The WMC Cross Country teams traveled to Sparta on Saturday to face state and regionally ranked competition.

The Warriors competed in the Silver Division which featured the #3 (Pewamo-Westphalia) and #8 (Saranac) boys' teams in this week's Division 3 State Coaches Poll. While the girls' meet featured #2 (Pewamo-Westphalia), #8 (WMC) and #13 (Kent City) from this week's Division 3 Coaches Poll, and #14 (Buckley) from Division 4.

Boys Team Scores - Silver:

1. Pewamo-Westphalia 41
2. Saranac 46
3. WMC 76
4. Kent City 86
5. Buckley 115
6. Byron Center Zion Christian 178
7. 5 other schools fielded incomplete teams.

Coach Gould, "The boys faced some strong teams in P-W and Saranac, we will face Saranac in the regional and they appear to be the team to beat. We are currently a long way from challenging them and need to concern ourselves with positioning ourselves to compete for 2^nd or 3^rd at regionals to advance to the state final. We made big strides in that direction today, with everyone in the scoring 5 running season or career bests. We appear to be solidifying the front of the scoring group but need some additional help on the back end to truly become a contender to make the state final but make no mistake we are improving and now have two weeks to prepare for a massive test at Shepherd on October 1."

WMC Medalists (Top - 20)

6^th Matthias Morse (So) 17:42.21 (Personal Best)

10^th Graeson Lawrence (Jr) 17:52.86 (Personal Best)

12^th Jonathan Clausing (Sr) 17:54.25 (Season Best)

Girls Team Scores - Silver:

1. Pewamo-Westphalia 36
2. WMC 65
3. Kent City 94
4. Buckley 107
5. Libertas Christian 115
6. Saranac 130
7. GR NorthPointe Christian 148
8. 5 other schools fielded incomplete teams.

Coach Gould, "We knew we would be tested by PW, and just wanted to see where we were today v. a podium contender in D3. Still a lot of season left and we had a fantastic team effort putting the scoring 5 all in the medals today with some great team running. We feature a lot of big meet experience in the scoring 5 and it showed today, remaining composed and running together to push for some season and career bests. It was critical to return senior Brianna Zuidema to the line-up today as she is so consistent and that helps set the tone early for the girls. We continue to improve in the quest for a run at the regional championship and a spot on the starting line in the state finals. We will continue that quest in two weeks at Shepherd."

WMC Medalists (Top - 20)

5^th Grace VanderKooi 19:25.15

10^th Grace Folkema 21:49.15

14^th Alia Zuidema 21:55.65 (Personal Best)

17^th Eleanor Kingshott 21:56.92 (Season Best)

19^th Brianna Zuidema 22:04.86