Reeths-Puffer’s cross country runners had a challenging day at Saturday’s Ottawa Hills Invitational, which was ran in hot, humid conditions along the Grand River against a lot of tough competition.
The top overall R-P runner was junior Jersi Bilek, who finished 20th out of 153 runners in the girls race with her best time of the season at 19:38.
The Rockets’ other top five runners, who finished in 50th place or below, were Gabrielle Chevez (20:43), Kaityn Durow (21:35), Darcy Keefe (23:08) and Charli Belinger (24:01).
Jersi Bilek
The R-P girls did not fare well in the team standings, but Coach Lindsay Keefe noted that several Rockets made headway in their personal times.
Durow set a new personal best time and Belinger had her best mark of the season.
The R-P boys also finished low in the standings against the very competitive field.
The top runner for the boys was Jack Yonkman, who finished 78th out of 150 runners with a time of 17:53.
Jack Yonkman
The other top five R-P runners, who finished outside of the top 100, were Dylan Sturr (18:28), Samuel Perez (19:19), Gage Bouwman (21.21) and Jonathon Visscher (25:00).
There were bright spots for the boys, as well. Yonkman broke into the 18-minute range, Sturr finished the course a full 2:30 faster than he ran it two years ago, and Perez cut nearly a minute off from his race time from last week.