Two Hills-Beaver Creek athletes earned the right to compete at the state track meet during the Section 3A Track and Field Championships Thursday in Luverne.
Athletes who place first and second in events at the section level automatically qualify for the state meet.
One Patriot boy captured a section title and one girl placed second in the event to punch their tickets to the state meet.
Sophomore Zach Scholten won a section championship for the boys.
Not only did Scholten win the high jump by clearing 6-5, he also tied a school record in the event set by Chris Fransman set back in 2000.
Senior Jenna Wilgenburg advances to state for the Patriot girls by placing second in the 800-meter run.
Her time of 2:20.71 bettered a school record she set in the event earlier this season.
Both Scholten and Wilgenburg compete at the Minnesota State Class A Track and Field Championships set for Friday and Saturday at Hamline University in St. Paul.
Scholten competes in the high jump at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, while Wilgenburg runs in the 800-meter preliminary races on Friday in hopes of advancing to the finals on Saturday.
The H-BC boys compiled 23 points to place 10th overall in a 24-team field at the section meet.
Montevideo won the team title with 100 points.
Carey Taubert turned in a pair of point-producing efforts by placing fifth in the triple jump (39-10 ¾) and sixth in the 400-meter dash (52.99).
Isaiah Vis placed sixth in the long jump after covering a distance of 19-5 ¾, while Drew Forshey cleared 5-9 to place sixth in the high jump.
The Patriot girls scored 12 points to place 17th in a 22-team field.
Luverne captured the team title with 103 points.
Along with Wilgenburg’s effort in the 800, H-BC’s 1,600-meter relay placed fifth with a time of 4:16.29 to record points Thursday.
Paige Tilstra, Madison Spath and Sidney Fick teamed up with Wilgenburg in the 1,600 relay.
Here is a look at the rest of H-BC’s efforts at the section meet.
H-BC boys
Ninth place: Forshey, 11o0 hurdles, 17.22.
10th place: 800 relay (Isaiah Wagenaar, Scholten, Logan Leuthold and Cooper Vaughn), 1:40.92.
11th place: 400 relay (Vaughn, Forshey, Vis and Taubert), 47.48.
12th place: Vis, triple jump, 37-3 ½.
H-BC girls
10th place: 400 relay (Sadie Fuerstenberg), Spath, Fick and Tilstra), 53.92.