The fifth and final West PAC meet of the season was held at the Negaunee Township Hall on Thursday afternoon, with the Ishpeming boys and Houghton girls claiming the titles, and for the second consecutive season, the overall conference championship.

Individually, Houghton’s Joe Wood edged Ishpeming’s Jonah Broberg by two seconds to take the boys crown, while Negaunee’s Emily Paupore was a dominant force on the girls side once again, topping teammate Talon Prusi by more than a minute and a half.

Boys team results placed Ishpeming at the top with 21 points, followed by Houghton with 37, Negaunee 73, Calumet 110 and Westwood 119. Hancock didn’t field a full team.

The Gremlins finished with 51 points on the girls side, followed by Westwood with 69, Hancock 73, Negaunee 100, Ishpeming 117, Calumet 121 and West Iron County 186. Gwinn didn’t get a team score.

Negaunee's Alec Prusi, center, competes with Ishpeming's Levi Giroux, right, and Calumet's Anton Kristapovich during the boys race at the West PAC cross country meet held at the Negaunee Township Hall on Thursday afternoon. (Journal photo by Ryan Spitza)

Ishpeming head coach P.J. Pruett said his boys are beginning to peak at the right time.

“The kids ran really good and they’ve been getting really fast the last couple of weeks,” he said. “We’re looking forward to a good U.P. Finals.”

Broberg battled with Wood to the very end, but it was Wood who had the edge with a time of 16 minutes, 58 seconds to Broberg’s 17:00.

“(Jonah) tightened it up at the end but he tightened it up a little too late,” Pruett said. “He did good, though. Him and Joe are both great runners.

“The kids are getting faster and this is what you want at this time of the year. Their times are PR’ing (personal records) right now. We’ve got the Mid-Peninsula Conference meet on Monday and then it’s on to (Upper Peninsula) Finals.”

Houghton coach Traci Welch said despite her girls winning the West PAC two years in a row, it still has seemed like a long time coming.

“It feels great,” she said. “We’ve had a little bit of adversity coming into the last couple of meets. One of our top runners has been very, very sick at the hospital down in Ann Arbor, so we were really pleased that the rest of them could pick up and win it.

“We’re ecstatic about it, and it’s been awhile. I mean besides last year, it’s been a long time since our Houghton girls have been West PAC champs, so we’re pretty happy.”

Welch’s boys team also put on a strong runner-up showing to the Hematites, led by Wood.

“They’ve been in kind of a battle all year,” she said. “Joe is a phenomenal runner and he’s a very good hill runner, so I was curious to see how he was going to do because it was a bit of a flatter course, but he broke 17 (minutes) and I think he had his best time ever. He had a phenomenal race and is a great runner.

“And Ishpeming is a great team. I think you could see by all of the orange and blue out there, they’re kind of the dominant teams of the West PAC.”

Houghton and Ishpeming combined for 11 of the top 12 spots in the boys race, the lone exception being Eric Anderson of Negaunee who came home ninth in 18:20.

Behind Wood and Broberg at the top were Ishpeming’s Jordan Longtine, David Liimatta and Silas Broberg to round out the top five. Branden Peterson was the next Gremlins’ finisher in sixth while Joseph King came home seventh for the Hematites.

Evan Labyak and Tucker Rynnanen rounded out the top 10 for Houghton.

Jacob Jestila was the top finisher for the Patriots, finishing 14th overall in 18:56. Calumet’s Anton Kristapovich was 15th in 19:19, while Hancock’s top finisher was Matt Monette in 23rd.

Paupore finished with a time of 18:52 to lead the girls field, while Prusi clocked in at 20:30.

The Gremlins girls claimed three spots in the top 10 to help their case, with Ingrid Seagren and Autumn Eles finishing third and fourth, respectively. Seagren came in at 20:35 while Autumn Eles clocked 21:21.

Elizabeth Williams rounded out the top five as Westwood’s fastest finisher in 21:28, while teammate Tessa Leece was 10th in 22:01.

Ishpeming’s top finisher was Taylor Longtine in eighth, right after seventh-place Kiira Berg of Calumet. Maylie Kilpela finished ninth for Hancock in 21:40, while West Iron’s top finisher was Zoey Kolenda in 32nd.

All-conference awards were also presented following the meet, with Wood and Paupore being named Runners of the Year.

Fifteen runners in each race were named all-conference.

The U.P. Finals take place on Saturday morning, Oct. 19, at Gentz’s Homestead Golf Course in Chocolay Township.

Email Ryan Spitza at sports@miningjournal.net.