The Wayland girls’ varsity cross-country team made it two in a row for the young season Thursday by taking the top spot at the Kelloggsville Rocket Invitational.
The Lady Wildcats scored 34 points as a team, Hopkins came in second with 62, followed in order by Hastings, Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills, Comstock Park and Grand River Prep. Wayland the week before won its own invitational to start the campaign.
The Wildcat boys, meanwhile, finished sixth among six teams and Hopkins’ boys tied for fifth with Hastings. Comstock Park won the boys’ race with 34 points, Hastings and Hopkins had 104 apiece and Wayland 154.
The Lady Wildcats once again showed quality bunching, taking four of the top eight slots. Junior Maggie Whitney led the way by taking second wit
h a time of 22:37.52. Hopkins sophomore ace Laura Velderman, who was runner-up last week to Division 2 state champion Erika Freyhof of Hamilton, won the race in 21:12.89.
Senior Emily Gray checked in fifth in 23:24.19, junior Kaitlyn Paul was seventh in 23:27.54, just three-tenths of a second ahead of sophomore Zoe Antel. Payton Sidebotham, also only a sophomore, finished off the scoring in 12th place at 24:20.48.
Sophomore Jasmine Fisher crossed the finish line n 22:55.52 to take third for Hopkins, senior Madison Snoeyink was was 10th in 23:09.87, sophomore Emma Helder was 23rd and freshman Grace Beckwith 29th.
Beating Hopkins for the second meet in a row is huge for Wayland. The Lady Vikings were third in their region in Division 3 last year, qualifying for state, and they have more than a few returnees.
Sophomore Dan Rausch led the Hopkins guys by taking sixth place with a time of 19:06.66. Freshman Todd Henley was impressive in only his second varsity race, checking in 14th at 19:29.5. Junior Ethan Nagel was 19th, senior Nick Belka was 31st and senior Alex Bolthouse 45th.
Senior Jonathan Zuiderveen placed 10th in 19:18.84 for the Wildcat boys. Junior Ethan Killips was 33rd, freshman Ian Russell 49th, sophomore Jarod Geerligs 50th and freshman Garret Kloska 52nd.
