The WMC Cross Country teams competed at the Allendale Invitational on Saturday. Despite running short handed for various reasons, both the Boys and Girls teams managed to make steps forward as we march on towards our final/ championship meets at the end of October. On the boys side, the Warriors took 3rd place against a field of solid Division 2 and 3 schools. Owen Sytsema finished in 5th place overall with a time of 16:41. Eli Morse and Josiah Scholma followed in 15th (17:17.5) and 16th (17:17.8) places. Running in 4th for the Warriors was Micah Scholma (30th place,18:19) and Ezra Scholma wrapped up the scoring (39th, 18:40). Jack Walter ran an inspired, determined race and came up with a season best time for the 2nd week in a row (19:24)! Bash Navis (21:17), Xavier Brown (22:16.5)) and Xavier Carney (22:16.7) also competed in the Varsity race this week. In the Girls race, Leah Sneller ran a confident and determined race, putting herself in the mix with the leaders from the start and placing significantly higher than predicted with a 5th place finish in a PR (personal record) time of 19:39. Our next pack today consisted of mostly underclasswomen and they were able to experience beautiful pack running, working through the race together in a couple of different groups. Sophia Gammon earned a PR (48th, 23:25), with Lena Studer (51st, 23:29), Martina Choliz (60th, 24:16), Annabelle Walter (61st, 24:23) and Evie Folkema (63rd, 24:49) rounding out our Varsity runners today. Today was significant in that racing at Allendale gave us a preview of the course that will be our Regional Championship race. Both teams will have a chance to qualify for the State Finals in November by qualifiying as teams (top 3 teams) or as individuals (top 15 indviduals).