KINGSFORD – The Marquette Senior High School Redettes have already staked their claim as queens in Division 1 track in the Upper Peninsula and it looks like that honor won’t be going away any time soon.

The Redettes won their fifth straight U.P. title with a 154-point performance, 83 head of Calumet. Marquette has also won eight of the last nine Division 1 championships.

“We had a great day,” Redettes head coach John Peterson said. “It’s hard to pick out one moment that stands out because a lot of the girls did well and set records.

“It was nice to see Hannah (Detmers) win the 300 hurdles. She had been chasing that girl from Escanaba (Sunny Martineau) all year and she was finally able to catch her at the end.

“Amber i(Huebner) s a nice combination for us because she can run sprints and distance with the best of them.

“My shot putter (Cera Shelafoe) even did better than I anticipated,” he added. “This is just a great bunch of kids and I think we’ll be strong again next year.”

Marquette won two of the four relay events, the 3200 and 1600 meters, and came within a whisker of winning the 400 meters, finishing six one hundredths of a second behind Calumet.

The Redettes shattered the U.P. record in the 3200 by about 16 seconds.

“Going into the 3200 relay, we expected to win it,” Huebner said.

“We also had the mindset that we were going to set the record today, too, and we did it.”

The Redettes had several individual winners.

Lindsey Rudden finished first in the 1600 and 800 runs; Shayla Huebner won the 400 dash; Detmers took first in the 300 hurdles; and Amber Huebner won the 3200 run by almost 17 seconds.

Detmers was overwhelmed with joy after winning her event and was all smiles after hugging her teammates.

“I honestly didn’t expect to win today,” she said. “The Escanaba girl has been beating me all season long and I saw her slow down toward the end, so I went for it. It just feels amazing to finally win.”

Negaunee took fifth place overall with 62 points, two behind Escanaba and only nine behind the second place Copper Kings.

“I’m very pleased with my team today,” Miners head coach Vickie Paupore said. “I knew it was going to be tough for us because everywhere that we had our strengths, that’s exactly where Marquette did, too.

“We also were ranked a lot lower than how we came out, so I’m super proud of the girls. The Johnson girls (Aleda and Clara) had an especially great day.

“We didn’t do as well in the field events that we normally do, so that hurt us, but I’m still very proud,” she added.

The Miners had only one individual champion as Aleda Johnson won the pole vault with a leap of 9 feet, 0 inches.

But Clara Johnson finished second in the 1600 and 3200 runs, and also set a school record in the 1600 run with a time of 5:23.13.

“The U.P.’s is the time where every event, you look at it and you have to give it everything in your body,” Aleda Johnson said after collapsing on the ground at the end of the 800 run.

“The U.P.’s are about who has the most guts and our team gave it everything they had.”

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 246. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.