Preventing the sweep: Negaunee frosh Plaxco keeps Sentinels from taking everything at Wildcat Open
Negaunee frosh Plaxco keeps Sentinels from taking everything at Wildcat Open
Negaunee’s Julia Plaxco works along the course before winning the girls high school race at the Wildcat Open hosted by Northern Michigan University near the Superior Dome and the shores of Lake Superior in Marquette on Friday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
Negaunee’s Julia Plaxco builds her lead before winning the girls high school race at the Wildcat Open hosted by Northern Michigan University near the Superior Dome and the shores of Lake Superior in Marquette on Friday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
From left, Marquette’s William Lindsay, Welly Fillmore and Lake Skytta run together in the boys high school race at the Wildcat Open hosted by Northern Michigan University near the Superior Dome and the shores of Lake Superior in Marquette on Friday. This trio were the first three Sentinels’ finishers after race winner and senior teammate Lucas Ballard. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
Negaunee’s Julia Plaxco works along the course before winning the girls high school race at the Wildcat Open hosted by Northern Michigan University near the Superior Dome and the shores of Lake Superior in Marquette on Friday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
Negaunee’s Julia Plaxco builds her lead before winning the girls high school race at the Wildcat Open hosted by Northern Michigan University near the Superior Dome and the shores of Lake Superior in Marquette on Friday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
From left, Marquette’s William Lindsay, Welly Fillmore and Lake Skytta run together in the boys high school race at the Wildcat Open hosted by Northern Michigan University near the Superior Dome and the shores of Lake Superior in Marquette on Friday. This trio were the first three Sentinels’ finishers after race winner and senior teammate Lucas Ballard. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
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MARQUETTE -- A freshman from Negaunee prevented Marquette from pulling off a clean sweep of the individual and team titles at the Wildcat Open high school cross country meet hosted by Northern Michigan University near the Superior Dome and Lake Superior on Friday.
The Miners' Julia Plaxco won by just over two seconds, clocking 20 minutes, 52.6 seconds to edge out Kingsford junior Maria Murvich in 20:54.9 for the girls individual championship.
But the Sentinels still had plenty of quality depth to pull out a fairly decisive team victory, scoring 31 points to 43 for the runner-up Miners. MSHS did that by placing six runners in the top 10.
Kingsford was third with 74 and Menominee fourth with 98, while Gwinn and Westwood didn't field full teams and didn't post a team score.
With the Marquette boys sweeping the top three spots and five of the first eight, MSHS ran away with the boys team title, scoring 19 points to 63 for Negaunee, 83 for Westwood, 110 for Kingsford and 111 for Menominee. Gwinn didn't have enough runners for a team score.
Sentinels senior Lucas Ballard also ran away and hid in the boys race, winning by a full minute and 45 seconds as he clocked 16:10.1. Senior teammate Welly Fillmore was runner-up in 17:55.8, while MSHS junior Lake Skytta was third in 18:06.4.
These Marquette County teams take to the trails again at Presque Isle Park in Marquette at 10 a.m. Friday for the Queen City-Dale Phillips Invitational. Among others, Munising, Superior Central and Newberry will also join them.
Here is a rundown at the Wildcat Open for high school runners:
Boys race
Nearly 20 seconds behind Skytta was fourth-place Calvin Carlson, a sophomore from Westwood, in 18:25.2.
Marquette also fitted into fifth with junior William Lindsay in 18:36.0 and eighth with freshman Anthony Messina in 19:00.0.
Adding insurance for the Sentinels was its next runner, junior Jayden Seekie in 11th in 20:29.1.
Negaunee showed off its own depth, placing all seven of its runners between ninth and 21st places. Leading the way for the Miners was sophomore Tyler Rautiola in ninth in 20:12.1, while junior teammate Anders Johnston came in 10th in 20:26.7.
There was also NHS freshman Evan Menge taking 12th in 20:30.0, senior Joshua Frederick 15th in 20:57.3 and junior Quin Karlstrom 19th in 21:16.4.
For the Patriots, after the Carlson in fourth, senior teammate Caleb Christensen was 16th in 20:59.3.
Then another four Westwood runners were bunched within seven seconds of each other. Sophomore Jude Kyllonen was 22nd in 21:41.5, junior Charlie Erickson 23rd in 21:43.8, sophomore Nicholas Christensen 25th in 21:47.8 and freshman Manny Johnson 26th in 21:48.2.
Gwinn was paced by sophomore Johnathon Sheen in 43rd in 25:17.5.
Girls race
Marquette started its dominance in the third position with sophomore Emma Ziegler in that spot in 21:04.0, less than 11 1/2 seconds behind Plaxco.
Sentinels freshman Charlotte Jones was fourth in 21:34.0, sophomore Ava Cantway seventh in 22:53.1, sophomore Sophie Coxen eighth in 24:27.1, senior Eryn Veverka ninth in 24:39.0 and sophomore Nora Moyle 10th in 24:58.4.
Bolstering Plaxco for Negaunee was senior Keira Waterman in sixth with 22:25.7 and a group of four all less than 10 seconds apart -- senior Riley Conklin, 11th in 25:17.6; junior Eliza Sicotte, 12th in 25:19.2; junior Maija Roberts, 13th in 25:19.8; and sophomore Gabby Green, 14th in 25:26.5.
Gwinn was paced by freshman Rylee Brower taking 28th in 28:23.9, while Westwood was led by senior Oni Heinzel in 35th in 31:50.4.
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.