The Reeths-Puffer boys cross country team went into the season with a small roster and only a handful of experienced varsity runners.
In a lot of circumstances, that could be a recipe for a very long season spent at the bottom of the conference standings.
But the Rockets finished a respectable fourth place out of six teams on Wednesday in the first O-K Green conference meet of the season.
A lot of the credit goes to R-P senior Jamie Neel, who has been dealing with shin issues and had not practiced or competed yet this season.
Jamie Neel
He decided to dive back in on Wednesday, to lend some more experience to the Rockets’ lineup, and he made a big difference.
Neel finished 66th out of a field of 120 runners with a time of 21:02. He helped R-P finish with 130 points, better than rivals Mona Shores (134) and Muskegon (178). Jenison took first place with 20 points.
“Jamie has been training on a bike during practice,” said R-P Coach Darin Grant. “He and I decided to race him today to help the team and that he did! Jamie started in control as we had planned, and then began to push and get uncomfortable. When he passed me after the two mile I saw the fatigue on him, but he kept pushing the entire race.”
The top Reeths-Puffer runner was junior Jack Yonkman, who finished 30th with a time of 18:47. He was followed by Dylan Sturr (54th, 20:10), Samuel Perez (64th, 20:49), Gage Bouwman (79th, 22:05) and Jonathon Visscher (98th, 24:52).
Jack Yonkman
Grant was not as happy with all of the runners as he was with Neel, but sees the potential for improvement.
“A few of the guys ran comfortably instead of pushing to discomfort. and therefore some guys had slower times and not as good placement against these O-K Green Conference teams,” the coach said.
“On the flip side, this also means we have the choice to grow and get better with each practice and race.”