NORWAY — The Republic-Michigamme boys pulled off a big coup Tuesday, taking first place in a seven-team field at the Norway Invitational high school cross country meet at Strawberry Lake.

R-M did it in a runaway, scoring 46 points to runner-up Rapid River’s 66. North Central was third with 92, Goodman-Pembine, Wisconsin, fourth with 93, Mid Peninsula fifth with 106 and Florence, Wisconsin, and Carney-Nadeau tied for sixth with 148 each.

“I told the guys to run together as a group and we had a lot of PRs (personal records) today,” Hawks’ coach Kris Olender said. “In the last three races, we’ve been getting progressively better. The guys were all under 20 minutes, which is awesome.”

The Hawks were led on the 3.1-mile course by Jake Carlson, who placed seventh in 19 minutes, 28 seconds on a sunny and warm day.

He led a tightly bunched group of R-M runners that included Chris Morgan in eighth place in 19:34; Andrew Olender, ninth in 19:38; Gage Warner, 10th in 19:43; Jarred Boshears, 12th in 19:56; and Justin Anthony, 14th in 20:24.

North Central’s Griffin Johnson won the boys race in 17:48, followed by teammate Connor Robinson in 18:33 and Rapid River’s Azariah Hernandez in 18:43.

“This is such a nice day for October,” Johnson said. “It was warm, yet we had some nice, cool air out there. I was trying for the school record and came up a few (six) seconds short.”

In the girls meet, Mid Peninsula continued a late-season surge with its second straight title. The Wolverines, fresh off earning the Skyline Central Conference championship last week, grabbed four of the top seven places at Norway.

The Wolverines scored 36 points, followed by West Iron County 49 and Superior Central 77. R-M was fifth with 138.

Mid Pen eighth-grader Landry Koski also won for the second straight time in 20:44. She was followed by SC’s Danika Walters in 21:10 and Mid Pen’s Daisy Englund in 21:27. The Cougars’ Betty Jo Swajanen was fifth in 23:38, while R-M’s Kaitlin Ambuehl was 10th in 24:49.

“It was very hot out there,” Koski said. “The sun was kind of blinding at times. The hills were also pretty tough, but that’s when it’s time to pick it up.”

Walters said she ran better Tuesday than in the Skyline meet.

“I had been feeling under the weather for about a week and the race at Munising was kind of rough,” she said. “Although I got a chance to learn more about the course.

“This time, I felt better physically and mentally and was able to get into the right mindset. I like this course. It was nice to see the water and there’s a lot of hills you can challenge yourself on. Only, I wish I hadn’t worn spikes. But that’s how you learn.”