The fact that the
Hopkins girls’ cross-country team was runner-up in the first O-K Silver Conference jamboree wasn’t really surprising. But the second place finish by a boys’ team that’s supposed to be rebuilding was.
Buoyed by stellar top 10 finishes by sophomore Dan Rausch, junior Ethan Nagel and freshman Todd Henley, the Vikings came in with 70 points, second only to Calvin Christian’s 30 in the seven-team field.
The performance of Henley particularly had to be encouraging, as the first-year harrier checked in with a time of 19:17.04 on the 5,000-meter course at the South Christian athletic complex. Rausch, as he has all season, led the way in third place with a time of 18:09.7 and Nagel, the No. 2 Viking all year long, finished in 19:10.88 to finish eighth and Henley was ninth.
Rounding out the Vikings’ scoring were senior Nick Belka in 29th and freshman Zach Nutter 35th.
Lady Viking harriers were entertaining thoughts of upending perennial league champ Calvin Christian, but came up short by a count of 31 to 43. The two teams have battled it out for Silver supremacy for a long time and both qualified for Division 3 state competition last year.
Super soph Laura Velderman began her defense of her individual league championship with a winning time of 20:16.29, more than 16 seconds faster than runner-up Kayce Rypma of Calvin.
Hopkins landed three more in the top 10 with sophomore Jasmine Fisher in seventh, sophomore Emma Helder in eighth and senior Madison Snoeyink 10th.
Freshman Grace Beckwith rounded out the Hopkins scoring by taking 19th.
It was the first league jamboree of the season, so it appears Hopkins and Calvin Christian will duel again this month and next.
PHOTO: Laura Velderman (in Hopkins blue) began her defense of the O-K Silver individual championship.