing was much better in the 100 preliminaries, when he won his heat and recorded the second-fastest qualifying time for the finals with an 11.44 effort.He came up with an even stronger performance in Saturday’s finals, running an 11.14 to best runnerup Brian Baumann of Blue Earth Area, who turned in an 11.21."I was feeling good, and I ran one of my best races of the season in the finals. I probably had my best start of the season during that race, and it came at the right time." Reid said. "I ran and felt good, but the start was the big thing."By winning the 100, Reid overshadowed his fifth-place performance in the same race at last year’s state meet.Reid capped his high school career by placing third in the finals of the 200-meter dash.He ran a 22.87 in Friday’s preliminaries, placing second in his heat while establishing the fourth fastest qualifying time for Saturday’s finals.H-BC-E-E needed a strong performance from Reid in the finals as the Patriots were one point out of second place in the team standings.Reid came through as he set a new school record with a time of 22.46 and finished third. Chad Miller owned the old standard of 22.54.Melrose’s Mike Linneman won the 200 title with a time of 22.33."I ran the 200 during the season, but I didn’t run it that well until I got to state," Reid offered.Reid credits coach Goehle for getting him in shape to be successful at the state level. Goehle credits Reid for having the drive to win two state titles and place third in another event."Chris came into the meet with the right mentality," Goehle said. "Some people set their goals at getting to state. Chris had a bigger goal of winning a couple of state titles."Reid wasn’t alone in H-BC-E-E’s acquisition of the runner-up trophy in team competition. Tyler Bush, Todd Alberty, Lee Jackson and Kale Wiertzema also made key contributions to the team effort.Bush, a sophomore, placed a strong fifth in the 800-meter run.Bush ran a 1:57.25 in Friday’s preliminaries, placing third in his heat and recording the fourth fastest qualifying time for the finals.The Patriot came back with a 1:58.5 during the finals Saturday, finishing fifth behind state champion Eric Palmquist, of Warroad, who ran a 1:54.66."It wasn’t that Tyler ran any slower in the finals," Goehle explained. "It was the fact that the race was much more congested."Bush also was a member of H-BC-E-E’s 3,200-meter relay team, which placed eighth with a time of 8:31.63 Saturday. Kingsland won the state championship with a time of 8:03.06.Juniors Alberty and Jackson and sophomore Wiertzema round out the squad."We came in with the seventh-fastest qualifying time and ended up placing eighth. Our goal in the 3,200 relay was to get to state, and anything that happened when we got there would be gravy," Goehle said.Junior Erin Boeve and sophomore Cassi Tilstra, E-BC-E-E’s female entries at the state meet, were unable to medal at the event.Boeve placed 10th in the long jump with a distance of 15-10. St. Cloud Cathedral’s Emily Coborn won the state title with a distance of 17-3 1/5.Tistra ran a 2:26.6 in the preliminaries of the 800-meter run, placing seventh in her heat and was unable to qualify for the finals. Roseau’s Heidi Evans won the state title with a time of 2:15.14.
