Hopkins performed reasonably well Friday evening in a crowded field of schools, most of them Division 2, at the Gull Lake Invitational.
Though some unbeaten streaks fell for individuals and relays, high finishes and personal bests were not uncommon.
Turning in the most successful outing for the Lady Vikings were distance runners Jasmine Fisher and Laura Velderman and thrower Meghan Schulz.
Fisher, only a sophomore, was runner-up in the 1600-meter run with a season-best time of 5:43.99.
Velderman, also a sophomore, was third in both the 400- and 800-meter runs, with times of 1:03.57 and 2:37.16, respectively.
Schulz, a junior, took third in the discus with a toss of 92 feet, 5 inches and was fifth in the shot put at 34-09.25. It was the first time this season she didn’t finish first in the shot.
Also seeing winning streaks come to an end were the 3200-, 1600- and 800-meter relay quartets. The 3200, with Velderman, Fisher, Emma Helder and Madison Snoeyink, was fourth in 10:45.2; the 1600, with Velderman, Cassidy Finney, Helder and Madeline Krcatovich, was seventh in 4:42.51, and the 800, featuring Finney, Krcatovich, Brittney Houseman and Stephanie Bolthouse was ninth in 1:59.32.
Houseman, the Lady Vikings’ top sprinter, finished fourth in the 100-meter dash and seventh in the 200. She also was eighth in the long jump.
Logan Blank’s fifth in the high hurdles at 16.44 seconds was the highest finish for the boys. He also was ninth in the long jump and freshman Trey Collins 10th.
Sophomore Dan Rausch finished sixth in the open 400-meter run at 54.46 seconds and in the 800 with a time of 2:09.52.
Freshman Todd Henley was 11th in the 3200, crossing the finish line in 10:55.69.
The best of the relays was in the 3200 with Nick Belka, Brandon DeGroot, Jacob Pastoor and Rauch checking in at 9:11.53, good for seventh.
Three relay quartets took ninth, including Michael McKenzie, Carson Timm, Blank and Cole Bergman in the 400; McKenzie, Cyrus Miner, Hunter Lewellyn and Timm in the 800, and Belka, Adria Serrano, DeGroot and Rausch in the 1600.
The teams in the competition, besides Hopkins, were Byron Center, Holt, Portage Northern, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix, St. Joseph, Kalamazoo Central, Comstock, Three Rivers, host Gull Lake, Galesburg-Augusta, Edwardsburg, Middleville Thornapple Kellogg and Parchment. The only school smaller than Hopkins was Galesburg-Augusta.
