PORTAGE — Saturday’s Portage Invitational served as a good measuring stick for the Manistee and Bear Lake cross country teams among their respective division foes.
The Laker girls placed third in the Division 4 race while their male counterparts finished fourth, and the shorthanded Chippewas placed 10th and 28th, respectively, in Division 3.
“It was obviously a pretty competitive meet,” said Bear Lake coach Tony Shrum. “We kind of look at it as a preview to the state finals, and overall we were really happy.
“Good splits between first and fifth runners on both sides, which is what we look for,” he added. “Now we’ve got to start working on the speed we’ll need to be more competitive at the state finals.”
The Bear Lake girls scored 119 points, short of just runner-up Breckenridge (103) and winner Pewamo-Westphalia (96) in the 21-team field.
Keena Gilbert paced the Lakers with a 17th-place time of 20:29 while McKaya Groenwald (21st, 20:51), Faith Moerdyk (23rd, 20:56), Kelly Babcock (41st, 21:42), and Alycia Peterson (43rd, 21:52) rounded out the team score. Alyson Fink (51st, 22:15) and Meredith Hengy (89th, 24:17) also ran.
The Laker boys scored 154 points behind Saugatuck (76), Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart (106), and Pewamo-Westphalia (118) in the 29-team field.
John Girven and Jordan Anderson led the way together, each finishing in 17:12, to take 13th and 14th. Bear Lake’s John Schoedel (38th, 18:08), Shane Peterson (49th, 18:23), and Cole Verrett (50th, 18:25) rounded out the team score while Jared Bair (68th, 18:53) and Michael Belinsky (73rd, 19:00) also ran.