Lady Wildcat harriers make it 2-for-2 in winning invitationals

The young Lady Wildcats did it again. They won their second cross-country invitational in two tries this season Thursday by taking the top spot in the Kelloggsville Rocket Invitational,

This, less than a week after coach Sue Brewer’s group took all the marbles in the Wayland Invitational to open the campaign with a statement. Wayland came up with 44 points and Hopkins was runner-up with 69 in the field of eight teams.

Meanwhile, the Wildcat boys grabbed second place in the nine-team derby with 92 points, well behind Comstock Park’s 47, but one point better than Allegan.

Much of the Wayland girls’ early success has been the result of a terrific boost they’ve been getting from two first-year runners, freshman Zoe Antel and sophomore Kaitlyn Paul. Antel captured fifth place individually with a 5K time 21:43.28. Paul checked in at 22:17.40, good for the sixth.

But even more important once again was the supporting cast, as the Lady ‘Cats claimed five of the top 12 spots in the race. Junior Emily Isenhoff finished 10^th in 23:05.60, sophomore Maggie Whitney took 11^th in 23:18.38 and senior Mackenzy Kasper rounded out the scoring in 12^th with a time of 23:20.28.

Hopkins had a disappointing finish in the Wayland Invitational the previous week, but this time welcomed back a couple of runners who were missing in action in the opener. Freshman Laura Velderman led the way again for the Vikings with an outstanding race, taking fourth in 21:39.20.

Madison Snoeyink copped 14^th place in 23:40.05 and Taryn Kilbane was right behind her in 15^th at 23:59.40 and Samantha Myers 16^th in 24:09.84. Freshman Jasmine Fisher completed the scoring by coming in 22^nd at 25:07.99.

Wildcat senior Perry Carter, individual medalist in the season opener, was runner-up individually with a time of 17:52.17, about 22 seconds by individual champion Reid Parsons of Comstock Park.

Jonathan Zuiderveen finished seventh in 18:38.71, Owen Glass 26^th in 20:29.04, Derek Huffman 27^th 20:31.92, Ethan Killips 34^th in 21:20.52 and Landen Merren 39^th in 21:46.27.

The Hopkins boys finished sixth in the nine-team field with 122 points. Sophomore Ethan Nagel was the top Viking harrier, finishing 16^th in 19:28.61, freshman Dan Raush was 20^th in 19:53.22, Michael Heppe was 35^th in 21:20.52, Clayton Connor 37^th in 21:36.62 and Nick Belka was 38^th in 21:42.88.

PHOTOS: Zoe Antel and Kaitlyn Paul

Laura Velderman   Jonathan Zuiderveen

(Team photo courtesy Ray Antel III)