The Warriors opened the 2025 XC season with a solid showing at the Eagle Invitational hosted by Fruitport Calvary Christian. On the girls side, WMC placed 3rd in the Division 2 (small school) race. Junior Leah Sneller led the way, finishing 2nd in a time of 20:41 Also medaling were freshman Kyla Zuidema (7th in 23:59) and sophomore Meredith Bonnema (17th in 27:52). Rounding out the scoring were a pair of freshmen, Evie Folkema (23rd, 33:07) and Addelyn Kingshott (25th, 37:53). In the boy's race WMC came off the line in a fury and battled with West MI Aviation Academy, eventually settling for 2nd place as Aviation won the tie breaker, both teams finishing with 38 points. The Warriors placed 4 inside the top 10, led by junior Owen Sytsema in 2nd place with a time of 18:14. Also medaling were junior Josiah Scholma (3rd, 18:19), senior Reuben Anderson (4th, 18:22) and junior Eli Morse (10th, 19:20). Finishing in the all important 5th spot on the team was sophomore Jack Walter (23rd, 21:58). There were some bright spots up and down the rosters for both the Girl's and Boy's teams. Notably, Kyla Zuidema ran a fantastic 1st high school race on the girl's side and for the boy's team, sophomore Xavier Brown claimed a PR and finished 6th on the team on a warm and muggy day. Now we look to get in a bit of a groove with training and build some layers of fitness as the next race on our schedule is not until September 10.