Members of the Luverne, Adrian-Edgerton and Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth cross country teams had an early engagement Saturday.
All three programs from the Star Herald coverage area converged in Worthington to run in the annual Worthington Turkey Trot in the morning.
Runners from all three programs made impacts in the different races.
The Adrian-Edgerton boys ran their way to a third-place finish in the team competition, and the Luverne boys placed eighth out of nine teams.
A-E's girls capped a seven-team field in varsity competition. Luverne didn't field a complete team, but the Cards did have two fine performances from varsity girls.
H-BC-E competed in the junior high and junior varsity races, producing two individual championships and one team title.
Meet officials award trophies for the top 10 finishers in varsity competition, and two Luverne girls picked up some hardware.
Hannah and Sadie Dietrich finished fifth and ninth with respective 16:15 and 16:36 times.
Krissi Thier led the Harrier girls during the varsity race by placing 21st with a time of 17:25.
Ashley Diller (32nd in 18:22), Kelly Banck (33rd in 18:34), Lacey Heitkamp (35th in 18:40) and Sarah Kruger (39th in 18:48) made contributions to A-E's team effort. Ashley Henning placed 46th in 19:37 without influencing the team tally.
Jason Eickhoff picked up a trophy and led the A-E boys to their third-place performance in the varsity standings by finishing eighth with a time of 18:28.
Paul Honermann (12th in 18:44), Wade Ulmer (22nd in 19:25), Jake Salter (28th in 19:42) and Derek Vastenhout (29th in 19:44) round out A-E's point total. Josh Markl and Todd Alberty placed 45th and 58th in 20:21 and 23:00 without contributing to the team cause.
Nick Otten led the Luverne boys in varsity competition by placing 13th in 18:50.
Jesse Kuhlman (30th in 19:45), Tony Kopp (40th in 20:04), Jeff Luethje (52nd in 21:17) and Kyle Bitterman (55th in 21:34) helped the Cards place eighth as a team.
Brad Haak and Tyler Bush made meet history for H-BC-E.
Haak won the boys' junior varsity race and set a meet record that has stood since 1994 with his time of 11:09. Bush won the boys' junior high race and set a meet record that was established in 1996 with a time of 5:45.
The H-BC-E boys won the team competition at the junior high level.
Luverne, H-BC-E and A-E run at meets in Jackson today and Slayton Tuesday. H-BC-E and A-E go to Princeton Saturday.
Here's a look at the varsity team standings and the rest of the individual results from the Worthington Turkey Trot.
Boys' standings: Murray County Central 57, New ulm 64, A-E 99, Windom 109, Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin 119, Worthington 124, Southwest Christian 139, Luverne 190, Southwest Star Concept-Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster 228.
Girls' standings: SSC-SV-RL-B 67, MCC 80, Tracy-Milroy 93, NU 124, Windom 141, Worthington 155, A-E 160.
Girls' junior varsity
Luverne: Nicole Cronquist, 10th, 15:27; Suzanne Gluf, 16th, 16:00.
A-E: Jamie Koehne, 27th, 19:16.
H-BC-E: Shanna Tilstra, third, 14:13; Bev Wurpts, fifth, 14:34; Connie Lewis, seventh, 14:55.
Boys' junior varsity
Luverne: Kevin Klay, 33rd, 15:28.
A-E: Jonathon Beukelman, 21st, 13:36; Kelly Seeman, 32nd, 14:12; Paul Poppen, 34th, 14:36.
H-BC-E, Haak, first, 11:09; Nathan Fick, fourth, 12:07; Matt Buck, sixth, 12:18; Lee Jackson, seventh, 12:30.
Girls' junior high
Luverne: Victoria Arends, sixth, 7:15; Amanda Saum, eighth, 7:23; Breanna Studer, 18th, 7:42; Jessica Willers, 23rd, 8:00; Michelle Riddle, 33rd, 9:00.
A-E: Samantha Ferguson, 14th, 7:32; Abbey Henning, 16th, 7:38; Sidney Miner, 29th, 8:22; Jenny Weiss, 33rd, 8:39.
H-BC-E: Cassi Tilstra, third, 6:48; Amanda Tilstra, 30th, 8:26.
Boys' junior high
Luverne: Ruston Aaker, fourth, 6:23; Michael Nelson, 26th, 7:23; Travis Halffman, 27th, 7:30.
A-E: Brandon Bullerman, sixth, 6:25; Joey Bullerman, 20th, 6:59; Marcus Uithoven, 37th, 9:20; Aldon Vaselaar, 41st, 10:59.
H-BC-E: Bush, first, 5:45; Kale Wiertzema, 12th, 6:46; Travis Broesder, 16th, 6:50; Derek Haak, 23rd, 7:01; Justin Hinks, 38th, 9:40.