By Anna Johns
WKTV Intern
It has been a challenging season for both the South Christian boys and girls cross country teams, however; the teams are thriving and both are currently ranked third in Region 13.
“All of our seniors have done a phenomenal job of leading our team and have run faster this year than ever,” said head cross country coach Kori VanderKooi.
The varsity boys cross country team is currently led by seniors Sam Westra, Hendrik Nykamp and Ethan Luurtsema. This is only Luurtsema’s second year and he has a personal record of 17:14.8 in the varsity 5,000 meter run.
This year the boys have been running consistently at times close to 17 minutes and VanderKooi said she would love to see them lower their times.
“Our girls varsity team has shifted throughout the season, as we have a lot of depth, and a lot of solid, young runners,” VanderKooi said, adding that all of the girls are strong runners, especially sophomore Emily Langerak.
Langerak is the most consistent runner on the team and currently has a time of 20:50.2 in the varsity 5,000 meter run.
Also on the varsity girls cross country team are senior Moriah Lanning and junior Abby Winkle. Winkle currently has a time of 20:26.8 in the 5,000 meters, making her fastest on the South Christian girls team.
VanderKooi began coaching in 2011 for the South Christian Middle School Cross Country team and last year she moved up to coaching the varsity team. She had many of the runners on her team at the middle school.
“It’s a unique opportunity to see their development as runners over the span of so many years,” she said.
Recently, the team competed in the Bengal Invitational at Riverside Park on Oct. 9. The boys varsity team competed against nine other area schools and placed 7th. The girls competed against six other teams and scored 140 points.
Next week, they will be determining the final roster to decide which runners will be heading to districts and regionals. Their next race will be the OK Gold Championships on Oct. 20 at Thornapple Kellogg High School.
