After a forced weekend off last week due to thunderstorms, the WMC Cross Country teams came out ready to compete at the Sparta Invitational. The Boy's team ran away with the team title, our top 4 runners forming the lead pack from the start and never were challenged over the entire 5K race. In that pack were Owen Sytsema (1st, 17:40), Eli Morse (2nd, 17:45), Sam Hwang (17:54) and Josiah Scholma (4th, 17:57). Working their way through the chase pack to secure a team victory for the Warriors were Micah Scholma (11th, 20:08), Jack Walter ( 17th, 21:15), Bash Navis (21st, 21:53), and Xavier Brown (25th, 23:02). In the Girl's race, our young squad gained some valuable race experience today and came away with a 2nd place finish overall. Leah Sneller produced a strong performance given the hot conditions, finishing in 3rd place (20:42). Kyla Zuidema (7th, 22:08) and Rochelle Liu (8th, 22:11) battled through the race together to set the team up for a strong finish. Our next 4 runners to finish the race were freshmen - Sophia Gammon (18th, 24:53), Martina Choliz (21st, 25:17), Annabelle Walter (22nd, 25:33) and Lena Studer (23rd, 25:40). Evie Folkema also ran strong and improved her time from the previous race (25th, 26:08). Overall a solid day for both teams with lessons learned about pushing boundaries, working together and persevering when things get tough.