The annual state cross-country meet at Michigan International Speeway near Brooklyn included four runners from Hopkins and one each from Wayland and Martin.
The Division 2 girls’ championships Saturday revealed, no one’s surprise, just how good the O-K Gold Conference is. East Grand Rapids won the team title by more than 100 points, Grand Rapids Christian placed fifth and Forest Hills Eastern was 11th.
Meanwhile, Wayland junior ace harrier Rylee Cronkright finished 49th in the individual race, turning in a season-best time of 19:45.4 over the five-kilometer course. She earned all-state accolades as a sophomore a year ago with a blistering time of 18:39, but last spring suffered an injury and since then she has been clawing her way back to regain elite status.
Also of interest was that junior MaKenna Vean of Plainwell was runner-up with a time of 18:16.5.
Junior Todd Henley of Hopkins finished 37th individually in the boys’ Division 3 race with a time of 17:05.3. Teammate Dan Rausch completed the 5K course in 18:24.6 in 153rd place. There were 246 individual runners in the race.
There were two Hopkins runners in the girls’ competition. Jasmine Fisher took 67th place with a time of 20:43.5 and Emma Helder was 128th in 21:36.4.
O-K Silver Conference rival Grandville Calvin Christian was state runner-up and the boys’ squad finished fifth.
Martin sophomore Carsen Young finished 119th in the boys’ Division 4 race with a time of 18:40.
COVER PHOTO: Hopkins representatives at the state cross-country meet were Jasmine Fisher, Todd Henley, Emma Helder and Dan Rausch. (Photo courtesy of Rachel Helder)