Portage Invite-A Great Day for Running

The weather was nice and cool for Running. Everyone on the Team was excited and nervous they all had goals that they wanted to achieve at Portage, and today was the day for them to go for it. The course is pretty even with some nice down hills that they can open up on and pick up some speed.

The first race of the day for us was the Men's Varsity. The Race started fast and the Holland Christian boys went out strong, all coming in well under Varsity Time of 19:30. It was GREAT to see how excited they all were to meet or surpass the goals that they had. They were all smiles as they walked back to the tent after their race.

5,000 Meters Division 2 Varsity
123	Nathan Vance	17:40.4	HOCH	12
140	Luke Peterson	17:54.0	HOCH	10
147	Nathan Mulder	17:57.4	HOCH	10
161	Michael Sikorski	18:03.4	HOCH	12
214	Ryan VanAppledorn	18:50.3	HOCH	9
222	Nick Beezhold	18:57.1	HOCH	12
225	Nolan Vanderzwaag	18:59.1	HOCH	10

Next it was the Women's Varsity's Turn. We were super excited to see what would happen in this race after we had seen what happened in the Men's Race. Just as we thought the Women's race started out fast  and that first mile just flew by. With so many runners going out at the same time it is hard to not get caught up in all of the excitement and go out flying. We are very proud of of how they all Ran.

5,000 Meters Division 2 Varsity x
42	Hannah VanRees	19:48.8	HOCH	12
81	Jessica Mulder	20:32.5	HOCH	12
85	Maria Kuiper	20:37.6	HOCH	10
101	Kate Lubben	20:55.7	HOCH	12
151	Heidi Scheur	21:55.5	HOCH	12
162	Sara Helder	22:09.8	HOCH	12
177	Anna Michmerhuizen	22:33.7	HOCH	12

The third race of the day was the Men's Reserve(or JV). They went out fast and strong, and many of them set PR's taking more then a minute off there best times of the season so far. The Men's JV race was cold and wet, as it decided to rain just as they were getting started, but they all worked hard and finished strong. 

5,000 Meters JV D2 x
81	Austin O'Malley	19:04.7	HOCH	12
83	Jordan Meyer	19:05.3	HOCH	12
96	James Westenbroek	19:14.3	HOCH	12
112	Nick Greydanus	19:21.4	HOCH	11
119	Grant DenBesten	19:27.3	HOCH	12
177	Sam Meinema	20:13.8	HOCH	11
179	Henry Feikema	20:18.1	HOCH	9
180	Jake Jackson	20:18.3	HOCH	11
182	Schylar Grenz	20:18.6	HOCH	11
185	Jason Walters	20:19.8	HOCH	11
194	Jacob Bol	20:27.6	HOCH	9
204	Aidan Edmunds	20:36.0	HOCH	10
253	Taylor Boeve	21:28.9	HOCH	12
258	Sam Eppel	21:34.5	HOCH	9
262	Elijah Lemkuil	21:37.9	HOCH	11
270	Garrett Huizenga	21:41.1	HOCH	9
305	Will Kauffman	22:56.6	HOCH	12
313	Eric Rietveld	23:16.0	HOCH	12
320	Jonah Jackson	23:51.5	HOCH	9
329	David Datema	25:30.6	HOCH	10

The final race of the day was the Women's Reserve (JV) We are so exited for them, because many of them crushed there best times of the season so far, and really found out what they can really do. The Top 50 in all of the race's received medals and in this race we had 3 that made it into the top 50. 

5,000 Meters JV D2 x
13	Veronica Vance	21:06.7	HOCH	9
23	Alyssa Boeve	21:19.4	HOCH	9
35	Tori Lenters	21:35.5	HOCH	9
123	Megan Leuschner	23:23.6	HOCH	12
125	Elizabeth VanderLugt	23:27.4	HOCH	9
140	Carly Sommavilla	23:47.7	HOCH	11
152	Vania Macias	23:56.8	HOCH	10
171	Margaret VanWylen	24:19.2	HOCH	9
176	Madeline VanRees	24:25.2	HOCH	10
177	Anna Vandouwolde	24:25.6	HOCH	9
226	Quinn Bouwkamp	25:57.8	HOCH	9
232	Maddy Kuipers	26:07.4	HOCH	10
235	Karis Pikaart	26:14.3	HOCH	11
266	Heather Greydanaus	27:28.4	HOCH	11

CONGRATS to all the RUNNERS!!!!! You are all finding out what it feels like to push your self further and finding out that you are Strong and Fast. Discovering that the Lord has BLESSED you all with the Amazing gift of being able to run and face challenges.  

Looking forward we have one more Conference Meet Vs. Byron Center at Johnson Park, We are going to have to give it all we've got at this meet. It will be a challenge. We also can look forward to the Spring Lake Invite another FLAT and FAST Course were we expect to see some great times, PR's broken and goals achieved. 

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.