ESCANABA — Marquette came close to pulling out a double victory at the Great Northern Conference nine-hole golf invitational meet held at the Escanaba Country Club on Thursday.

The Marquette girls took care of their meet, edging out the host Eskymos 224-226, but the Redmen came up just short, the Menominee boys scoring 161 to Marquette’s 166.

In the girls meet, Menominee was third with 251 and Kingsford fourth with 255. For the boys, Kingsford was third with 173, followed by Esky with 192 and Gladstone 231.

Despite not winning his team title, the Redmen’s Owen Riipi was medalist with 36. He beat out Cooper Conway of Menominee by a single stroke, while two more Maroons — Andrew MacIntyre and Brady Badker — joined Kingsford’s Cole Myllyla tied for third with 39.

In the individual girls competition, Madison Derusha of Menominee was medalist with 46, followed by a pair of Redettes and a pair of Eskymos. Marquette’s Abigail Luke was second with 51, followed by Escanaba’s Sophie Derkos with 52 and teammate Cierra Scott with 55. In fifth was Marquette’s Lexi Smith with 56.

Despite overnight thunderstorms and a less than promising forecast, the meet went off without any issue from Mother Nature.

For Marquette it was a much-needed break from weather-affected events.

“We’ve had a rough week,” MSHS coach Ben Smith said. “At our place (Marquette Golf Club) on Monday, it was super windy and we got called off after a few holes. Balls wouldn’t stay (put on the greens), and it was, I don’t know, 50 to 60 mph winds. You can’t really play tournament golf in that.

“The next day, we went to Wawonowin (Country Club in Champion). It was a beautiful day through the first 13 holes, then we hit lightning and rain and got called off there.

“It’s kind of spring sports and spring golf in the (Upper Peninsula), but it was nice to have the weather kind of clear in the morning and kids had a chance to compete (Thursday), which is all you can ask for in these spring events.”

Escanaba coach Brian Robinette said both his squads are working into form. While the boys are still working on their potential, the girls have a well-rounded group top to bottom.

“We haven’t really seen the results (on the boys’ side) that we’re looking for, and I think this program, Coach Berlinski and I and the way we set up our program … and the atmosphere we have, winning isn’t everything, but we certainly aim to be a team that is looked at as a team to beat,” Robinette said. “I think we have the quality of golfer to be that level of team.

“On the girls side, we have a lot of depth, and we’re consistent from top to bottom.”

This season, the GNC will be decided by a season-long points system, with the final 18-hole match counting double. Athletes can drop one score with the exception of the GNC final. The final standings will determine Golfer of the Year as well as First and Second Team honors in addition to the conference championship itself.

The Escanaba Country Club will host the 18-hole First Bank Invitational this Thursday.