On an useasonably warm October Saturday, the Men's Cross-country team proved yet again that the depth of their top 7 makes a tremendous difference. The Allegan Invitational scores 2 separate varsity races and combines the scores from both for overall team results. After the Varsity I race, featuring every team's 1, 2 and 3 runners, the Panthers found themselves in 5th place overall despite Jake Follett (16:58), Sebastian Ruiz (17:14), and Michael Dummer (17:23), earning 3 medals. It was then up to the number 4, 5, 6 and 7 runners to turn things around and those young men did so in fine fashion. Junior captain, Boston WIlkinson led the way with a 2nd place finish in 16:57, followed quickly by freshman star Max Post (17:11) in 4th place and senior Porter Yurk (17:35) in 6th place to move the Panthers from 5th place overall into 2nd place as a team. Senior Lukas Looman helped in the turn around effort with an 8th place finish which "pushed points" on other teams. As the varsity crew set the example of how to race in the hot weather by earning 7 medals and a second place award, the JV contigent took advantage of lessons learned and then earned 7 medals for themselves along with a second place award of their own. Solid running by sophomore Brody Mulder took first place in the JV race with a near personal record time of 17:39. He was followed by fellow sophomore Nick DeRoo and freshman Henry Frederick in 6th and 7th places respectively. Freshmen Regan Luce and Miles Koch finished in 9th and 10th places to help earn that 2nd place plaque. The Panthers racked up a total of 14 medals and 2 plaques with one personal record. The next competition for West Ottawa will be the all-important OK Red Conference finals which they will host on Thursday, October 16 at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids. An historic conference championship will be on the line when the gun goes off at 4:30 pm.