The Wayland boys finished 26th and the girls 30th in the massive Portage Invitational cross-country meet Saturday.
The Wildcat boys accumulated 728 points with their top five places in the race and the girls came in with 753. There were 49 boys’ teams and 46 girls’ teams competing.
Fremont won the guys’ race with 
a miniscule 59 points, while Grand Rapids Christian won the ladies’ competition with 147.
Senior Perry Carter, consistently the Wildcats’ top runner all season, led them again, finishing 27th with an excellent time of 16:30. Jonathan Zuiderveen checked in 102nd with a clocking of 17:21, Owen Glass 174th in 18:01, Derek Huffman 178th in 18:02 and Ethan Killips crossed the line in 18:47 to come in at No. 251.
A total of 338 male runners took part in the race.
Senior Morgan Beadlescomb of Algonac was individual medalist with a time of 14:59 in the 5,000-meter race.
Freshman Payton Sidebotham turned in her best performance of the season by coming in at 20:26 to take 90th place. Mackenzy Kasper checked in at 20:49 and place No. 121. Freshman Zoe Antel was 158th in 21:18, Emily Isenhoff 197th in 21:52 and Maggie Whitney 248th in 22:40.
There were 316 girls in the race.
Sophomore Kayla Windemuller of Holland Christian was the individual medalist in 17:55.
PHOTOS: Perry Carter with medal earned at the Portage Invitational.
Freshman Payton Sidebotham had her best race yet of her brief career, with a time of 20:26.
Jonathan Zuiderveen turned in his best time of 17:21.
