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CHAMPION — It was status quo on the cross country trails here Tuesday as the Houghton girls and Ishpeming boys continued to lead the way in the West PAC.

The Ishpeming boys, who were led by race winner Jonah Broberg, grabbed five of the top seven places to win all three conference races this season with 22 points. They were followed by Houghton with 40, Negaunee 93, Ironwood 94, Calumet 159, Kingsford 165 and Westwood 170.

Negaunee senior Emily Paupore continued her dominance on the girls side, covering the 3.1-mile course at Wawonowin Country Club in 19 minutes, 26.6 seconds for a more than 70-second victory.

Negaunee's Talon Prusi runs to a third-place finish at the Westwood Invitational high school cross country meet held Tuesday at Wawonowin Golf Course in Champion. (Journal photo by Amy Grigas)

“I was trying to go for time, but didn’t get the time I hoped for,” Paupore said. “The first mile was a little slower than I hoped. I’m getting a little frustrated with being in the 19s. I’m hoping to get back into the 18s. My speed is where I want it to be, but I need to work on my endurance. My legs aren’t moving as fast as I like.”

She was followed by Kingsford junior Melanie Wenzel in 20:38.3, with classmate Talon Prusi third in 20:43.1, Houghton sophomore Ingrid Seagren fourth in 20:52.9 and Westwood’s Elizabeth Williams fifth in 21:30.6.

“Elizabeth ran a real good race and we have a couple other girls who are close to where we want them to be,” Westwood coach Eric Hill said. “We hope to be competitive at the (Upper Peninsula) Finals, although Division 1 is very tough. We have our work cut out for us.

“Jacob Johnson had a PR (20:03.5 in the boys’ race). He was happy about that.”

Johnson was 28th overall in the boys race.

Wenzel, Prusi and Seagren ran personal bests on this mostly cloudy and cool day.

“I just tried to stride it out in the end,” Wenzel said. “I tried to keep up with them and the three of us (Paupore, Wenzel and Prusi) were real close in the end. It was a little colder today and I tend to feel better in colder weather. I’m glad it didn’t rain.”

Prusi was naturally happy with her time.

“I did well,” she said. “I’ve been wanting to run a PR (personal record) for a long time and I got it. I’m very pleased. I wanted to stay with the Kingsford girl. She’s a very good runner. She helped me get a PR. We were shoulder to shoulder most of the way, then she pulled away on the last hill.”

The Houghton girls, like the Ishpeming boys the winner of all three league meets, placed four runners among the top nine and edged Kingsford 36-39 for their title. The Flivvers, who aren’t members of the West PAC, were followed by Westwood with 74, Calumet 96 and Ishpeming 103.

“I think we run better on the hills,” Houghton coach Traci Welch said. “All the kids ran well today. Maybe running the JVs and varsity together gave everybody a little push.

“The conditions were great and this is one of the nicest golf courses to run on. Some of the JV girls were well up into the varsity. Our top four are very strong runners.”

The area next top girls finisher was Ishpeming’s Taylor Longtine, 10th in 22:01.4, with the Patriots’ Allyssea Smith 15th in 23:00.4.

Broberg’s winning time in the boys’ race was 17:21.7, just over 20 seconds ahead of Houghton runner-up Joe Wood (17:42.4). The Hematites’ Jordan Longtine was third in 17:52.4, with Houghton’s Branden Peterson fourth in 17:57.7.

Then came a trio of Ishpeming runners — David Liimatta was fifth in 18:04.3, Silas Broberg sixth in 18:09.1 and Joseph King seventh in 18:12.4.

“This is the first time Jonah beat Joe Wood this year,” Ishpeming coach P.J. Pruett said. “It’s going to be a battle for the West PAC runner of the year. In terms of determination, this was Jonah’s best race all year. He was determined from start to finish.

“Jordan was just 10 seconds behind Joe, and David was our third-best runner today. He was running in the fifth spot all year and now he’s running in the third spot. The depth of our team is pretty strong. The top five guys are picking it up.”