Senior Geoffrey Batterbee crossed the finish line with a time of 16:30.60, earning second place overall in the OK White Conference meet this past Wednesday. He was a major contributor in helping the Ranger boys cross country team secure second place out of the six conference teams.

“Geoffrey has continued to be one of the top racers for us this season,” junior Nicole Marco said. “It’s always a good thing to have him racing for us.”  

Along with Geoffrey, junior Nicholas Hatley had his personal best time of the whole season last night. Nick was able to beat his personal record by five seconds with a time of 17:27.97, and secured sixteenth place out of the 152 other boys racing.

“Nick had an incredible meet,” senior co-captain Jake Ball said. “He was able to earn our team lots of valuable points.”

Their race took place on a flatter course with little hills on it. This allowed for a quickly paced race, and the boys team was able to excel in that aspect of the meet. Not to mention that the weather conditions were extremely suitable for a race.

Other key contributors for the boys team were junior Gabe Carlson who took fourth place, freshman Sam Yeager who took sixth place, sophomore Kyle James-Heer was able to secure fifteenth place, and Jake Ball placed in sixteenth.

“Our team performed very well from the top to the bottom, and we were only two points away from taking down a strong Cedar Springs team,” Jake said. “I was very pleased with my individual performance as well, and I placed only two seconds behind my personal record.”

As the boys near the end of their successful season, they were very confident going into this meet. They were aiming to get first but fell short, only by two points though, and were able to secure a very respectable second place in the OK White conference.

Crossing the finish line first for the girls Ranger cross country team was Nicole Marco. Nicole was able to place fifth with a time of 19:17.72. Leading her team, Nicole was one of the key runners who helped her team finish third out of the seven teams in the conference races.

“Personally, I felt like I did really well in the race,” Nicole said. “I was just three seconds off my personal record for the season, and finished in my second best place for the season.”

Nicole was not the only Ranger on her team who had a successful meet; three girls were able to finish in the top fifteen as well: sophomore Whitney Currie placed ninth, senior Courtney McAlindon took eleventh place, and senior Susannah Bennett was able to secure twelfth place.

“I was really excited about my race and will have a chance to compete in the regional races now,” Courtney said. “I am so proud of this team as well, and there were many personal records broken in this race.”

The Ranger girls cross country team had a very successful meet overall. They went into this race knowing that it would be a tough one but came out as third place finishers in the OK White Conference. Their last race before Regionals is on Saturday, October 27, at Allendale High School.

“Overall I am very happy with the results of the meet today,” Courtney said. “Our team is looking very strong so hopefully we can keep making progress like this as we head into regionals.”