Hesperia, Pentwater and Shelby all took part in Tuesday's Kelder Poured Walls Invitational in Scottville, with the Panther boys narrowly taking second over Manistee to earn the county's highest finish.
Unlike most cross-country meets, the Kelder race is two miles and not a 5K, resulting in much lower times. In addition to the Panther boys' runner-up finish, Pentwater took fifth place, edging Shelby by three points. In the girls' race, Shelby placed fourth and Hesperia was sixth.
The Panthers' Nate Ruhstorfer was the top county finisher in the boys' race, finishing in a time of 11:36.1 to take fourth. Andy Lopez-Garcia placed 11th (12:14.2) and Hunter Tinkham took 23rd (13:41.6). Tony Lopez-Garcia was 25th (13:44.4), and Paul Winchel was 27th (13:58.6).
Also in the boys' race, Parker Weirich and Brycen Brown placed in the top 10 for Shelby, coming in ninth and 10th respectively. Their times were 12:04.99 and 12:05.6. Tiger scorers also included Declan Waller (36th, 15:25.2), Emilio Bustos (37th, 16:02.6) and Isaac Harrell (38th, 16:03.4).
Tyler Zimmer paced the Falcon boys, placing 14th in a time of 12:40.4, and he was closely followed by Wyatt Roberts (18th, 13:16.1) and Ben Roberson (19th, 13:25.5). Bode Powell (26th, 13:45.9) and Michael Smith (45th, 18:36.2) also scored for the Falcons.
In the girls' race, Shelby's Noel Parker was the top Oceana runner, finishing in fifth place (14:09.4). Teammate Kathryn Beyer rounded out the top 10 in a time of 14:37.0. Also scoring were Ava Lamberg (18th, 15:14.8), April Luna (21st, 15:42.4) and Sydney Reed (25th, 16:21.6).
Hesperia's best finisher was Rokhaya Ruhstorfer, who took 16th (15:08.8). Chloie Cryderman finished 37th (19:41.8) and Elyssa Wright was 43rd (21:22.4). Also scoring were Alana Javinsky (45th, 27:02.1) and Danielle Merritt (46th, 27:12.2).
Pentwater didn't score as a team, but finishers were Lily Smith (19th, 15:29.6), Lauren Davis (28th, 16:48.3), Valerie Smith (38th, 19:49.1) and Maggie Jorissen (41st, 20:38.3).
