Viking frosh harrier takes 9th at Portage Invitational in record time

“Sure, you’re good, but can you run with the big dogs?”

This modification of NASCAR could be used to describe the Portage Invitational, and Saturday Hopkins freshman cross-country runner Laura Velderman answered, “Yes.”

Velderman, who has burst on the scene this season with medalist honors at the Delton Invitational and an O-K Silver Conference jamboree, captured ninth place in the Division 3 girls’ race that included 40 schools.

This is no mean feat. The Portage Invitational is widely regarded as the “Pre-State Meet,” and Velderman’s 19:16 time for the 5,000-meter race broke the school record for freshmen. She shattered Megan Teft’s record of 19:33.2 set in 2013.

The Vikings as a team showed they are competitive, taking 11^th place with 393 points. Lansing Catholic won with 130, Shepherd was second with 155 and O-K Silver rival Grandville Calvin Christian was fourth with 190.

The Hopkins boys’ team wasn’t as successful, placing 27^th among the 43 teams with 721 points. Lansing Catholic also won that race with 138 points, Hanover-Horton had 147 and Calvin Christian was sixth with 233.

Senior Sarah Kettel of Capital Homeschool was the girls’ individual medalist at 17:26. There were four freshmen, Adelyn Ackley of Hart (17:49), Amber Gall of Shepherd (18:18), Lauren Cleary of Lansing Catholic (18:49) and Lainey Veenkant of Clare (18:58) who finished ahead of Velderman.

Interestingly, the second best performance for the Viking girls was turned in by another freshman, Jasmine Fisher, who finished 55^th in 20:34. Megan Heft was 102^nd with a time of 21:26, Madison Snoeyink 105^th in 21:28 and Taryn Kilbane 130^th in 21:59.

In all, there were 286 girls competing.

Sophomore Ethan Nagel led the Hopkins boys again, taking 75^th place in 17:38. Freshman Dan Rousch was 78^th in 17:40, James Wubben checked in at 18:46 for 175^th place, Michael Heppe at 19:23 in 213^th place and Nick Belka in 218^th at 19:26.

PHOTO: Laura Velderman (in blue Hopkins uniform) takes her place on the stand with her medal with other top runners at the Portage Invitational. (Photo supplied)