Top-ranked Holland Christian cross country sweeps OK Black titles with pack hunting mentality

HAMILTON – The best hunters in the world are pack hunters.

They need each other and seize their prey as a group with a coordinated attack.

The Holland Christian cross country teams have proven that pack hunting leads to group success at the highest level.

Both the boys and girls are ranked No. 1 in the state in Division 2. Both teams also on OK Black Conference titles on Wednesday, Oct. 21, at Diamond Springs.

The Holland Christian boys won with 30 points, followed by Zeeland West (50), Spring Lake (86), Zeeland East (116), Hudsonville Unity Christian (123), Holland (129) and Hamilton (223).

The Maroons put eight in the top 16, led by Grant Lampen, who won the individual title in 15:52.6.

“It meant so much. Last year I was second and got kicked on pretty bad (down the stretch) and it feels great to get first – the team, too,” Lampen said. “I have kind of flat-lined, but this race when the lactic started coming, it just went away. I haven’t felt that good in a long time.”

HC’s Cole Coffman was fifth (16:21.0), Zander Stewart was sixth (16:21.3), Drew Franken was seventh (16:22.0), Zach Diller was 11th (16:33.4), Alex VanDuren took 13th (16:45.7) and Derek Bostrom was 15th (16:48.9) and Rylan VanDenBeldt finished 16th (16:54.5).

“It has been great with this group. We do faster paces together. We are all working together in a pack,” Lampen said. “The best is yet to come for state for the boys and the girls.”

Zeeland West went 2-3 with Bryson Hassevoort second (16:01.2) and Tanner Smith third (16:06.8).

Holland’s Aiden Lambers took ninth in 16:27.2, finishing just ahead of Zeeland East’s Nate Davis (16:27.2).

Zeeland West’s Weston Grewell was 12th (16:45.0) and the Dux took 17-20 with Michael Ensing (17:00.0), Jacob Gruppen (17:00.5), Caden Uttech (17:01.9) and Bret Raak (17:11.6).

Meanwhile, in the girls race, Holland Christian won with 31 points, besting the field by more than 50 points.

The Maroons put seven in the top 13 finishers, led by Avery Engbers, who finished second in 17:37.9. Eliana Stob was fourth (18:40.7), Ellery Lampen was seventh (19:01.3), Molly White was eighth (19:08.4), Anna Zietlow was 10th (19:31.1), Mackenzie Huizenga was 11th (19:41.0) and Annika Stob was 13th (19:55.7).

Holland, competing without its top runner, was second with 82, followed by Zeeland West (88), Zeeland East (94), Spring Lake (97), Unity Christian (124) and Hamilton (194).

Zeeland East’s Adalyn Raab won the race in 17:27.1, finishing 10 seconds ahead of the pack.

“I started to pull away with about a mile left. I just have kind of been feeling when it is a good time to try to pull away,” Raab said. “It wasn’t a PR, but it was a good race. I am happy with it.”

Zeeland West’s Tessa Albrecht took fifth in 18:49), Holland’s Olivia Weiss was sixth (18:51.5) and Molly Murphy was ninth (19:24.6). Zeeland East Alivia Schnakenberg took 12th (19:44.7), Holland’s Tessa Nienhuis was 14th (19:57.1), Zeeland West’s Avali Hoffer was 16th (20:08.1) and Kaila Keeler was 17th (20:13.3).

Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as  Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.   

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Top-ranked Holland Christian cross country sweeps OK Black titles with pack hunting mentality