By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The Niles girls' cross country team traveled to the Portage Invitational on Saturday, where the Vikings placed 27th out of 39 schools in attendance.
Niles competed with some of the the best runners in the state, as well as other states, and head coach Dan VandenHeede said that he was very pleased with his teams performance.
Among his runners, six out of eighth had personal best times at the meet.
Posting personal bests were Samantha Brawley, who was the top finisher for the Vikings with a time of 19:43 to earn her the 36th spot.
Elizabeth VandenHeede finished 111th with her time of 21:14.
Autumn Grayson's time of 22:08 earned her the 156th spot. Nikki Horvath finished 202nd with a time of 23:58.
Tami Madison placed 214th with a time of 24:40 and Chelsea Clark finished 233rd with her time of 27:53.
Amanda Smith tied her personal best with a time of 26:46 to earn her the 232nd spot and Mehgen Flynn finished 231st with a time of 26:21.
The Vikings will return to competition on Wednesday at the Dowagiac Rock and Run Invitational at Southwestern Michigan College's main campus. Meet time is set to begin at 5:30 p.m.
Team results
1. Kalamazoo Grace Christian, 115
2. Gaylord, 123
3. East Grand Rapids, 138
4. Chelsea. 163
5. Milan, 193
6. Dexter, 239
7. Forest Hills North, 265
8. Caledonia, 301
9. Chippewa Hills, 313
10. Hudsonville Unity, 337
11. Jackson Northwest, 357
12. Spring Lake, 360
13. Lakeshore, 376
14. Battle Creek Lakeview, 390
15. Vicksburg, 407
16. St. Joseph, 414
17. Middleville, 421
18. Ionia, 422
19. Wayland, 441
20. Coldwater, 462
21. Gull Lake, 507
22. Fremont, 588
23. Lakewood, 604
24. Sturgis, 640
25. Carleton Airport, 710
26. South Haven, 712
27. Niles, 719
28. Three Rivers, 720
29. Detroit Renaissance, 723
30. Byron Center, 774
31. Mattawan, 805
32. Gr. Catholic Central, 836
33. Hasting, 913
34. Big Rapids, 921
35. Comstock, 967
* Four teams did not post scores