LocalSportsJournal.com

PORTAGE–The Hart boys and girls cross country teams continued their winning ways on Saturday as they competed in what is billed as the largest regular season cross country invitational.

The Portage Invitational was at Portage Middle School.

The Hart boys captured the top spot in Division 3 with 71 points. Other scores from local teams included Muskegon Western Michigan Christian, which finished in 15th place with 423 points and Kent City finished in 20th with 479 points. 

In total 35 teams competed in the Division 3 race.

Hart senior Clayton Ackley took top honors at 15:56.6. Kent City junior Samuel Martini came in second place with a time of 15:57.3 while Hart senior Wyatt Dean crossed the finish line in fifth with a time of 16:10.1.

Other top local runners included Seth Ackley (17th/Hart), Max Stitt (21st/Hart), Caleb Bitely (30th/Hart), Jaren Vogel (44th/Kent City), Mattias Morse (49th/WMC) and Graeson Lawrence (59th/WMC).

In the girls’ Division 3 race, the Hart Pirates settled for a second-place finish with a score of 106 points. Western Michigan Christian finished in sixth place with 217 points and Kent City finished with 272 points for eighth place.

Hart sophomore Jessica Jazwinski, the No. 1 rated runner in Division 3, took top honors with a time of 17:15.1. She was followed by Kent City sophomore Lila Volkers, who finished third with a time of 18:12.5 and Hart junior Alyson Enns came in fourth place with a time of 18:32.6.

Other local top runners included Grace VanderKooi (12th/WMC), Lexie Beth Nienhuis (25th/Hart), Grace Folkema (31st/WMC), Kenai Kohx (38th/Hart), Savanna Owens (44th/Hart), Brianna Zuidema (56th/WMC), Alia Zuidema (57th/WMC) and Isabella Max (59th/Kent City).

In Division 2, the Spring Lake girls finished in fourth place with 190 points. 

Other local team scores included Whitehall (24th/663), Fremont (29th/820), Newaygo (32nd/852), Oakridge (36th/945) and Fruitport (39th/1011).

Top local runners included Lily Parker (14th/Spring Lake), Lexie Ruffing (25th/Spring Lake), Linnea Paige (39th/Fremont), Remington Arney (40th/Newaygo), Bea Reeser (41st/Spring Lake), Ariana Treat (49th/Whitehall), Alexis Kotkowicz (50th/Spring Lake), Meghan Guczwa (60th/Spring Lake), Valerie Pollock (64th/Fruitport) and Katie Riemersma (72nd/Spring Lake).

In the Division 2 boys’ competition, Whitehall finished in 11th place with a score of 417 points. Other team scoes included Fremont with 424 points (12th place) and Spring Lake with 430 points (13th place). Fruitport finished with 610 points (22nd place) and Newaygo came in 43rd place at 1,351 points.

The top local runners included: Whitehall senior Andre Richmond in 11th place. He was followed by his senior teammate Carter Mcllroy, who came in 18th place. Fremont’s Sean Pettis finished in 46th place and Ethan Grevengoed from Spring Lake came in 55th place. Teammate Lucas Ruffing finished in 63rd place. Peyton Ruel from Oakridge had a 70th-place finish and Fremont teammates Henrik Quist and John Christensen finished 75th and 78th, respectively.

In the boys’ Division 1 race, Grand Haven came in eighth place with a score of 286 points while Mona Shores finished in 31st place with 788 points.

Top local individual runners included Grand Haven junior Seth Norder, who had a third-place finish. Mona Shores senior Caleb Branch came in 20th place. Grand Haven teammates Logan Vining, Carson Berko and Aron Gal finished in 54th, 59th and 81st places.

In the girls’ division, Grand Haven came in 1oth place with 316 points while Mona Shores finished in 27th place with 764 points.

Top local individual runners from Grand Haven included Valerie Beeck, who finished in 10th place. Her teammates Addison Smith and Abi Albright finished in the 34th and 85th spots.

The top runner for Mona Shores was Cecilia Conrad in 94th.