The South Christian cross country teams hosted the OK Gold Conference Championships on Wednesday, October 21. The home course was perfectly manicured, the crisp, fall weather was ideal for runners and spectators alike, and the sailors raced boldly to complete a conference title sweep, earning all conference honors for a handful of athletes. The boy’s varsity team scored 31 points on their way to winning the meet and the outright OK Gold title. The boys were led by conference champion, senior Ben Verlin, with a time of 16:30. Sophomore Hudson Kemper was runner up with a time of 16:52. He was followed by senior Josiah Rozema in 4th place with a time of 17:01. Sophomore Nate Zondervan battled to finish in 10th place with a time of 17:58 and sophomore Gage Roodvoets closed out the scoring for the sailors in 16th place, with a time of 18:41. Congratulations to Ben Verlin, Josiah Rozema, Hudson Kemper and Nate Zondervan for earning All-Conference honors, and to Gage Roodvoets for earning All-Conference honorable mention! The junior varsity boy’s team finished in 2nd place with a score of 41 points. Freshman Henry Hulst boldly led the race, winning by a full minute in a personal best time of 18:40! He was followed by freshman Will Buckingham (4th place, 19:59) and sophomore Dylan Thome (6th place, 20:21.) Rounding out the top five for the sailors were freshman Everett Quakkelaar (10th place, 20:40) and senior Trent Ponstein (26th, 22:40.) The girl’s varsity team also won the meet and the outright OK Gold title with a score of 25 points. Junior Tiffany DeMaagd was the individual conference champion with a time of 19:05. She was backed by powerhouse sophomores Lily VanEyk in 3rd place with a time of 19:30 and Noelle Hulst in 4th place, running 19:31. Closing out the top five for the lady sailors were another pair of sophomores, 8th place Isabelle Oostema with a time of 20:21 and 9th place Annalise Wiltjer, finishing with a season best time of 20:24. Congratulations to the entire varsity squad made up of junior Tiffany DeMaagd, and sophomores Lily VanEyk, Noelle Hulst, Isabelle Oostema, Annalise Wiltjer, Hailey Moorman and Grace Klynstra, for earning All Conference honors, and to junior Ava Oostema for earning All-Conference honorable mention! The junior varsity girl’s team finished in 1st place with a perfect score of 15 points. Junior Ava Oostema and Senior Gabriella Agar took turns leading the race to finish in first and second places respectively, with times of 21:16 and 21:25. Sophomore Alexa DeVries ran to a third place finish in a personal best time of 21:40. Junior Delaney Burgess finished in 4th place with a time of 21:49, followed by sophomore Taylor Rottman running 22:08 to finish in 5th place. Congratulations to the Sailor boys and girls teams and to coach Kori VanderKooi for all their hard work leading to this OK Gold conference sweep, and to the 13 athletes who earned All-Conference and All-Conference honorable mention honors! It was a fine ending to the conference season. The Sailors now look to the regional championships, which will once again take place on the home course at South Christian High School on Saturday, October 31.