It wasn’t a particularly good start for Wayland at the first O-K Gold Conference Conference jamboree at Riverside Park Wednesday.
The Wildcat boys checked in sixth and the depleted ranks of the girls settled for eighth in the eight-team race.
The boys finished ahead of Middleville Thornapple Kellogg and Kenowa Hills, but were well behind the extremely talented Forest Hills Eastern outfit that score just 25 points. The ‘Cats had 128 points, about a dozen behind fifth-place Grand Rapids South Christian.
Junior Dylan Pallett was Wayland’s top finisher, 14th in 17:18.9 on the five-kilometer course. Teammate Isaac Dyer was right behind him in 16th at 17:30.6 and promising freshman Xander Stepek was 17th in 17:31.4. Freshman Mason Fein was 44th in 19:33.9 and Ethan Manning 59th.
Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills won the girls’ race, edging Middleville and Forest Hills Eastern by scoring 50 points.
The Wayland girls, who up until this month hadn’t been able to field a full five-runner team, had five in the race and scored 221 points, seven behind Kenowa Hills.
Veteran senior Elliot Antel was the Lady Wildcats’ top runner, taking 28th place in 22:51.3. Sophomore Megan Stack was 65th, Sarah Osborn 90th, Keyli Perez 99th and Alyssa Lawrence 103rd.
