The Reeths-Puffer boys cross country team kicked off its season by finishing in third place on Tuesday at the Eagle Invitational at Fruitport Calvary Christian.
Reeths-Puffer finished with a score of 100, behind first-place West Michigan Christian with 35 points and second-place Mason County Eastern with 59 points.
Rounding out the team scores were Holton with 104, Mona Shores with 112, Fruitport with 123 and Algoma Christian with 140.
Gabe Luna
The top runner for the Rockets was sophomore Gabe Luna, who finished with a time of 19:24.34 and took 14th place individually. Junior Kyron Novak posted a time of 19:37.96 and finished 17th.
Sophomore Landon Learn finished 19th at 15:53.56, Kasyn Novak was 25th with a time of 20:26.25 and sophomore Bryce Blair finished 30th with a time of 21:08.37.
“For those who are returning runners, they had to figure out how to race a 5K again, and that doesn’t happen overnight,” said R-P head coach Darin Grant. ”I think it will take three to five races to adapt and figure out how to really race and to finish on empty.
“For my new runners, it was about pacing and finishing a grueling 5K. It was also about making mistakes, identifying the mistakes, and not repeating the mistakes. I am pleased to report that all went relatively well.”
