Marquette's Carson VanderSchaaf wins the Division 1 boys race at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals cross country meet held at Gentz's Homestead Golf Course in Chocolay Township outside of Harvey on Saturday. (Ironwood Daily Globe photo by Jason Juno)

MARQUETTE — The Marquette Senior High School boys took care at their home course in convincing fashion here Saturday, earning their third straight Upper Peninsula Division 1 cross country championship with 32 points.

Marquette, which placed four among the top seven, was followed by Sault Ste. Marie with 48 and Houghton with 75.

Junior Carson VanderSchaaf provided the Redmen an individual title, covering the 3.1-mile course in 16 minutes, 45.1 seconds on a sunny and seasonably cool day at Gentz’s Homestead Golf Course in Chocolay Township.

“I wanted to stay up front and see what happened,” VanderSchaaf said. “My legs just felt good today.

“We have good team dynamics. We all train together. I don’t really know what this means at this time, but I’m looking forward to track next spring. This is a big confidence builder right now.

“It was real nice weather for running. I was afraid it would rain.”

He was followed by Houghton senior Eric Weiss (17:04) and Gladstone junior Drew Hughes (17:23.7), who was undefeated this season prior to Saturday.

Marquette senior Luke Janofski placed fifth (17:46.1), followed by junior teammate Brady Ketzenberger (17:55.3) and sophomore Cullen Papin (18:03.4) and Negaunee junior Judge Anderson (18:09.4).

Jeffers grabbed four of the top five places and was crowned D-2 champions for the first time with 22 points. They were followed by Ironwood with 50, Manistique with 62 and Ishpeming with 79.

This marked the Jets’ first championship since 2009 when they won in D-3.

Jeffers senior Simone Barp won in 18:30.1, followed by freshman teammates Benton Rajala (18:37.1) and Brit Heinonen (18:40.5), West Iron County senior Landon Sundelius (18:44) and Jeffers junior Tavin Larson (18:50.7).

“I just went out at my regular pace,” Barp said. “I wanted to save some energy for the end.”

Manistique freshman Ben Gilroy took 10th (19:25), followed by Ishpeming freshman Levi Nicholls (19:31) and Manistique junior Grant Mason (19:37.8).

Dollar Bay retained its D-3 title with 57 points, followed by Stephenson with 63, Brimley with 77 and Munising with 122.

Ewen-Trout Creek senior Jonah Nordine repeated as champion at 17:15.7. He was followed by Dollar Bay senior Nik Thomas (17:16.6) and Munising freshman Trevor Nolan (17:47.1).

“I’m pretty happy with my time,” Nordine said. “I really tried to push it in the first mile. I ran a little more conservatively in the second mile, then tried to pick it up in the third.

“This is a pretty big confidence builder, I guess. I was a little nervous coming in here because Nik beat me in the (Copper Mountain) conference race last week. That definitely motivated me for the U.P. Finals.”

Engadine junior Conrad Spieles placed fifth (18:00.1). Munising senior Kaelan Mulye was seventh (18:49.4). Newberry senior Claudio Bistolfi took ninth (19:02.3) and junior Jacob Dunden was Republic-Michigamme’s leader in 13th (19:14.1).

“This is a challenging course,” Spieles said. “I felt I gave it all I had. I can’t ask for anything more than that.

“I’m really looking forward to track. The forecast called for rain. I’m not disappointed it missed us. I think this was a confidence builder. This will give me motivation to do better.”