Forest Hills Eastern finally was able to reveal their long awaited high school cross country course and it took a turn or two, or three, or…ok it had lots of turns. However, it was still a pretty cool course and it was spectator friendly.

As the rain fell, the reign continued as the usual suspects were in play with dominant performances from Forest Hills Eastern, South Christian, and Ottawa Hills, and then with Cedar Springs not far behind.. The rest of us were racing for 5th. As it was, Catholic Central edged us out and we dropped from our last Jamboree from 4th to 6th. Not something you want to see, but it happens. A team has a good day, another one doesn’t, a shift here from one runner to the next, and positions change. It’s the nature of racing.

The top 10 in the Gold shifted around with that same nature. Ave Crews placed 8th overall and first for us in a time of 19:47. She fought hard, but while some days are yours, other days belong to someone else. The field is so tough at the top and only about 45 seconds separated first through eighth place, and little changes can make a big difference.

Lucy VanDemark impressed with a season record 22:05, which was fueled by determination and with inspiration from her beloved dog George. She placed second for us, as she has done before.

Meanwhile, Lindsey Velting brought a strong effort placing third for us, and once again going under the 23 minute mark and nearly under 22 for the second race finishing in 22:07.

Following her was Madison Kietzman, who was not feeling her best, but she still put in the hard yards, placing her in our top five once again and in a very respectable 22:30.

Along with Lucy, Emma Thompson was our girl on fire today earning a season record time of 22:57. She was really getting after it from the start and just never backed down.

Megan Schuurmans followed Emma with a strong effort. She worked her way through the field all race long and almost banged out another sub-23 effort, finishing in a solid 23:07.

Rounding out our top seven was Holly Velting who struggled, but toughed it out to the end finishing in 23:20. Knowing Holly, she will bounce back for this weekend's meet at Otsego.

Also finishing powerfully and basically matching her season best was Katherine Powers who was strong to the finish in 23:46!

Laine Hinton had a bounce back race and produced an effort she can feel good about, crossing the line in 25:53.

Following Laine was Luciana Teunessen who ran tough and continued to test her own boundaries, crossing the line in 26:21.

Our final finisher was Elizabeth Gaunt, but due to a timing glitch we don’t have her time. Nevertheless, she crossed the line having given what she had on the day.

Finishing sixth out of eight teams is not a goal we go into our conference meets with, but we’ll own what we put up, we’ll walk tall knowing we put our best foot forward, and we’ll work on honing our skills and fitness and keep moving forward. I’m proud of our girls. I always am.