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Newberry sneaks into Marquette-Shepherd faceoff

By Steve Brownlee 5 min read

MARQUETTE -- The Marquette Senior High School girls and boys cross country teams got a taste of Lower Peninsula competition on Friday, and this time the Sentinels didn't have to travel over the Mackinac Bridge to experience it.

Downstate Shepherd, a powerhouse in Division 2, ran just about toe to toe with Division 1 MSHS at the Dale Phillips-Queen City Invitational held at Presque Isle Park in Marquette.

But it was a runner from a smaller Upper Peninsula school who ran off with one of the individual titles.

Newberry senior Abby Taylor won the girls race in 20 minutes, 14.2 seconds, beating out the next closest runner by exactly 20 seconds.

But the Indians only had two runners -- the other being eighth-place Molly McNamara, a sophomore, in 21:17.1 -- and didn't post a team score.

Instead, in that meet, Marquette used its depth to pull out a two-point victory over U.P. rival Houghton, 58 to 60 points. Shepherd was third with 90, then came Munising with 102, Negaunee 151, Kingsford 153, Superior Central 197, Escanaba 199, Menominee 212 and Rapid River 214.

Several other teams, including Ishpeming, Westwood and Gwinn from the area, didn't field full teams.

In the boys meet, Sentinels senior Lucas Ballard pulled out a victory of less than 3 1/2 seconds in 16:21.0.

But Shepherd displayed its depth here, placing all five of its runners who could have a direct effect in the scoring in the top 12 to win that team title with 33 points.

Despite getting four runners in the top 10 and five in the first 15, Marquette was runner-up, though a close one with 39 points, with the rest of the field lagging well behind.

Houghton was the only other school within a hundred points of the leaders with 119, while Negaunee placed fourth with 178.

After that came Gladstone with 186, Munising 187, Westwood 202, Rapid River 223, downstate Bangor 269, Escanaba 276, Stephenson 284, Kingsford 285, Menominee 287 and Superior Central 336.

In meets this week, Newberry will be at the Northwoods Invitational in Pickford on Tuesday afternoon, Superior Central will be at a meet at Forest Park on Wednesday, with a number of Friday's U.P. combatants running on Thursday.

That day will see the Marquette County Meet back at Presque Isle Park at 2 p.m., while Newberry will be at a meet in Houghton that same afternoon.

Here are more details from each of the Dale Phillips-Queen City meets:

Girls

The Sentinels took advantage of spread-out strength among the teams, with its top four runners being in the first 25 finishers.

After Shepherd junior Cailyn Baker was second overall in 20:34.2 and Houghton junior Holly Cooke third in 20:40.1, a pair of Marquette runners rounded out the top five.

Sophomore Emma Ziegler was fourth in 20:42.8 and freshman teammate Charlotte Jones fifth in 20:43.9.

Besides the aforementioned pair from Newberry, the only other area runner cracking the top 10 was Superior Central freshman Edye Burdett in ninth in 21:32.6.

The rest of the Sentinels' top five were sophomore Ava Cantway, 11th in 21:38.7, senior Eryn Veverka, 23rd in 23:38.4, and sophomore Sophie Coxen, 30th in 24:33.5.

Houghton had similar placings, with two runners in the top 10 and four in the top 20, but its fifth and final scoring runner was 31st.

Shepherd couldn't keep up depth-wise, with only two more runners after Baker in the top 25.

In the second 10 finishers, Munising freshman Emma Conklin was 12th in 21:46.4 and junior teammate Addie Bowerman 16th in 22:42.7.

Negaunee's top runner was sophomore Brynn Wiecich, 18th in 23:01.7, while SC junior Kendra Pederson was 20th in 23:21.3.

Sophomore Sophie Mahoski was Ishpeming's fastest runner, 22nd in 23:37.9, while Negaunee junior Eliza Sicotte was 27th in 24:27.0.

From Munising, junior Maya Weiss was 24th in 24:03.4 and freshman Edon Kidd 28th in 24:30.0.

Westwood's top finisher was senior Oni Heinzel, 65th in 28:48.9, while Gwinn was paced by freshman Emma Marting, 84th in 36:06.4.

Boys

While Ballard and runner-up Bryce Cahoon, a Shepherd senior, finshed within a few seconds of each other, the rest of the field was well more than a minute behind them.

Cahoon clocked 16:24.3, 3.3 seconds after Ballard, with Blue Jays senior William McDonald was way back in third in 17:45.1.

Marquette junior Lake Skytta was less than a second after him in 17:45.9, with junior teammate William Lindsay ninth in 18:22.0, senior Welly Fillmore 10th in 18:22.6 and junior Garrett Crimmins 15th in 18:55.9.

The only other area runner cracking the top 10 was Westwood sophomore Calvin Carlson, who was seventh in 18:14.7.

In the second 10, Ishpeming's Kemper Gearhart was 18th in 19:05.2.

Munising freshman Evan Kelto was 23rd in 19:52.8, Negaunee sophomore Tyler Rautiola 25th in 19:56.8, and Munising senior Blake Lakosky 28th in 20:02.2.

Additionally, Miners junior Anders Johnston was 33rd in 20:14.2 and Westwood's Caleb Christensen 41st in 20:33.5.

Superior Central was paced by freshman Jaxon Klyk, 43rd in 20:35.8, while Gwinn was led by sophomore John Green, 77th in 23:33.3.

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.

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