IRON MOUNTAIN — Negaunee junior runner Endla Harris broke through at the Kingsford Flivver Invitational cross country meet on Tuesday by earning her first varsity victory on the 3.1-mile course at Iron Mountain City Park in 22 minutes, 9.4 seconds.

She beat out Escanaba’s Ciara Ostrenga by exactly nine seconds after the Eskymo senior clocked 22:18.4. Marquette freshman Monet Argeropoulos was third in 22:32.9.

“It’s very exciting to win down here,” Harris said. “This is a good course to be pushed at because it’s a hard course. I knew I had a chance to finally win a race.

“I just needed to push on the uphills. This is a big confidence builder. Getting first place is a good way to keep me going. It was very hot here last year. It was a little windy today, but not too bad. I enjoyed the conditions.”

In the team competition, it was a Marquette County battle for the top spot as the Redettes edged the Miners 27 to 33 points. Esky placed third with 80.

Marquette used its depth to offset not finishing in the top spots as the Redettes claimed five spots in the top 10. Following Argeropoulos in third was Tessa Bruns, fourth in 22:37.5; Abby Harma, sixth in 23:05.7; Emmi Kruhak, seventh in 23:15.0; and Courtney Larson, 10th in 23:24.5.

Also pulling into the top 10 were two more Negaunee runners, Lauren Ossenheimer in eighth in 23:17.5 and Marlee Plaxco in ninth in 23:19.9.

The Marquette boys ran away with their meet, claiming the top five places for a perfect score of 15 points. Esky squeezed past Negaunee 70-71 for the runner-up spot.

“The boys did real well,” Marquette coach Kyle Detmers said. “I thought the girls did a great job, too. Usually when the temperature drops, the times drop. We’re hoping to peak at the end of the season.”

Marquette senior Luke Janofski earned his first victory in a season-best 17:49.7, followed by junior Colin VanderSchaaf as runner-up in 17:50.5 and sophomore Cullen Papin third in 18:27.4. The Redmen “big five” was rounded out by Brady Ketzenberger fourth in 18:30.3 and Adam White fifth in 18:57.3.

And teammate Seppi Camilli came in eighth in 19:40.7 just to provide some insurance for MSHS.

“This is a lot better than I’ve done here in the past,” Janofski said. “It was more comfortable for running than it was here last year.

“One of my goals was to win a race this season and knew I had a chance to win one here. I wanted to go hard in the first mile and tried to keep that pace.”

Negaunee junior Judge Anderson took sixth in 19:04.6 and classmate James Dank was seventh in 19:27.3.

“Judge and James ran valiant races,” Negaunee coach Vickie Paupore said.

“I got a little emotional when I saw Endla win her (girls) race. It was so exciting to see Endla get her first victory. The times were good. We had quite a few PRs (personal records).”