The Grandville girls’ cross country team raced with great determination and teamwork against Jenison at Unity Christian High School on Tuesday for their first dual meet of the season, finishing second by just four points. In a back and forth battle between first and second place, sophomore Allie Arnsman (21:00) finished runner-up to Maya Guikema of Jenison by just four tenths of a second.

Kaylee Scott (24:02) finished in the top five in the race, followed by Maddy Wolf (24:25), Sarah Etcher (24:47), Hailey Kempf (25:04), Celia Kingscott (25:07), and Elise Ferguson (25:22) to round out the top seven for Grandville.

Rainy weather and large, steep hills made for tough conditions, but Sarah Etcher finished with a personal best by thirty seconds from last year. The team also had many first-time cross country 5k finishers, including Jordyn Harrington, Lydia DeCook, Erin Taylor, Jaden Loyd, Brooklyn Gromko, Mariah Martinez, Lauren Reid, Katelyn Hopkins, Tana Duffy, Emma Kusmierski, Cece Duffy, Elyse Friberg, Kelcey Hunt, Jodi O’Dell, Jayla Matecki, Alice Meloni, Ari Harrold, Katharine Lawrence, and Ella McCrumb.

The ladies are preparing to race again this Friday at Riverside Park for a dual meet against Forest Hills Northern.