MARQUETTE — Like any good golfer should, the Marquette Senior High School boys golf team came out swinging Wednesday at the Marquette Invitational held at the Marquette Golf Club, capturing each of the top five spots.

Marquette easily won the team portion of the boys event, in fact, beating out its No. 2 team for the top spot. Marquette No. 1 totaled 310 while MSHS No. 2 came in at 319.

Escanaba No. 1 made third place with 330, while Negaunee checked in fourth with 338. Gladstone No. 1 was next with 354, followed by Menominee with 365.

“The course was in great shape,” Sentinels head coach Ben Smith said. “After handling the rain we had and the wind was up … the kids handled themselves well out there.

“A 310 score as a team is a great number; hopefully we can play with confidence as we move forward to the (Upper Peninsula) Finals next week.”

Marquette will also host the U.P. Finals in Division 1 on Wednesday, the boys portion to be held at the same Marquette GC while the girls will be held a spell down the road in Champion at the Wawonowin Country Club.

Escanaba was nearly as dominant in the girls meet, winning the team title by 18 strokes over the host Sentinels, 429 to 447. Negaunee was a distant third with 537.

Back to the boys, MSHS’ Easton Aho won medalist honors by three strokes with an impressive 73. The next two best scorers were also Sentinels — Kaleb Chipelewski turned in 76 and Seve Swanson, actually on the Marquette No. 2 team, had 77.

Then there was a three-way tie for fourth at 78, two of them from Marquette — Cam Rector of Marquette No. 2 and Jack Pond of Marquette No. 1 — and they were joined by the best finish by a non-hometowner, Holden Meyer of Negaunee.

“Easton Aho had a great day with the putter out there to earn medalist honors with a 2-over-par 73,” Smith said. “Assistant coach Craig Moore and I have talked about how one bad shot or one hole should not carry over to the rest of your round. Easton had a triple-bogey on (No.) 16, but offset that with six birdies on the card, and it was great to see.

“After a few tough days this spring, he went back to an old putter, (and) the switch and hard work is paying off.”

The top 10 was rounded out by Graham Johnson of Escanaba No. 1 in seventh with 79, then a five-way tie for eighth with 82s — Cole Karki of Negaunee, Adam Heikkila and Caleb Aho of Marquette No. 2, Owen Gereau of Gladstone and Jared Plourde of Escanaba No. 1.

Senior Abigail Luke of Marquette led the pack in her final regular-season match, finishing with 94 to earn girls medalist honors.

The Eskymos showed off their depth, occupying four of the next six spots that led to their team victory. EHS’ Kamrie Scott secured the second-place position with 97, followed closely by teammate Danni Hughes with 106.

“Abigail Luke and Kamrie Scott have been battling throughout the spring,” Smith said. “(On Wednesday) they both battled through the wind and a few rough patches to finish atop the leaderboard.

“The girls have been putting in some time and seeing it pay off (and we’re) hoping to have things clicking next week for the U.P.’s.”

After that for the girls, Negaunee’s Adyson Crookham was fourth with 108, then Escanaba’s Lily VanDamme with 111. Tying for sixth were the Eskymos’ Emerson Salo and Marquette’s Roegen Hruska at 115 apiece.

The Sentinels rounded out the top 10 with Kylie Smith eighth with 118, Hayden Schetter ninth with 120 and Ella Pond 10th with 126.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.