The Wayland cross-country teams are hurting for numbers, but both the boys’ and girls’ squads managed to finish fifth in the O-K Gold Conference Jamboree Thursday at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids.

The boys accumulated 117 points, finishing ahead Grand Rapids West Catholic and  Woming. South Christian checked in first with 56 and Middleville Thornapple Kellogg was runner-up with 79.

Senior captain Dylan Pallett ran a fine five-kilometer race for the Wildcats, checking in third individually with a time of 17:27.3. Interestingly, three Wayland runners finished among the top 12, with sophomore Mason Fein capturing ninth place in 18:43.26 and junior veteran Ethan Manning 12th in 19;05.51.

Rounding out the scoring were Arquimedes Miguel-Garcia 74th and freshman Kyan Lawrence in 77th.

For the girls, South Christian also emerged on top with 27 team points and Middleville TK had 34. The Wildcats had 141 points, finishing ahead of Grand Rapids Union and Wyoming.

Freshman Ashley Larsen led the Lady Wildcats with a 33rd place finish in 25:26.38. She was followed by freshman Abree VanDenBrink in 37th, junior Megan Stack 45th, Heli Ryhaenen 50th and Sarah Osbon 52nd.