Now don’t get too excited yet about the Wayland girls’ cross-country team. Yeah, they’ve won their first two invitationals thus far this season, but they did that last year, too, before they had to compete in the O-K Gold, perhaps the toughest girls’ cross conference in Michigan.

However, it’s difficult not to get excited because the Lady Wildcats captured nine of the top 15 slots Thursday at the Kelloggsville Invitational at the South Christian athletic fields in Kentwood. They scored an impressive 24 points, half as many as runner-up rival Hopkins and way ahead of Grand River Prepatory and Grand Rapids Union.

The Wayland boys had to settle for sixth among seven teams with 131 points. Hopkins, despite copping the top two individual slots, finished third behind winner Grand River Prep with 85 points and first-year Martin again was successful with fourth place and 94 points.

Sophomore Rylee Cronkright, who seemed to come out of nowhere last week by taking second at the Wayland Invitational, proved it was no fluke. She captured medalist honors and earned the distinction of being the only female to complete the 5K run in less than 20 minutes, crossing the finish line in 19:52.25, the sixth best time in WHS cross history. She even bested Wildcat senior ace Maggie Whitney, who was runner-up at 20:07.28, a career best time. They were followed by Viking ace junior Laura Velderman in 20:40.05 and teammate Jasmine Fisher at 20:52.89. No other girls broke 21 minutes in the race.

Wayland wrapped things up early by taking sixth, seventh and eighth places and leaving observers wondering who is this sophomore, Mie Tornbjerg, who was sixth for the ‘Cats, followed by freshman Naomi Oosterhouse and senior Abbie Hasse. It turns out Tornbjerg is a foreign exchange student from Denmark and obviously a welcome addition.

So coach Sue Brewer’s gang took five of the top eight slots to run away with the trophy. And O-K Gold top guns East Grand Rapids, South Christian, Thornapple Kellogg, Forest Hills Eastern and Grand Rapids Christian have to wonder, “What’s up with these Wildcats?”

Emma Helder was 14^th, Gracie DeZeeuw 20^th and Hannah Couch 23^rd to round out the scoring for Hopkins.

Sophomore Todd Henley was medalist at 17:04.88 for the Hopkins boys and junior teammate Dan Rausch was runner-up at 17:23.96.

Martin junior Brysan Young took ninth place in 18:51.63 and fellow Clipper Seth Hentschel came 12th at 19:15.27.

Rounding out the scoring for the Vikings were Jake Pastoor in 19^th, Chris Tortorelli 35^th and Zach Nutter 38^th.

Freshman Carsen Young was 17^th for Martin, freshman Kyle Pallett was 22^nd and Joshua Visser 44^th.

Ethan Killips was the only Wayland harrier to finish in under 20 minutes, crossing the line in 19:48.45. Gabe Attruia was 31^st, Jarod Geerligs 33^rd, Andrew VanBaal 39^th and Ian Russell 40^th.

PHOTOS: Wayland girls’ cross-country team members celebrate their second straight invitational championship, but their biggest tests await next month in the rugged O-K Gold Conference.

Hopkins medalist Todd Henley