The Wayland boys’ varsity track team placed third in the 17-team Allegan Invitational Friday and the girls finished seventh among 18 teams.
It wasn’t a particularly good day for Hopkins, however, as the Viking girls settled for 11th and the boys 15th.
Wayland boys scored 79.16 points. Berrien Springs won it with 122.16 and St. Joseph had 97.5. Hamilton won the girls’ meet with 84 points, followed by St. Joseph and Otsego. The Lady Wildcats had 47.5 points.
The Wildcat boys once again rode solid performances in sprints and middle distance races. Senior Caleb Wolf had a terrific afternoon and evening, winning the open 400-meter race and anchoring the first place 1600-meter relay.
Wolf crossed the finish line in 51.5 seconds, just 12-hundredths of a second faster than runner-up and teammate Seth Sevenski-Popma. He, Sevenski-Popma, Josh Butler and Devin Jakey smoked the competition by more than seven seconds with a time of 3:29.6.
Wolf also came in first in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.2 seconds.
Though he didn’t take first, Robert Bausick was third in the shot put and tossed his personal best 48-08.5, bested by two guys who went over 50 feet. He also was fourth in t6he discus at 132-6.
Sevenski-Popma also took a third in the 100-meter dash in 11.48 seconds. Jakey was fourth in the long jump at 19-6.5.
For the Hopkins boys, freshman Logan Klinge cleared 12-4 in the pole vault, just an inch and a half lower than his career best, but he had to settle for third place. Junior Todd Henley was fifth in the 3200-meter run at 10:23 and he was seventh in the 1600.
Klinge was second in the preliminary round of the 110-meter hurdles, but finished sixth in the finals.
Wayland girls were led by outstanding individual performances by juniors Corrina Courser and Rylee Cronkright.
Courser finished second in the open 200 in 26.86 seconds, just five-hundredths of a second behind Kaylee Spencer of Middleville. Though she had the best time in the 100-meter hurdles preliminary round, she was third in the finals at 15.59 seconds. She wound up third in the 300 hurdles at 47.83 seconds.
Cronkright finished third in the 1600 with a time of 5:32.21 and fifth in the 3200 at 11:59.19. Jasmine Fisher of Hopkins was seventh in 5:41.61 in the 1600 and 10th in the 3200.
Courser teamed up with Mackenzie Wolf, Khylea Wells and Madelyn Probst for a third in the 800 relay at 1:51.3. Probst also was seventh in the open 400 and tied for eighth in the high jump.
Hopkins’ Shannon Henshaw was fifth in the shot put at 31-5. Jessica Hortman of Wayland was fourth in the discus with her personal best 95-5.
Lady Viking Savannah Emaus was fifth in pole vault, clearing 8-09 and fifth in the long jump with a leap of 14-7.5.