On Friday, September 13th, the Cross Country teams attended the MSU Spartan Invitational. There were 33 schools competing in the boys race and 37 schools competing in the girls race. Both of the FHC teams did very well in this event and both finished in tenth place. It was quite humid out, creating a harsher environment to run in, but the teams pushed through and placed well for their school. Although, the course at MSU is set up on a golf course so the grass was cut nice and short, allowing the runners to have an easier time with pacing. This factor helped the teams overcome the humidity that was clogging the air.

A total of 330 runners competed in the girls race. Junior Whitney Currie continued to do very well in this race, coming in twelfth place overall with a time of 20:23.2. Coming back into this race from an injury was senior Ally Francisco, who was the Ranger’s second-best runner, finishing with a time of 21:37.9. Then, the third best runner for the girls team was senior Chloe Zeien with a time of 22:02.0.

In the boys race, there was a total of 315 runners. Senior Gabe Carlson finished in 21st place with a time of 17:30.6, while sophomore Sam Yeager finished only 32 seconds behind Gabe with a time of 18:02.7. The third best runner for the boys team was junior Kyle James-Heer, finishing with a time of 18:10.2. The boys were very close to one another, all competing for the best times for their school. By doing this, they created the spot for the team in tenth place.

Next up for the Ranger cross country teams is the second Jamboree of the season at Cedar Springs on Wednesday, September 18th. The girls team will start at 4:30 PM and the boys team at 5:15 PM. By the placings in this past race, the FHC teams should keep improving and doing well in the races to come.