Martin junior cross-country star Veyda Conley again broke the 20-minute mark Wednesday, but she finished fifth in the Southwest Athletic Conference meet at Warner Camp, Grand Junction.
The Martin girls’ team checked in fourth in a 15-team field with 104 points. Saugatuck won it with 33, Kalamazoo Hackett had 61 and Gobles 86.
Perennial medalist Libby Smith of Gobles was first again in the 5,000-meter race with a terrific time of 18:27.25. Conley fared slightly better in time than in her previous meet, crossing the finish line in 19:43.96.
Backing Conley for the Clipper girls’ scoring were Sara Schipper in 20th place, Allison Rodgers in 22nd, Riley Bender 28th and DuRae Sage in 30th.
In the boys’ race, Martin was 10th among 16 teams. Holland Black River was the winner with 41 points and Saugatuck was runner-up with 68. Martin had 252.
Kalamazoo Hackett’s Marek Butkiewicz was individual medalist at 15:48.68.
Martin was led by Jadon Dettmann in 26th place at 18:48.12. He was followed by teammates Hunter Hayes 42nd, Gari Salvador-Garcia 45th, Lance Kayor 77th and Logan Tenbrink 82nd. There were 133 individual participants in the boys’ competition and 126 for the girls.
