The Reeths-Puffer boys cross country team had a really good day at the recent Greater Muskegon Athletic Association meet, considering their level of experience.
The five top Rockets finished in the middle of the pack, and R-P took seventh place out of 10 teams.
Not bad, considering three of R-P’s top five runners are freshmen and one is a sophomore.
Dylan Sturr
The top runner for the Rockets was senior Dylan Sturr, who took 31st place out of 67 runners with a time of 18:44.
He was followed closely by his teammates, including freshman Landon Learn (35th, 19:00), freshman Gabriel Luna (36th, 19:08), sophomore Kyron Novak (44th, 19:53) and freshman Kasyn Novak (45th, 20:15).
The Rockets finished with 177 points and beat out Muskegon Catholic, Muskegon and North Muskegon. Whitehall won the team championship.
Landon Learn
“It was an impressive day of racing for this young Reeths-Puffer cross country team,” said R-P head coach Darin Grant. “”Based on the difficult terrain on the University Park Golf Course, and the times the guys ran it in, it’s obvious they showed up to compete.
“This meet is one where many of the schools look to perform their best, and this young team did just that. Nine guys ran their fastest times of the season, and the other four running were a few second off their best times.”
The R-P boys faced a very steep challenge just three days later, however, competing at the O-K Green conference championship meet on short rest, against very talented opposition.
Gabriel Luna
Sturr held steady, coming in 38th out of 119 runners with a time of 18:31.
The younger guys fell off a bit, however.
Luna took 70th with a time of 20:20, Learn was 71st with a mark of 20:22, Kyron Novak was 74th at 20:39 and Kasyn Novak was 76th with a time of 20:46.
Reeths-Puffer finished fifth out of six teams with 153 points. Caledonia won the competition.