The Hopkins girls’ varsity cross-country team captured the first-place trophy in the Wayland Invitational Tuesday afternoon. The Wayland boys’ squad, meanwhile had to settle for second place yet again.
The Lady Wildcats also finished second with 50 team points and the Viking boys came in fifth.
Wildcat senior Olivia Barabas was individual medalist in the 5K race with a time of 20:28.02 on the course at the middle school that includes the dreaded “Big Bertha.”
Hopkins’ Neveah Helderop copped third place in 21:32.23. surging junior Jaeden Harshberger was fourth in 21:38.48, sophomore Kambria Moored sixth in 21:55.20, freshman Allison Breining 10th in 23:14.38 and junior Abigail Zalis 16th in 24:26.47 for a team score of 39.
Noelle House checked in fifth for Wayland, Elliot Antel finished eighth. Emma Thayer 18th and Ruby Sidebotham 18th.
Hamilton edged the Wayland boys, who have made a habit this fall of being runner-up in invitationals and jamborees. The Hawkeyes swept the top three individual places before Devin Weaver could sneak in fourth with a time of 17:49.10.
Travis Koon rebounded from an injury to take eighth in 18:09.06, teammate Dylan Pallett was less than a second behind him in ninth, James Butler was 10th in 18:24.15 and Isaac Dyer 12th in 18:33.18. The Wildcats recorded a team score of 43, 16 away from Hamilton.
Freshman Jack Estelle again paced Hopkins with a time of 19:11.96, Kenyon Katje was 34th, Vijay DeZeeuw 49th, Adam Halsted 52nd and Brennan Villa 53rd.
