The Whitehall boys team edged Montague by 18 points, 142-160, to take seventh place in the Falcon division of the Allendale Invitational. Neither team was able to post a score in the girls' race.
The Viking boys were running without their fastest racer, as Bobby Jazwinski competed in an exclusive Race of Champions event in Terre Haute, Ind. That put the spotlight on usual No. 2 runner Rex Pumford, and the junior delivered, posting his second-best career time, 16:09.3, to place second in the race.
Two other area runners, both from Montague, placed in the top 10 - Nolan Kessler finished sixth in a time of 16:43.7 (second-best of his career), 0.6 of a second ahead of Wesley Mair in seventh.
Ian Dennis took 14th place for the Vikings with a time of 17:15.9, and Scout Freiheit was 28th (18:04.9). Alex Winczewski (38th, 18:39.9) and Pierce Westerlund (71st, 20:03.6) rounded out the scoring for Whitehall.
Following Kessler and Mair for Montague, Gibson Smith placed 32nd (18:22.1) and Brock Hunter was 43rd (18:49.2). Levi Dawson (91st, 21:37.5) was the Wildcats' fifth scorer, edging teammate Caleb Vincent.
Whitehall's only finisher in the girls' race was Gabrielle Chevez, who took 20th (21:00.4). Montague finishers were Erica Hansen (54th, 23:49.3), Amelia Liskey (70th, 27:30.0) and Willa Van Loon (73rd, 30:34.2).
