Austin Hemmingson | Escanaba Daily Press MarquetteÕs Kennedy Tate drives off of hole 18 at ThursdayÕs Great Northern Conference match at the Escanaba Country Club.

ESCANABA — A couple of strong individual performances highlighted the season-opening Great Northern Conference match at the Escanaba Country Club here Thursday afternoon.

Escanaba’s three-time defending U.P. champion and Northern Michigan University commit Paxton Johnson shot a 41 on the front nine, earning girls’ medalist honors. Menominee’s Josie Hofer, Marquette’s Morgan Rhodes and Kingsford’s Haley Gabriel tied for second at 47.

On the boys’ side, Gladstone’s Rudy Peterson shot a 37 on the back nine for medalist honors. Esky’s Trevor Denome and Marquette’s Joe Luke tied for second at 38.

Despite their performances, Johnson and Peterson didn’t feel they played their best.

“I didn’t play too well. I was a little bit scrappy because I had some very bad shots that I had to work with. My putting was really good .. I made a couple long ones for birdie,” Johnson said. “It feels really good to be back after a long winter .. I missed it.”

Peterson echoed those comments.

“I scored all right, but I missed a lot of greens and my putting wasn’t as good as I hoped. I could have shot a few shots better and there’s a lot of stuff I need to work on,” he said. “It doesn’t really mean a whole lot because there’s several tournaments still to go. It’s just one tournament.”

Both Esky teams finished in second place. The Esky girls shot a 219, finishing behind first-place Menominee, which shot a 203.

“I kind of felt that our girls’ team was just a slight notch below where Menominee’s at,” Esky coach Brian Robinette said. “I just watched them hit balls and I watched them play some holes when we went to their event last week. They’re a solid golf team. They’ve got five girls who can get on the course and shoot their scores in the 50s. I thought the Hofer girl playing in the fourth slot shooting a 47 was really kind of a difference-maker. I know that we’re going to have to continue to work and chip away at each fault we have. It’s going to take a collective effort to get where Menominee’s at right now.”

He also said he’s impressed with how Johnson has looked early.

“She’s a grinder, she’s a very feisty competitor and she expects a lot out of herself,” he said. “Maybe at some points in time she puts more pressure on herself than she needs to, but I have not seen her swing this well any year as she is this year. We just got to keep her swinging well and trusting what she’s doing. She’s the least of my worries.”

Johnson was happy with how the rest of her team played.

“I think we played really well as a team. We have some new girls that really showed up. I’m happy with how we did today,” she said.

Kingsford was third (239) and Marquette was fourth (243). Gladstone only had two golfers and didn’t receive a team score.

Esky and Marquette’s boys each shot a 166 for a first place tie, but the Redmen won the tie-breaker, which is decided by the score of the fifth man on each team. Marquette’s Karsten Kamps shot a 48 and Esky’s Clayton Smith hit 50, giving the Redmen the slight nod. Kingsford came in third (197), followed by Menominee (209) and Gladstone (216).

“I thought our boys played great,” Robinette said. “I’m going to get to the heart of what happened in slot four and five with (Brett) McDonough and Smith. I know those guys work hard for me, I know they’re trying out there. Their scores aren’t reflective of the type of golf they play. For us to come away deadlocked and just lose on a countback .. I’m very content with that.”

Robinette also talked about some of his squad’s individual performances.

“I like the way Denome played today — he had a really rock-solid score. You can’t backdoor your way to a 38 on the back nine. You’ve got to strike it back there, you just can’t get lucky. You got to hit a lot of really quality shots and put on a really good display, and he did that. That’s refreshing. (Nathan) Rousseau’s been working hard and his score reflects that, and Jaden’s (Gravelle) one of our steadiest kids. He has been for two years now.

“I like our nucleus, I like what we have with the boys, but I also like knowing Marquette’s right there with us. That’s fuel for me to coach hard, and to get them to practice hard.”

The GNC teams meet again today at Gladstone at 10 a.m.