Ottawa Hills girls cross country team headed to state finals

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (GRPS) -- The Ottawa Hills High School girls cross country team will compete at the state finals for the third time in the past seven years.

The girls cross country team advanced to the state finals by placing second at the Portage Regional on October 25. The state finals are Saturday, November 2, at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. This marks the 10th year in a row that at least one runner from the Ottawa Hills girls cross country team will compete at the state finals.

Madeleine Hengeveld led the team for the first time this year running a 21 second PR to finish 8th and earn All Region honors in 19:22. Cece Wojciakowski also earned All Region honors with a 13th place finish in 19:38. Enna Wainer ran her best race of the year placing 17th in 19:57. Reese Hansen ran a strong race and stayed tough to finish 19th in 20:00. Gwen Aupperlee had an outstanding day, dropping her PR by 28 seconds to finish scoring positions for the team running 20:19 to place 23rd. Jana Kalumbula had another solid race to finish 6th for the team in 21:41. Kenzie Low had a rare race where she didn’t PR, but ran a solid time of 22:29.

“I am really proud of the way the team stepped up,” said Head Coach Dan Ebright. “Our first five girls ran as a tight pack early in the race and held their positions on the second loop of the Portage course. It was one of the top team efforts I have had as a coach.”