By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
OTSEGO—With a 7-0 record during the dual-meet portion of the season, the Otsego girls cross country team entered the Wolverine Conference Championship Meet as the prohibitive favorite.
The Bulldogs didn’t disappoint.
Otsego had three of the top five finishers and finished with 32 points to easily outdistance runner-up Sturgis (79 points).
Plainwell was third with 84 points.
On the boys side, Plainwell tied with Edwardsburg for second with 84 points. Otsego was two points behind with 86 points.
“Our girls are really rolling right now, especially since our Kenosha trip,” Otsego coach Steve Long said. “I think that really brought the girls together.
“This meet was another stop for them. They kept the momentum going.”
Junior Emma Hoffman led the charge for the Otsego girls, clocking in at 17:25 to take top individual honors. Her time was more than a minute better than runner-up Berkley Holtz from Sturgis.
Senior Taylor Mitchell (third at 18:53) and sophomore Sky Mejeur (fifth at 19:11) joined Hoffman in the top five.
Also medaling for Otsego by virtue of finishing in the top 16 were junior Rebekah Stachura (11th at 19:57), senior Taylor Klimp (12th at 20:01) and sophomore Sydney Timmons (13th at 20:19).
For Plainwell, freshman Mai Nguyen (seventh at 19:47) and senior Claire Vos (10th at 19:57) earned All-Conference.
On the boys side, Plainwell junior Donovan Ryan took top honors with a time of 15:49, edging out Three Rivers senior Sulley Zietlow by two seconds.
Senior Billy Pipkorn (ninth at 16:47) and Trent Hanson (13th at 16:56) also medaled for the Trojans.
Otsego also had three All-Conference performers in senior Aidan Goodwin (11th at 16:50), junior Kenny Sheffer (14th at 16:57) and senior Matthew Long (15th at 16:57).
Despite finishing fourth in this meet, Otsego finished second in the overall league standings by virtue of tying Three Rivers for the regular-season lead with a 6-1 dual-meet record.
“I like to look at each meet as a tool,” Long said. “For our guys, I think this was an eye-opening experience that we can grow from.”
