Local Sports Journal

The Ludington Orioles and Hart Pirates both came away with titles Saturday in the Oakridge Cross Country Invitational at Oakridge High School.

Ludington won the 18-team boys’ race with 103 points. Ludington edged runner-up Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg by three points by getting a ninth place from Luke Schwass, a 16th from Ben Jensen, 19th from Jacob Tanner, 30th from Trenton Dalm and 34th from Joseph Hatch.

Mason County Central was the boys individual winner Zac Benham with a 16:22.82 time. Second place went to Fraser Wilson of Kent City with a 17:06.12 clocking.

Braxton Snuffer of Western Michigan Christian finished third in 17:16.47.

Mona Shores came in third in the team standings with 138 points. Mason Central had 153 points for fourth, Orchard View 173 for fifth and Western Michigan Christian 213 for seventh. Montague came in eighth, Shelby ninth, Hart 10th, Holton 11th, Oakridge 12th, Kent City 13th, Mason Eastern 14th, Muskegon 15th, White Cloud 16th and Ravenna 18th.

Sam Deuling of Orchard View finished seventh, Dylan Felt of Shelby finished eighth and Jesse Gaudette of Orchard View took 10th.

In the girls’ 5K invitational race, Hart won with 39 points while Thornapple-Kellogg had 46 points in the 12-team event. Ravenna had 123 points for third, Mason Central 135 for fourth, WM Christian 168 for fifth, Ludington 182 for sixth, Montague 186 for seventh, Kent City 209 for ninth, Orchard View 240 for 10th, White Cloud 253 for 11th and Shelby 265 for 12th.

For Hart, Alayna Ackley came in second at 19:59.03, Jennie Gottardo was third at 20:03.38, Sierra Albus was fourth at 20:08.05, Maddie Hodges placed 13th and Ali Altland 19th for the Pirates.

Individual honors in the girls race went to Melissa Winchester of Thornapple-Kellogg with a time of 19:32.49.

Other area runners included Lauren Biggs of Ludington who finished fifth, Mason Central’s Leta Larsen who took sixth, Walkerville’s Emily Merten who took eighth, Ravenna’s Mychala Spoelman who took ninth, and Kenadee Schugars of Montague who took 10th.