Hopkins junior Todd Henley wasn’t able to meet his goal of breaking 16 minutes for a five-kilometer race Saturday at the Portage Invitational, but he finished third in Division 3 behind Sam Sharnas of Holland Black River and Cole Jensen of Montague.
Meanwhile, the Viking girls’ team did reasonably well, finishing 10th among 35 teams entered.
Henley last weekend recorded a school record 16:03 performance at the Allendale Invitational and turned in a time of 16:34.4 on a very wet and slick course. It was the first time this season that he finished lower than second.
Henley earned a medal, as Lady Viking seniors Jasmine Fisher and Laura Velderman. Fisher crossed the finish line in 20:41.9 for 38th place and Velderman was 49th in 21:06.3. Emma Helder was 75th, Alyssa Beilby took 91st and Alexis Zalis was 108th.
Hopkins scored 337 points as a team, Hart ran away with the team competition with an impressive 32 points and O-K Silver Conference rival Calvin Christian was runner-up with 103.
The Hopkins boys finished with 571 points in 20th place. Shepherd won it with 135 and Benzie Central was second with 140.
Dan Rausch was second for the Vikings with a 17:35.1 clocking and 34th place, also good for a medal. Zach Nutter was 149th, Andrew Hazen was 242nd and Jake Pastoor 274th.
There were 384 runners in the boys’ race and 344 in the girls’ competition.
COVER PHOTO: Lady Vikings Laura Velderman (left) and Jasmine Fisher show their Portage Invitational medals.
