Viking girls and boys run with the bigger dogs at Allendale Invite

Hopkins freshman ace harrier Laura Velderman ran with the big dogs Saturday in the fifth annual Allendale Falcons Invitational.

Velderman finished 17^th, her worst showing this season, but she was competing against much larger schools’ runners and 194 in the total field. Velderman’s time was under 20 minutes for the second time in her brief career, at 19:44.53.

The individual medalist was Madison Goen of Kenowa Hills in 18:03.2. Other runners came from such larger Division 1 and Division 2 schools as Cadillac, Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills, Muskegon Reeths-Puffer, Grand Haven and Forest Hills Central. Hopkins customarily competes against Division 3 schools.

Sophomore Ethan Nagel was the top runner for the Hopkins boys, finishing 48^th in 18:10.24. All five Viking boys who scored came in under 20 minutes for the 5,000-meter race.

Freshman Dan Rausch was 61^st in 18:39.54, senior Michael Heppe was 73^rd in 19:15.62, sophomore James Wubben was 78^th in 19:31.86 and junior Nick Belka 82^nd in 19:47.74.

Girls scoring behind Velderman were junior Madison Snoeyink, 94^th in 21:29.2; freshman Jasmine Fisher, 99^th in 21:43.46; junior Megan Teft, 101^st in 21:45.65, and junior Taryn Kilbane, 123^rd in 22:18.91.