Wildcat frosh, Hopkins senior going to state C-C meet

Hopkins senior Todd Henley and Wayland freshman Olivia Barabas Saturday both qualified for the Division 2 state cross-country meet by placing among the top 15 individuals in the regional competition at Portage.

For Barabas, the day was particularly sweet because she ran the 5,000-meter course in under 20 minutes for the first time in her career, checking in at 19:58.5, good for 14^th place. Henley gave himself a chance to salvage an injury-ridden season by taking 13^th place in just over 17:03.

Henley is no stranger to the state meet at Michigan International Speedway near Brooklyn. But because of injuries, he hadn’t run in a race until finally taking part earlier this month in the O-K Silver Conference meet.

The Hopkins boys, running with a full team for only the second time this fall, placed 16^th in the team competition, with 420 points and Wayland checked in 15^th with 418.

Freshman Travis Koon placed 60^th in 18:26.8 to lead the Wildcats. Senior Ian Russell was 75^th in 18:58 , Jared Jandernoa 90^th in 19:43.7. Devin Weaver just missed eclipsing 20 minutes in 95^th and Samuel Garheden was 98^th.

Adam Ball was 84^th in 19:21.3 for the Vikings, Andrew Hazen was 106^th, Dean Heiden 108^th and Zach Wisser 109^th.

The Wayland girls finished 10^th as a team and Hopkins was 12^th.

Gracie Hasse was 45^th for the Lady Wildcats, Hannah Smith 60^th, Serenna VanHouten 61^st and Naomi Oosterhouse 75^th.

Alyssa Beilby led the Lady Vikings in 49^th place, Hannah Fisher was 58^th, Arianna DeGroot 67^th, Astrid Baandrup 70^th and Mary Wells 74^th.