Hopkins girls won the Coach B Invitational at Yankee Springs Monday by just one point in its division while Wayland girls finished in second, well behind a Caledonia team that swept the top five places.
Individually, Viking ace junior Todd Henley was runner-up with a blistering 16:15.63, about five seconds slower than medalist Seamus Noonan of the Grand Rapids Track Club.
The Lady Vikings accumulated 70 team points, the Grand Rapids Track Club 71 and West Michigan Aviation 74. There were eight teams entered in the competition.
Senior Jasmine Fisher came up with a third-place finish at 20:55.79 to pace Hopkins. Emma Helder also wound up in the top 10, taking ninth; Alyssa Bielby came through in 15th place and Laura Velderman 21st.
Julianna Wilson was the only female runner in the small school Kellogg Division to cross the finish line in under 20 minutes, clocking in a 19:59.73.
Despite Henley’s strong performance, Hopkins boys settled for sixth place among the eight squads, with 120 team points. West Michigan Aviation won it with 63 and Grand Raids West Catholic was runner-up with 76.
Dan Rousch finished 14th, Zack Nutter 15th, Joe Ludlam 59th and Jared Bowman 68th.
It would be easy to say that Wayland would have won the Thornapple Division in what was once known at the Yankee Springs Invitational if Caledonia hadn’t shown up. The name of the race was changed to honor longtime Thornapple Kellogg cross country coach Tammy Benjamin, who guided three of her teams to Division 2 state championships.
Lindsey Peters led the Fighting Scot’ quintet that looked eerily like the dominant teams of the 1990s. She checked in at 19:12 and Emma Woltjer was the only other female harrier in the division to eclipse the 20-minute mark, at 19:45.72.
Wayland junior Rylee Cronkright was the first runner to finish after Caledonia, taking sixth at 20:50.06 and even beating out two Scots, who were seventh and 10th.
The Lady Wildcats finished with 78 team points, well behind Caledonia’s 15, and besting O-K Gold competitors Thornapple Kellogg, Grand Rapids South Christian and Wyoming.
Sophomore Naomi Oosterhouse took 14th in the race, junior Gracie Haase was 15th, Zoe Antel 21st and freshman Haylee Jasinski 29th.
The Wildcat boys struggled to fifth place in their race, which also was won by Caledonia.
Junior Ian Russell finished 28th in 19:22.32, sophomore Elijah Gamelin was 35th, Jarod Geerligs 49th, Christian Courser 56th and Steven Mosher 69th.
COVER PHOTO: Chris Tortorelli, Emma Helder, Rachel Helder, Alyssa Beilby, Gracie DeZeeuw, Alexis Zalis, Hannah Crouch, Emilee Schumacher and Raffaella Scardapane.
