By John RittenhouseHills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth athletes enjoyed a promising start to the track season at the Dakota Dome in Vermillion, S.D., Saturday.Competing at the Class B version of the Dan Lennon Invitational, the Patriots turned in an eye-opening performance highlighted by the landing of three meet titles.Patriot coach Tom Goehle seemed to be surprised by the effort he received from the athletes."We’ve barely had two weeks of practice, and this was our first speed workout. I was really pleased with how we performed," he said.Seniors Cody Scholten and Cassi Tilstra locked up individual titles for H-BC-E.Scholten cleared 6-2 to take top honors in the high jump. Tilstra recorded a victory in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:02.58.Scholten also ran a leg for H-BC-E’s winning medley relay team, which turned in a time of 3:52.62. Jan Sommerling, Tyler Bush and Kale Wiertzema joined Scholten in the race.Goehle said winning three events in the Dakota Dome is a rare experience."Those are pretty hard to come by. We had some really great performances. We competed fairly well and performed better than expected," he said.Sommerling, Bush, John Sandbulte and Wiertzema placed second in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:39.51.Rayna Sandoval ran 3,200 meters in 13:16 to place seventh for the Patriot girls.The 1,600- and 800-meter relays placed sixth and 10th with respective 4:26.43 and 13:16 times. Amanda Connors, Mya Mann, Cassi and Amanda Tilstra ran the 1,600. Mann, Cassi Tilstra, Kelly Mulder and Connors formed the 800-meter team.The Patriots compete at the Luverne Quadrangular Tuesday.