Sophomore Henry Oudbier picked a fine time to run his best race yet, winning all-conference honors and leading Wayland to tie for third place in the O-K Gold meet at Riverside Park Tuesday.
Oudbier, who has been showing a lot of improvement lately, finished the five-kilometer race with a time of 17:33.87 and checked in 13th place. Teammates freshman Dylan Pallett crossed the finish line in 17:37.09 in 16th place, Travis Koon was 19th in 17:44.33 and sophomore Isaac Dyer came in 20th in 17:56.88, earning all three Wildcat harriers honorable mention accolades.
Devin Weaver, who has led Wayland in most races this season, was 24th in 18:10.10.
The Wildcats’ remarkable bunching ability carries them to a team score of 92, tied with Forest Hills Eastern, and enabling them to score their best standing in league competition in a long time.
Coach Ray Antel has been saying all season long that the O-K Gold is particularly brutal in competition, so much so that he believes his team will fare better in the regionals Oct. 30. The ‘Cats came into the league meet in sixth place overall.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central was league meet champion with 81 points and South Christian was runner-up with 87. So Wayland was just five points away from second and 11 from taking all the marbles.
Things didn’t go as well for the Lady Wildcats, who had to settle for eighth pace with 179 team points. Forest Hills Eastern won with 46 points.
Olivia Barabas checked in under 20 minutes again, at 19:57.69 and earned all-conference status in 10th place.
Elliot Antel finished in 33rd place, Hannah Smith 34th, Emily Tuinstra 49th and freshman Shayla Osbon 55th.
