This meet, which also served as West PAC meet No. 2 for the season, was led by Jeffers winning the boys title and Houghton taking the girls crown.

In the boys meet, the Jets scored 32 points to 44 for runner-up Houghton. Negaunee was third with 67, Westwood fourth with 97 and Hancock fifth with 100. Ishpeming and Gwinn were among four schools that didn’t have a full team of five runners finish.

The Gremlins pulled off the girls title with 29 points as Calumet was second with 45. Negaunee came in third with 85, Hancock had 98 and Westwood was fifth with 102. Ishpeming, Gwinn and Republic-Michigamme were among schools without a full team.

The highest finisher among area boys and girls was Negaunee senior Henry Plummer in the boys race. He came in runner-up in 17 minutes, 43.0 seconds on the five-kilometer (3.1-mile) course, the better part of a minute behind race winner senior Cameron Anderson of Jeffers in 17:00.8.

Westwood’s Addy Hallum concentrates on getting to 10th place in the girls race at the Tracy Strom Invitational high school cross country meet held at the Al Quaal Recreation Area in Ishpeming on Thursday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

The Jets also had the third-place finisher in senior Landon Larson in 17:52.4, followed by Miners senior Simon Jaklin taking fourth in 18:17.6.

Houghton’s Benjamin Hemmer finished off an all-senior class sweep of the top five places when he clocked 18:38.0.

After the Gremlins’ Brandon Van Karsen and Jeffers’ Branson Anderson and Blake Hultunen took the next three spots, Ishpeming junior Kemper Gearhart was ninth in 19:23.9.

And rounding out the top 10 in 10th was Westwood senior Jared Waterman in 19:32.8.

The next highest area finisher was Ishpeming senior Mateusz Wozniak in 20th in 20:31.7.

Negaunee's Simon Jaklin, right, and Ishpeming’s Kemper Gearhart, center, run nearly side by side during the early stages of the boys race at the Tracy Strom Invitational high school cross country meet held at the Al Quaal Recreation Area in Ishpeming on Thursday. Jaklin would place fourth and Gearhart ninth. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

Right after him was Westwood senior Johnny Jestila, 21st in 20:44.7; Negaunee freshman Tyler Rautiola, 22nd in 20:54.3; Miners junior Joshua Frederick, 23rd in 20:54.7; and Gwinn freshman John Green, 25th in 21:08.4.

In the girls meet, Houghton swept the top three places. Sophomore Sela Niska won in 22:08.3, another sophomore Holly Cooke was second in 22:32.1 and junior Norah Woodruff was third in 22:57.7.

Negaunee claimed the area’s best girls finisher, senior Nori Korsman placing fourth in 23:12.9. Calumet’s Elli Harju, the Gremlins’ Romi Mattson, the Copper Kings’ Maija Keranen and Jeffers’ Remi Coponen took the next four places.

Then came Ishpeming freshman Sophie Mahoski in ninth in 24:14.0, with Westwood senior Addy Hallum 10th in 24:35.5.

In the second 10 were Negaunee junior Riley Conklin in 14th in 25:07.3, while Westwood juinor Oni Heinzel was 19th in 25:53.9.

Negaunee sophomore Maija Roberts was 23rd in 26:27.2, while R-M junior Zoe Blubaugh was 26th in 27:32.7.

In the boys JV meet, Houghton sophomore Vincent Gemelli

won in 21:24.3, while Negaunee sophomore Michael Dilernia was fifth in 21:59.3.

For the JV girls, Houghton senior Kate Berkey won in 28:42.1 with no area runners finishing.

And in the middle school meets, seventh-grader Fischer Palomaki of Father Marquette Middle School won the boys title in 12:54.3, while seventh-grader Elaine Neumann of Bothwell Middle School took the girls crown in 19:09.8.

While Gwinn is scheduled to run at the Sault Ste. Marie Invitational today, the same West PAC teams that were at Al Quaal are scheduled to compete at the Negaunee Invite — also West PAC meet No. 3 — at the Negaunee Township Hall at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Story contents based on an examination of the Superior Timing website at www.superiortiming.com. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.