Wayland girls finished fourth and Hopkins fifth Friday afternoon in the annual Allegan County cross-country meet at the Martin Motor Sports Park.
Otsego was the county champion in the girls’ race with 38 points and Saugatuck took top honors in the boys’ race with 35, Hopkins was fifth, Martin sixth and Wayland seventh. Martin, which finally put together a full team, was eighth in the girls’ competition.
Plainwell super sophomore Makenna Veen was individual county champion with a blistering time of 18:40.24. Wayland sophomore Rylee Cronkright was runner-up with a clocking of 19:13.72. Wildcat teammate Maggie Whitney was seventh at 20:18.63 and Hopkins’ Laura Velderman was eighth at 20:23.70 and Viking teammate Jasmine Fisher was 12th at 20:36.46.
Cronkright, Whitney, Velderman and Fisher were named to the all-county team.
Wayland scored 102 points, Hopkins 110 and Martin 252.
The supporting cast for Wayland had freshman Naomi Oosterhouse 27th, Abbie Hasse 39th and Zoe Antel 40th. The Wildcats were without the services of foreign exchange student Mie Tornbjerg, who usually is the team’s No. 3 runner.
The Vikings’ supporting cast included Emma Helder 33rd, Gracie DeeZeuw 34th and Alyssa Bielby 38th.
Sara Tyrell checked in 52nd and Danica Pallett finished 76th to lead Martin.
Earning all-conference accolades for Hopkins boys were Dan Rausch, fourth at 17:13.47 and Todd Henley, seventh in 17:28.86. Zach Nutter was 30th in 19:33.54, Jake Pastoor was 43rd and Christopher Tortorelli 48th.
Brysan Young turned in the best performance for Martin by taking 16th in 18:29.42. His freshman brother, Carsen, wasn’t far behind in 19th place at 18:41.28. Freshman Kyle Pallett was 29th in 19:32.73, Seth Hentschel was 39th in 20:01.16 and Joshua Visser 57th.
Freshman Elijah Gamelin led Wayland 25th at 19:19.43. Ethan Killips cross the finish line in 31st in 19:24.23, Jarod Geerligs 36th in 19:47.49, Gabe Attruia 40th in 20:01.83 and Ian Russell 41st in 20:07.39.
