Hart continued its reign over the West Michigan Conference Rivers Tuesday by polishing off league championships at the season’s final jamboree in Ravenna.
It marked the 10th consecutive conference title for the girls’ team and the ninth for the boys’.
Both teams earned near-perfect scores, but the Pirate girls shone brightest by getting 18 points, just three away from a perfect score of 15. Hart had four of the first five finishers, with Natalie Rosema picking up the win in the race with a time of 20:33.9. Three Pirates finished within a second of each other to take third, fourth and fifth: Alaina Schaner (21:47.6), Luisa VanderZwaag (21:48.1) and Bryn Riley (21:48.7). Emma Miller closed the scoring with a time of 22:29.9, coming in ninth. Kenai Kokx rounded out the top 10 (23:17.5).
The Hart boys had 20 points, and their five scorers all placed in the top seven. Silas Ackley won the race in a time of 18:21.7, just a few seconds ahead of teammate Aiden Schaner in second (18:26.3). Trevor VanderKodde placed fourth (18:37.3) and Carson Ackley was sixth (18:39.9). Timothy Wolff was Hart’s fifth scorer, in seventh (18:40.6). Mason Opalewski (18:50.2), Julian Lopez (18:50.5) and Owen VanderVlucht (18:50.9) took the final top-10 spots.
Shelby finished third in the girls’ race, with Noel Parker leading the way in seventh place (22:24.8). Kathryn Beyer finished 13th (23:37.8). Other Tiger scorers were Ava Lamberg in 20th (25:39.4), April Luna in 22nd (25:49.5) and Sydney Reed in 25th (26:25.2).
Hesperia didn’t score in the girls’ race, but Rokhaya Ruhstorfer had a strong run in 14th place (23:45.4). Also finishing were Chloie Cryderman (40th, 30:24.1), Elyssa Wright (46th, 33:47.8) and Danielle Merritt (47th, 39:06.7).
In the boys’ race, Hesperia was third and Shelby was fourth. The Tigers’ Parker Weirich placed fifth in the race (18:37.7), with teammate Brycen Brown in 12th (18:54.8). Other scorers were Declan Waller in 41st (23:43.5), Brandon Mitteer in 50th (27:29.2) and Edmund Hayes in 51st (27:31.9).
Nate Ruhstorfer narrowly missed the top 10 for Hesperia, placing 11th (18:53.3). Andy Lopez-Garcia came in 16th (19:46.9) and his brother Tony was 29th (21:40.5). Hunter Tinkham (35th, 22:28.4) and Paul Winchel (36th, 22:53.7) scored for the Panthers as well.
