Wayland junior cross-country ace Rylee Cronkright is going back to the Division 2 state meet next Saturday at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.
Cronkright, who qualified for the all-state team in last year’s competition, ran a season-best 19:47.2 on the five-kilometer course Saturday at Portage West Middle School, site of the regional meet. The top three teams and 15 individuals earn the right to go to MIS.
Makenna Veen of Plainwell was regional champion with a time of 18:37.7 and Otsego was regional team champion with 61 points. Parma Western was second with 88 and Marshall third with 113.
The Wayland boys took 13th place among the 15 schools.
Cronkright last year became the second fastest Wildcat harrier, behind only Jessica Armstrong, taking 12th in the state meet with a time of 18:39, just 31 seconds slower than Armstrong’s school record of 18:08 set in 2004.
However, she suffered an injury last spring that severely limited her performances in distance races and she has been battling her way back since.
Wayland finished ninth among the 14 teams with 225 points.
Gracie Hasse had perhaps her best race of the year with a season best 21:01.3 and 34th place. Freshman Haylee Jasinski was 50th, Zoe Antel was 66th and freshman Serena VanHouten 67th.
More than 100 girls competed individually.
Otsego also won the boys’ regional crown with 37 points. Parma Western was second and South Christian third. Wayland accumulated 374 points.
Sophomore Elijah Gamelin finished 46th to lead the Wildcats with a time of 18:14.2. He was followed by Ian Russell in 66th, Jarod Geerlings 79th, Andrew VanBaal 91st and Christian Courser 92nd.
COVER PHOTO: Rylee Cronkright (No. 488) poses for a poset-race photo with her Lady Wildcat teammates.
