The Reeths-Puffer boys cross country team is unusually young and inexperienced this season, so progress should be measured incrementally.
But even from that point of view, the Rockets definitely showed improvement in their competition on Saturday.
A week earlier, R-P finished in last place at the Ottawa Hills Invitational by a huge margin.
At Saturday’s Cougar Falcon Invitational at Calvin College, the Rockets again finished at the bottom of the standings, but not by much.
R-P's Jack Yonkman
They ended up with 192 points, only seven behind Wyoming, which finished in sixth place.
At the earlier Ottawa Hills meet, R-P’s top runner, junior Jack Yonkman, finished in 78th place.
On Saturday Yonkman again paced the Rockets and did much better, coming in 28th place with a time of 18:04.
“Jack was consistent with his race efforts and ran a very good race,” said R-P Coach Darin Grant. “He and I both were hoping for a new personal record, but that doesn't happen every race.
“If an athlete can replace his top 10 times with faster times, then that is a sign of improvement. That is what Jack did. His efforts brought about his fifth fastest 5k race time. Jack is doing very well this season.” 
The rest of the Rockets also moved up from where they placed the week before.
Samuel Perez finished 39th with a time of 18:58, which was the fastest 5K of his career.
“An athlete that is hitting his stride and improving every race is Samuel Perez,” Grant said.
Dylan Sturr was 53rd with a mark of 22:19, despite twisting his ankle on the hilly course and struggling to finish the race. Gage Bouwman was right behind at 54th with a time of 22:44.