The Fruitport girls cross country team nailed down its second championship of the season on Saturday, taking first place in the Red Division at the Hill and Bale Invitational at Fremont Middle School.
The Hill and Bale is a unique annual run, with hay bales placed at spots along the course that the runners have to jump over, creating an extra challenging race and slower than average times for competitors.
The Trojans dominated the final standings, finishing with 50 points, far better than second-place Grandville, which had 70.
Fruitport gained a big edge by having three runners finish in the top 10 individually.
[1]Senior Tatum Dykstra finished second overall with a time of 20:12.12, just behind Grandville’s Chloe DeRidder, who had a time of 20:10.26.
Fruitport’s Valerie Pollock was seventh with a time of 21:29.32 and teammate Lauren Lee was eighth with a mark of 21:59.06.
Tresa Dykstra finished 19th for Fruitport with mark of 23:42.64.
“The girls ran an excellent race, placing first in their division,” said Fruitport coach Randy Johnson. “Our top three girls were in the top eight. We are still working on our fourth and fifth girls on our team to close the gap and make us even stronger.”
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