By John RittenhouseSeven members of the Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton track program extended their seasons during the Section 3A Track and Field Championships in Montevideo Thursday.Five Patriot boys and two girls earned the right to compete in this weekend’s Minnesota State Class A Track and Field Championships at the National Sports Center in Blaine.Athletes qualify for the state meet by placing first in relay races, first or second in individual events, or meeting the state-qualifying standards that are in place for the section meet. H-BC-E-E athletes qualified for state competition all three ways Thursday.Senior Chris Reid, juniors Erin Boeve, Lee Jackson and Todd Alberty, and sophomores Cassi Tilstra, Tyler Bush and Kale Wiertzema are the Patriots who will compete at the state classic. They won a combined four section titles, placed second in two events and met one qualifying standard in Montevideo.Reid will be competing in the state meet in three individual events.The H-BC-E-E standout won the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.85, placed a close second in the 100-meter dash with an 11.73 time and met the state-qualifying standard while placing third in the long jump.Reid covered 21-2 1/4 with his first jump in the preliminaries, bettering the standard of 21-2 by one-quarter of one inch. Reid bruised his heal during his first jump, and jumped one more time before shutting it down the rest of the day. He would have had one more opportunity to jump in the preliminaries and three more in the finals, but he didn’t want to risk further injury to his foot.Bush will compete in an individual event and as a member of the 3,200-meter relay team at the state meet.Bush won the 800-meter run with a time of 1:59.64, but it was his stunning performance late in the 3,200-meter relay that helped three more Patriots advance to state meet.Alberty, Wiertzema and Jackson all ran well during their legs of the relay, but H-BC-E-E still trailed a strong Southwest Christian team by a sizeable margin entering the final leg. Bush, however, pressured SWC’s final runner for 800 meters and edged the Eagle at the finishing-line while completing H-BC-E-E’s winning 8:23.66 performance.Tilstra secured a section championship for the Patriot girls.In what Patriot coach Tom Goehle said was her strongest race of the season, Tilstra took the lead early in the 800-meter run and never let it go while winning the event with a time of 2:24.38. Tilstra’s time bettered her school record in the event.Boeve qualified for the state meet by placing second on the long jump.Boeve, who has been bothered by lower back pain in the later stages of the season, unleashed a 17-foot jump early in the competition. Her effort eclipsed the qualifying standard of 16-11, but she qualified for state anyway by placing second.Boeve and Reid will compete in the Class A long jump finals Friday. Both events are scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.Tilstra and Bush will run in the 800 preliminaries, which will be the 15th and 16th events when the running events begin at 3 p.m. Friday. The girls’ 800-meter finals are set for 2:20 p.m. Saturday, with the boys’ event to follow at 2:27.Reid will run in the 100- (sixth event of the day) and 200-meter dash (18th event of the day) during Friday’s preliminaries. The 100-meter finals are set for 11:25 a.m. Saturday. The 200 finals will take place at 2:50 p.m.There are no preliminary races for the boys’ 3,200-meter relay team. The finals will be staged at 10:15 a.m. Saturday.The Patriot boys nearly qualified for state in the 1,600-meter relay before placing second Thursday. Alberty, Wiertzema, Reid and Bush ran a 3:31.9, but they were nipped in the end by a strong Montevideo team.H-BC-E-E’s Curt Schilling extended the cooperative program record in the shot put while placing fifth with a toss of 47-0 1/2. Cody Scholten cleared 5-11 to place sixth in the high jump.Boeve, Mya Mann and Amber Poppen all earned individual places without advancing to state at the section meet.Boeve was fifth in the 100-meter dash (13.75), Mann sixth in the 800 (2:30.98) and Poppen eighth in the long jump (15-5 1/2).The girls’ 800-meter relay team set a cooperative record and placed fourth with a time of 1:51.39. Tilstra, Mann, Poppen and Boeve formed the team.The 1,600- and 3,200-meter relays placed eighth with respective 4:22.23 and 10:48.79 times.Cassi and Amanda Tilstra, Ashley Bucher and Mann ran the 1,600. Ashley and Jocelyn Bucher, Amanda Tilstra and Rachel Kvaale competed in the 3,200.In team competition, the H-BC-E-E boys placed fourth with 59 points and the girls finished ninth with 33 points.
