Last week Friday, the boys and girls cross country team participated in the Michigan State Invitational in East Lansing. Hundreds of teams traveled from across the state to participate and show off their ability on the course. Although the temperature was a steamy 85 degrees, the Rangers managed to push through the race. Overall, FHC had 25 season record times and they are continuing to get better. The varsity girls cross country team finished in 10th place out of 36 schools with 322 points. The boys cross country team finished in 25th out of 38 schools with 620 points. For JV races, the boys team finished 12th out of 44 schools with 406 points, and the girls finished in 16th out of 29 schools with 428 points.

Finishing in first place, 68th overall, for the boys team was sophomore Kyle James-Herr with a time of 17:58. Finishing in second for FHC and 102nd overall was junior Jacob Ball with a time of 18:20. In third place for FHC was sophomore Alex Souza, finishing with a time of 18:29 and 111th overall. Finishing in first place for the girls team was freshman Whitney Currie with a time of 20:44, placing in 46th. In second place for the girls was junior Courtney McAlindon finishing 50th overall with a time of 20:54. And in third place was junior Susannah Bennett finishing 53rd overall with a time of 21:00. Finishing in first place for the JV ranger boys team and 46th overall was freshman Nicholas Ho with a time of 19:14. Next up, finishing 90th overall, was freshman Isaac Ghareeb with a time of 20:03. And in third place but 111th overall was sophomore Patrick Ho with a time of 20:17. For the JV girls team, sophomore Ellie Harner finished 68th overall with a time of 24:19. Senior Linnea Eastburg finished in second for the girls and 95th overall with a time of 25:03. And in third place, 103rd overall, was senior Megan Tiggleman with a time of 25:17.

Despite the heat and mass amount of people running at the Michigan State Invitational, the boys and girls cross country team managed to work their hardest to finish the race. Both the varsity and JV teams were able to show their best ability and are eager to get better. The next race for the cross country team is Wednesday, September 20th at Cedar Springs.