By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
GRAND JUNCTION—It was a clean sweep for the Otsego cross country program at the Southwest Michigan Rustbuster Invitational hosted by South Haven at Warner Camp on Wednesday, Aug. 28.
The Otsego boys ended up with 48 points to finish 40 points ahead of runner-up Lakeview. And the Otsego girls were even more dominant, posting a 23-point effort that was 81 points ahead of both Plainwell and Gobles.
Plainwell was named runner-up on the girls side due to tiebreaker rules. Hopkins was eighth at 206, Fennville was ninth at 214 and Allegan was 14th at 410.
The girls race featured a little bit of history, as Emma Hoffman shattered the Otsego school record by 10 seconds with her time of 17:53.
Five teammates joined her in the top 10: Rebekah Stachura was fourth at 20:17; Taylor Mitchell was fifth at 20:24; Skylar Mejeur was sixth at 20:51; Madeline Goodwin was seventh at 21:07; and Taylor Klimp was 10th at 21:29.
Sydney Timmons also medaled for Otsego by placing 19th at 22:19. Medals went to the top 25 finishers.
Fennville’s Isabelle Sliter had a strong showing, placing third at 19:51. Teammate Christina Mendoza also medaled thanks to her 21st-place effort of 22:31.
Claire Vos (ninth at 21:26), Mai Nguyen (15th at 22:02) and Hannah Erlandson (22nd at 22:46) all earned medals for Plainwell, as did Kambria Moored (18th at 22:16) for Hopkins.
Isabella Giovannucci (73rd at 27:08) led Allegan.
On the boys side, Plainwell was fourth with 90 points, while Hopkins was 10th with 261 points. Allegan and Fennville also competed, but didn’t have enough runners to qualify for team standings.
All five of the scoring runners for the Otsego boys placed in the top 13, led by a sixth-place effort from Aidan Goodwin at 17:14.
Matthew Long (eighth at 17:21), Holten Mulherin (10th at 17:27) and Kenny Sheffer (11th at 17:28) followed for the Bulldogs.
Gunnar Djerf gave Otsego a sixth medalist by placing 21st at 18:00.
Plainwell had three medalists: Donovan Ryan was fourth at 16:57, Hiro Nguyen was ninth at 17:22 and Billy Pipkorn was 15th at 17:41.
Hopkins’ Jack Estelle crossed the finish line third with a time of 16:57, while Allegan’s Kellen Chalupa was 16th at 17:45.
Jaciel Ruiz was the top finisher for Fennville, as he placed 81st at 22:12.
