It was a pretty good 
day for the injury-riddled Wayland girls’ cross-country team and for the youthful and inexperienced boys’ squad Saturday at the Cedar Springs Invitational.
The girls were runners-up in the seven team field, being bested only by O-K Silver champion and Division 3 state qualifier Calvin Christian. The Lady Wildcats finished with 55 points while the Squires won with 25.
The boys’ unit continued its steady improvement, taking a season-best fourth place among nine schools. The Wildcats finished with 113. Host Cedar Springs took the team title with 36.
The Lady Wildcats, hampered by injuries to two of their top runners, Maggie Whitney and Peyton Sidebotham, still ran well enough to finish second. They have performed well this season outside of the brutally difficult O-K Gold Conference.
Senior Emily Gray stepped up to record her season best time of 20:59.71 to take sixth place. Freshman Rylee Cronkright finished 10th in 21:28.13, her best time ever for the 5,000-meter race. Junior Kaitlyn Paul was 11th, sophomore Zoe Antel was 13th and senior Emily Isenhoff was 15th. Both times for Antel and Isenhoff were season bests at 21:39.71 and 22:05.10, respectively.
Senior Jonathan Zuiderveen was the Wildcat boys’ top finisher, as he has been all season, in 17:38.8, good for sixth. But the big news is the continued rapid development of freshman Mitchell Hooker, who turned in his career best 17:55.96, finishing ninth.
Junior Ethan Killips was 24th and freshmen Garret Kloska and Ian Russell were 35th and 39th, respectively.
PHOTO: The Wayland girls’ cross-country team and coach Sue Brewer pose for a runner-up trophy photo at Cedar Springs. They posed for two championship performances in August. (Photo supplied)
