BANAT — The Dale Fountain Memorial Course for cross country runners had lain dormant for nearly three years after fire destroyed a nearby home in 2014.

That changed on a sunny and hot Thursday as the Stephenson Eagles took the first step toward reviving the Dale Fountain Invitational meet, which hadn’t taken place the past two years.

The Marquette girls, taking six of the top seven places, captured their title with 18 points. Runner-up Menominee scored 44 and third-place Gladstone had 68 with four others schools including Manistique not fielding full teams.

Marquette sophomore Erica Asmus won the 3.1-mile race in 20 minutes, 47.7 seconds, with teammate Reegan Ketzenberger a distant runner-up in 22:28.4 on a day with temperatures soaring into the upper 80s, making it feel more like mid-August than late September.

“I went into this meet thinking it would be more of a training day,” Asmus said. “I felt my mile split was too fast (5:57). I wanted to do about 6:05. We just started doing speed work, and I think it will reflect more in our times as the season goes on. I thought everyone on our team did well.”

Menominee sophomore Katie Anderla placed third in 22:53.9, followed by Marquette’s Samantha Borzick in 23:12.5 and Guinn Wuorinen in 23:35.2.

“It was a rough day because of the heat,” Anderla said. “I hadn’t been on this course since I was in seventh grade. It felt good to run on this course again.

“This is a nice course. What I like best is the course is just one loop. You can just keep going. I wanted to keep a steady pace for two miles, then try to pick it up.”

The Marquette boys, placing six in the top eight, completed the sweep with 22 points. They were followed by Gladstone with 58, Menominee 80, Stephenson 98, North Central 120 and Carney-Nadeau with 149. Manistique didn’t field a full team.

MSHS senior Garrett Rudden was the individual winner in 16:35.0, followed by Gladstone junior Adam Bruce in a season-best 16:38.4 and Marquette senior Luke Rambo in 17:08.7.

“I just paced off Adam,” Rudden said. “I wanted to go out a little slower, but Adam went out real hard. I knew I couldn’t let him get away from me. I just gave it everything I had in the final 800 meters and passed Adam, although he got kind of close at 300.

“It was hot out there and it became kind of a mind game. It was also hot at the Spartan meet (in East Lansing) last week, which I think helped us get into the mindset of handling the heat.”

Bruce started fast, covering the first mile in 5:04.

“I felt good and the first mile went by real fast,” Bruce said. “I was real happy with my time. It was definitely hot, but I had fun.”

The Braves’ Jake Strasler placed fourth in 18:06.6, while Marquette had the next two finishers, Garrett Zueger fifth in 18:28.4 and Nathan Zika sixth in 18:43.3. The Redmen also had Mathrun Ganon come in eighth in 18:51.3 and Drew Thomas 12th in 19:27.3.

Sophomore Alex Misniakiewicz was Manistique’s pacesetter in seventh with a season-best 18:49.6. Teammate Phillip Hagenson was 14th in 19:53.4.

Coach Kyle Detmers was also happy with the effort by the Marquette teams.

“This was a decent day for us,” he said. “Garrett ran faster than he did last Friday in similar conditions, which shows he adjusted to the heat. We’re healthy and I like where we’re at.

“Tauni Camilli ran with Allison Jette in the girls’ race and they did a nice job for us.”

In the JV races, Marquette’s Hogan Nemetz led the boys in 19:48.4 while schoolmate Emma Stahl topped the girls in 23:33.8.