Zeeland East Cross  Country traveled to Portage for the 25th annual Portage Invitational on Saturday. In the girls varsity race, Emma Drnek (6th), Ally Kuzma (16th), and Taryn DiLaura (40th) were all medalists. The team finished 6th in the 45 team field. The boys varsity were led by a 61st place finish from Caden Guffey. The boys team finished 19th out of 48 teams. In the girls JV race, Hannah Lewis (6th), Kat Wilson (7th), Audrey Durham (26th) and Nadia Cuevas (29th) all earned medals. The team finished 4th out of 16 teams. In the boys JV race, Sam Downing (14th), Jeffrey DeWitt (37th), and Joey Michmerhuizen (38th) earned medals. The team finished 6th out of 23 teams. Cross Country is back in action on October 18th for the OK Green Conference Championship at Oak Ridge Golf Course.

Chix XC traveled down to Otsego for the Bulldog Invite on Saturday, featuring 5 of the top 15 division 2 girls teams in the state this week. ZE varsity finished 3rd out of 15 total teams with Emma Drnek (4th), Ally Kuzma (10th), and Taryn DiLaura (21st) all earning medals. CC Kuras and Megan Kuzma ran season best times; Drnek broke the cross country school record with a time of 18:12.23. The varsity boys finished 8th out of 17 teams led by Caden Guffey who ran a new personal best of 16:42.05 and finished 20th. The JV girls team finished 1st out of 8 teams behind PR performances by each of the 5 scorers: Kat Wilson (3rd), Libby Post (4th), Audrey Durham (5th), Sophie Koleszar (7th), and Nadia Cuevas (16th). The boys JV team finished 2nd out of 11 teams; Freshman Aiden Douma ran a new PR of 19:51.28. The Chix are back in action next Saturday for the Portage Invite.  

Chix XC hosted the second OK Green Jamboree at the season at Paw Paw Park this evening. The girls team finished 1st with 23 points, followed by Zeeland West (49), Reeths Puffer (98), Mona Shores (104), Holland (105), Union (167), and Wyoming (214). The Chix put their top 7 runners in the top 16 spots in the meet: Emma Drnek (1st), Ally Kuzma (2nd), Meredith Cook (4th), Taryn DiLaura (6th), Megan Kuzma (10th), CC Kuras (12th), and Libby Post (16th). The girls are currently in 1st place in the OK Green with the Conference Championship meet yet to be contested. The boys team finished 2nd with 67 points behind Zeeland West with 30 points. Behind the Chix were Holland (78), Reeths Puffer (112), Mona Shores (115), Union (148), Wyoming (192), and Muskegon (243). Caden Guffey led the Chix with a 4th place finish followed by Nate Davis (13th), Dylan Walters (15th), Tristen Hinson (22nd), Caden Villarreal (25th), Aaiden Gillespie (27th), and Joey Michmerhuizen (28th). The boys are currently in 2nd place in the conference headed into the Conference Championship meet on October 18th. Chix XC will be back in action Saturday at the Otsego Bulldog Invitational.

Chix XC traveled to Covenant Christian High School for the Chargers' Autumn Sunrise Invitational on Saturday. The girls varsity team finished 1st out of 9 teams in the Autumn division. The Chix were led by Emma Drnek who finished first overall, followed immediately by Ally Kuzma who finished 2nd. Meredith Cook (8th) and Taryn DiLaura (10th) also earned medals in the race. Boys varsity finished 2nd out of 7 teams in the Autumn division, edging out Lowell by a single point. Caden Guffey led the team with 7th place finish followed by Nate Davis (9th), Dylan Walters (15th), Tristen Hinson (21st) and Aaiden Gillespie (23rd). In the girls JV race, the Chix finished 4th out of 9 teams. Libby Post (12th), Audrey Durham (15th), Kat Wilson (16th), and Sophie Koleszar (18th) all earned medals. Boys JV finished 2nd out of 7 teams with Joey Michmerhuizen (1st), Jeffrey DeWitt (7th), Sam Downing (8th), and Paxton VanNoord (15th) all earning medals. The XC team will be back in action on Wednesday when they host the second OK Green Jamboree at Paw Paw Park.

ZEXC traveled to East Lansing Friday for the Spartan Invitational at MSU. In the Bronze race, the boys finished 9th out of 31 teams. Caden Guffey ran a new PR of 17:00.0  and finished in 27th place to earn a medal. Paxton VanNoord also set a new PR with a time of 20:17.8. The girls were invited to compete in the Spartan Elite race and finished 8th out of 18 teams. Medalists were Emma Drnek (6th place) and Ally Kuzma (19th place); Emma also set a new PR (18:44.1) as did Taryn DiLaura (20:04.6) and Nadia Cuevas (23:46.3). The Chix will be back in action next Saturday for the Autumn Sunrise Invitational at Covenant Christian.

Chix XC traveled down Riley St to West Ottawa's middle school campus for the 41st Bredeweg Invitational on Saturday morning.  The Varsity girls ran first, finishing 5th out of 16 teams with 141 points. Medalists in the varsity race were Emma Drnek (3rd) and Taryn DiLaura (17th). Hannah Lewis, Kat Wilson, and Libby Post earned their varsity letters by virtue of running faster than 22:30 today. In the boys varsity race, Caden Guffey medaled by finishing 28th and ran a new PR of 17:09.03. Also earning PRs for the boys were Nate Davis, Dylan Walters, Aaiden Gillespie, Tristen Hinson, and Jeffrey DeWitt. The boys finished 13th out of 19 teams. The JV girls finished 4th out of 10 teams with 120 points. Medalists in the JV race were Nadia Cuevas (10th), Saniya Shepard (18th) and Meg VanDam (26th). Six of the JV girls set new PRs in this race. In the boys JV race, Sam Downing medaled with his 15th place finish. Paxton VanNoord and Aiden Douma both set new PRs in the race; the boys JV team finished 9th out of 13 teams.

Chix XC traveled north to Reeths Puffer on Tuesday to battle the heat and the OK Green opponents in the first conference jamboree. The girls ran first and put on a dominant performance finishing first with 24 points. Zeeland West was second with 57 followed by Mona Shores (96), Holland (100), Reeths Puffer (102), Union (164), and Wyoming (208). The Chix put 6 girls in the top 10 of the race: Emma Drnek (1st), Ally Kuzma (3rd), Taryn DiLaura (5th), Megan Kuzma (7th), Meredith Cook (8th), and CC Kuras (10th). The boys showed great effort and finished 3rd with 68 points behind Zeeland West (32) and Reeths Puffer (61). Holland finished 4th with 96 points, followed by Mona Shores (131), Union (149), Wyoming (192), and Muskegon (254). Top performers for ZE were Caden Guffey (7th), Nate Davis (10th), Caden Villarreal (17th), Aaiden Gillespie (19th), and Tristen Hinson (20th). The Chix will be in action again on Saturday at the Bredeweg Invitational hosted by West Ottawa.

The girls and boys cross country teams kicked off their season Friday night at South Christian High School at the Under the Lights Invititational. In 2023, the girls run first and the Chix started the season with a bang placing their top 6 finishers in the top 20 of the big school division of the Starlight Race. ZE girls finished 1st out of 8 teams with 40 points; Grand Haven (47) and East Grand Rapids (73) rounded out the top 3. Ally Kuzma finished 2nd overall with Emma Drnek right behind her in 3rd, posting a big PR of 19:20.0. Meredith Cook came in 7th, Taryn DiLaura was 11th (also posting a career PR), and Megan Kuzma in 17th. CC Kuras (20th) and Hannah Lewis (34th) rounded out the top 7.  In the boys race, the team finished 5th out of 7 schools with 131 points behind Grand Haven (37), East Kentwood (49), East Grand Rapids (59) and Cedar Springs (100). Caden Guffey came in 14th place with a PR of 17:12.9 followed by Dylan Walters in 25th. Nate Davis had a strong high school debut coming in 26th place with a time of 17:59.2 followed by Aaiden Gillespie in 33rd setting a new PR (18:24.5). Tristen Hinson finished 37th, Caden Villarreal 38th, and Josiah Muller 45th with a new PR of 18:56.4 to round out the top 7. Jeffrey DeWitt (20:05.7) also posted a career PR for the boys. XC is back in action Tuesday, September 5th for the first OK Green Jamboree at Reeths Puffer.