The Wayland girls’ varsity cross-country team had a reasonably respectable showing in its first O-K Gold Conference meet Thursday at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids.
The Lady Wildcats finished third in a six-team race. South Christian was first with only 17 points, Middleville Thornapple Kellogg was second with 66 and Wayland had 82.
No fewer than seven of the girls turned in their best 5K times of the season.
Sophomore Abree VanDenBrink led the pack with a 5,000-meter time of 20:48.8. She was followed closely by freshman Madison Bumhoffer at 20:51. The two took fifth and sixth places, respectively Rounding out the scoring were senior Rylee Haveman, junior Marissa Ainsworth and sophomore Sophia Miller.
The Wildcat boys checked in fifth in the seven-team field Thursday at Riverside. They collected 136 points. South Christian took top honors with 34 and Northview was a close second at 37.
Coach Nikki Hoogewind also noted that six of the Wayland boys turned in their season best performances.
Junior Mason Fein led the way with a 5K time 17:16.4. senior Ethan Manning was right behind him in 17:42.4. Freshman Carter Bultje checked in at 21;19.8, Jackson Byers ran in 22:47.7. not a personal record, but freshman Shayne Krasinski PR’d with 23:12.4 as then first man.
