I hereby declare the weekend of April 26 to April 28 the best in news for Wayland, Hopkins and Martin High Schools.
It seemed so many positive developments occurred, all within the span of 24 hours.
In all the years I’ve covered or watched sporting events for all three neighboring school districts, I cannot recall better outcomes.
On Friday night, April 26, it was reported that both the Wayland High School boys’ and girls’ track team scored the most points in the Hastings Relays. Furthermore, Hopkins’ Landen Kline broke the school record in the pole vault by clearing, 13-7, no mean feat.
Both Wayland and Hopkins are undefeated in their respective league standings and have emerged as the teams to beat.
Also on Friday night came the news that freshman distance running star Veyda Conley broke the Martin school record in the 3200-meter run. Conley last fall also set the school record in the 5,000-meter run in cross country, astonishingly running it it under 20 minutes, a milestone few female runners attain.
Then came more goos news Saturday.
The Wayland softball team, smarting from one of the worst days ever in the program’s history the week before, showed it had righted the ship by defeating two Division 1 honorable mention teams and taking top honors in the Holland Invitational, extending its winning streak to seven games.
Then the Hopkins softball team captured the trophy in the Thornapple Kellogg Invitational, getting ready now for a serious run to take the O-K Silver Conference title.
As the old 7 Up commercial declared more than 40 years ago, “The smell of success is never too sweet.”