By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth track squad picked up their first exposure to outdoor competition this season at the Central Lyon Relays in Rock Rapids, Iowa, Tuesday.
Unfortunately for H-BC-E, the Patriots were unable to finish what they started.
After rain started to make cold and windy conditions even more miserable, Patriot coach Tom Goehle made the decision to pull his team out of the meet with five girls' and boys' events remaining.
"They wanted to finish the meet, but I wasn't interested. We got a good workout in, with all of our kids getting to run in at least one event," he said.
The H-BC-E girls picked up two event titles before they left Rock Rapids.
Erin Boeve, who placed second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.38, won the long jump with a distance of 14-10.
H-BC-EÕs 3,200-meter relay team of Cassi Tilstra, Bev Wurpts, Brittney Olson and Janelle Jenniges produced the winning time of 10:32.87.
Wurpts finished a strong second in the 400-meter dash in 1:07.65.
The Patriot boys came away with one meet championship as the 3,200-meter relay team of Chris Willers, Lee Jackson, Tyler Bush and Brad Haak recorded the winning time of 8:42.43.
Patriots Vlad Pastushenko and Greg Van Batavia came up with the team's best individual efforts.
Pastushenko finished second in the long jump with a distance of 17-2 1/2. Van Batavia ran 1,600 meters in 5:14.85 to place third.
The Patriot teams will run at the Pipestone-Jasper Invitational Saturday before attending a triangular meet in Windom Tuesday.
Here is a look at the rest of H-BC-EÕs individual results from the Central Lyon Relays.
H-BC-E girls
Third place: Shuttle-hurdle relay (Angie Bush, Kari Roozenboom, Kelsey Hansel and Sarah Rozeboom), 1:29.95.
Fourth place: Shanna Tilstra, 200, 29.34; Roozenboom, 400 hurdles, 1:32.36; 800 relay (Rozeboom, Jenniges, Melinda Feucht and Connie Lewis), 2:01.41.
Fifth place: Lewis, long jump, 13-2 1/2; Rachel Kvaale, 800, 2:56.56; Bush, 400 hurdles, 1:37.75; medley relay (LaDonna Sandstede, Olson, Brittney Rozeboom and Feucht), 5:05.53.
H-BC-E boys
Fourth place: Chris Fransman, high jump, 6-0; 800 relay (Jackson, Fransman, Willers and Haak), 1:37.95.
Fifth place: Derek Haak, 3,200, 13:26.
Sixth place: Pastushenko, 200, 25.96; Jared Drenth, 3,200, 13:52; Kerry Fink, 1,600, 5:53.