On a frosty October morning with clear blue skies above, the Panthers raced the "short course" 3200 meters section of the Kent/Ottawa Invitational at Calvin University. West Ottawa claimed an elusive first place by placing 5 runners in the top 20 for that race. The format for official scoring took the top 3 runners from each of the 10 teams in the 3200 meter race and combined them with the top 3 runners for each school entered in the classic 5,000 meter race. West Ottawa raced ONLY in the "short course" in order to be tuned up for this coming Thursday's OK Red Conference final. Had this one been scored in the traditional cross-country format, the Panthers would have first place with just 49 points. Sophomore school record holder Max Post led the way with a 5th place finish in 10:11, followed VERY closely by senior co-captain Boston Wilkinson in 6th place with a time of 10:12. Senior co-captain Sebastian Ruiz (9th place, 10:17) combined with freshmen standout Silas Pinney (14th place, 10:22) and junior co-captain Brody Mulder (16th, 10:26) to round out the top 5 medal winners for WO. There were ONLY 14 SECONDS that elapsed between Post crossing the finish line and Mulder finishing which means that powerful Panther pack was flexing the racing muscles again. That 14 second spread is the type of finish the Panthers will need at big meets like the conference finals and state regional. Junior Thiago Solis (25th, 10:44) and sophomore Henry Frederick (27th, 10:46) rounded out the top 7 for West Ottawa. All 20 of WO's runners recorded a personal best for the cross-country 3200 with some of the young men beating their own 3200 meter best from track season! West Ottawa's next competition will be in the OK RED CONFERENCE FINALS held at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids on Thursday, October 22 at 4:00 pm.