The 2023 Boys Cross Country season was one for the books. The team had its share of ups and downs but in the end, everyone learned a lot and is ready for the next season!
The boys finished up their season with an 8-6 record, placing 4th place at the conference meet and 5th at the Regional meet in Allendale!
A great win by our boys was at the Wayland Invitational on October 10, 2023, the team went down to Wayland and competed against six other schools which ended up being a spectacular day! Seven of our boys placed in the top twenty, scoring us first place. Abatu Dykstra placed first out of all of the runners, and the Girls Cross Country team placed first as well. It became a really special day for the Hamilton Cross Country team.
This year, the boys were placed in a very tough division. According to coach Kevin Spotts, “Any other year with this team of Boys, we would have made it to State.” The Ok-Blue Conference included a lot of very difficult teams this year. In order to advance to the state meet, you need to be in the top 3 at regionals, the boys placed 5th and could not advance which resulted in a very tough way to end the season for the Boys Cross Country team.
The graduating runners this year have been very big contributors to the team and it will be sad to see them go. The graduating seniors were Emilio Calderon, Brody Crandall, Evan Kraker, Josh Langeland, Carson McIntire, and Liam Pothoff. They have all shown huge improvement since their freshman seasons and some plan on continuing their running careers in college!
We got the chance to interview Luke Hernandez and when asked how he thought the season went he said, “Our season went as expected without Max VanHuis. We lost a lot of our leadership and even though we didn’t make team state, our team did the best with what we had. It definitely didn’t help that we were in the most competitive region and conference in the state.” Evan Kraker added, “It was a good season, so many people were able to make big improvements and it was definitely a memorable experience.” Noah Hernandez states, “My summer mileage definitely helped with my times over the past Cross season. I am looking forward to the improvements we can make next year!”
Overall, it was a very successful year for the Boys Cross Country team, regardless of the minor setbacks due to injuries. We are excited to see how they perform in the years to come!