Each girl covered the 3.1-mile course in 20 minutes, 33 seconds on a cool and blustery day at Beauchamp’s Grove.

“I was behind until nearly the end of the third mile,” Wenzel said. “Both of us were trying to catch up near the end and we sprinted quite a way. It was very stressful at times. The hardest part was at the end, which made for a good race. She was very strong.”

The race for the team title was nearly as close as Kingsford edged Marquette 39-41. Third-place Menominee scored 74 points, followed by Gladstone with 106 and Escanaba 120. Manistique and Munising didn’t post team scores.

Marquette’s boys grabbed six of the top 12 places to win with 32 points. They were followed by Gladstone with 65, Menominee 94, Rudyard 109 and Stephenson 143. Munising and Manistique didn’t post a team score.

Marquette's Anna Grzelak runs to the finish line as she came in eighth place at the Gladstone Barnyard Classic cross country meet held Thursday at Flat Rock. (Escanaba Daily Press photo by Austin Hemmingson)

“Our boys ran a solid meet,” Gladstone coach Gary Whitmer said. “All the guys had season bests and most of the girls ran their best times all year. I think we have some momentum going into the (Great Northern Conference) meet.”

Thursday’s effort resulted in a personal-best time for Buck.

“It was a fun race,” she said. “This was also a confidence boost. I’m excited for the (Upper Peninsula Division 1) Finals. We were pushing it pretty hard for the first two miles, then it was mind over matter. I’m happy with how I did and how our team did.”

Menominee senior Katie Anderla placed third in a season-best 20:49.9, followed by Marquette’s Olivia Moffitt (20:52.6) and Kingsford’s Sarah Kulas (21:12.5).

“This was definitely my best race all year,” Anderla said. “This was my last race before the GNCs, which gave me a little extra motivation. It was nice and cold. I tried to think positive and felt comfortable through the whole race.”

The second five of the top 10 included the Redettes’ Reegan Ketzenberger, seventh in 21:30.7, Anna Grzelak, eighth in 21:37.0, and Guinn Wuorinen, 10th in 21:49.5.

Fitting between them was Munising’s Hattie Cota, who was ninth in 21:46.1.

Gladstone sophomore Giovanni Mathews was the boys’ pacesetter in a personal-best 17:02.9. He was followed by Norway sophomore Adam Cavagnetto (17:14.2), Marquette’s Colin VanderSchaaf (17:23.4), Gladstone freshman Drew Hughes (17:25.4) and Marquette’s Hogan Nemetz (17:29.9).

Marquette also had Moses Waite finish sixth in 17:33.3 and Luke Janofski seventh in 17:47.6.

“I didn’t really have a strategy today,” Mathews said. “I’ve been running here since I’ve been in third grade. I know this course well. This is like home under my feet.”

Cavagnetto was fresh from winning last Saturday’s Iron Mountain Road & Trail Half-marathon.

“I’m trying to get back into cross country mode,” he said. “I was trying to pace off Gio and got a PR by five seconds. I’ll take that. Everything went OK.”