Area cross country teams compete in Under the Lights Invite

LocalSportsJournal.com

GRAND RAPIDS–The Under the Lights Invite took place at Grand Rapids South Christian High School on Friday evening.

The meet was broken up into three races. Mona Shores competed in the Midnight Race.

The boys’ squad for the Sailors tallied 147 points for fifth place. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central dominated with a team score of 39 to win while Grand Rapids South Christian (94) and East Kentwood (99) finished second and third.

Mona Shores’ senior and Caleb Branch turned in an impressive 16:00 to win the meet. Aidan Kreps (17:39) and Will Parsekian (17:49) finished in 18^th and 20^th place, respectively.

On the girls’ side, the Sailors finished seventh with 199. Holland West Ottawa won the meet with 26 points while Zeeland East (70) and Byron Center (84) also had strong finishes. Sailor freshman Ellery Horness placed ninth with a time of 19:56.

The boys’ Sunset race saw Whitehall finish fifth (177), a point in front of Reeths-Puffer (178) and Fruitport was ninth (201). Ada Forest Hills Eastern (46) won the race with Kalamazoo Central (103) and St. Clair (118) rounding up the top 3.

Top 20 runners included Reeths-Puffer’s Jaxon Allen (fourth, 16:18), Carter McIlroy (seventh, 16:28) and Andre Richmond (14^th, 17:05) from Whitehall, and Vincent Pollock (18^th, 17:08) from Fruitport.

The girls’ Sunset race had Whitehall (165) finishing eighth, Reeths-Puffer (233) tenth and Fruitport (239) 11^th. Ada Forest Hills Eastern (57) completed the sweep with a first-place finish, and Shephard (83) and Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills (97) rounding up the top 3.

Rockets Freshman Jersi Bilek finished ninth (20:42) while Ariana Treat of Whitehall (14^th, 20:50) and Valarie Pollock of Fruitport (17^th, 21:04) rounded up the top 20.

Lastly, WMC and Kent City raced in the boys’ Twilight event. Kent City (253) placed ninth while WMC (289) placed 11^th. Wyoming Potter’s House (28) dominated the event with a first-place finish while Zeeland West (77) and Jenison (78) also placed in the top 3. Samuel Martini of Kent City was the sole local runner in the top 20 with a 16:36 time, which was good for sixth place.

The WMC (160) and Kent City (239) girls’ teams finished in seventh and 10^th place. Jenison (50) finished in first place with Zeeland West (88) and Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern (107) taking second and third.

Sophomores Grace Vanderkooi (19:08), of WMC, and Lila Volkers (19:11), of Kent City, finished back-to-back in fifth and sixth place.