The Hopkins girls’ varsity cross-country team started its season on a positive note Friday night by taking second place in its division at the Under the Lights Invitational at the South Christian Athletic Complex.

While the Lady Vikings finished second, the guys checked in fifth.

Coach John Wamhoff said the performances showed, the Vikings “taking a huge leap from where we placed last year at this meet as a team… I haven’t gotten a chance to parse through all the results yet and compare them to previous years finish here, but I sure do know the crew came out to compete!”

Jaeden Harshberger and Kambria Moored earned individual medals for the girls and Jack Estelle did the same in the guys’ race.

Harshbarger was 24th overall in in 21:35.9 and Moored finished 36th in 22:23.4.Estelle was 21st in 17:37.8.

“Hopkins cross-country is out the gates strong and (we’re) excited for a great season,” the coach concluded.

Wayland, meanwhile, checked 11th in the boys’ twilight race. Dylan Pallett finished 15th and Isaac Dyer 16th in 17:22.30 and 17:25.50, respectively. Freshman Xander Stepek crossed the finish line in 18:13.50, good for 41st. The girls’ team fielded only four runners and did not score.