Ballard, Jones lead Sentinels runners to sweep
Marquette’s team poses with the championship trophy after winning the Division 1 girls meet at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals in cross country held at the Michigan Tech Ski Trails in Houghton on Saturday. From left are Sophie Coxon, Amira Perrier, Eryn Veverka, Ava Cantway, Charlotte Jones and Emma Ziegler. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
Marquette’s Lucas Ballard extends his lead as the Division 1 boys race goes on at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals in cross country held at the Michigan Tech Ski Trails in Houghton on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
Marquette’s team poses with the championship trophy after winning the Division 1 girls meet at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals in cross country held at the Michigan Tech Ski Trails in Houghton on Saturday. From left are Sophie Coxon, Amira Perrier, Eryn Veverka, Ava Cantway, Charlotte Jones and Emma Ziegler. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
Marquette’s Lucas Ballard extends his lead as the Division 1 boys race goes on at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals in cross country held at the Michigan Tech Ski Trails in Houghton on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
Trending
HOUGHTON -- Marquette pulled off a clean sweep in Division 1 at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals in high school cross country held at the Michigan Tech Ski Trails near Houghton on Saturday.
Senior Lucas Ballard led the way as all seven Sentinels runners finished in the top 20 in the boys meet as Marquette dominated the team standings.
But the girls meet was much closer, with freshman Charlotte Jones leading MSHS to a six-point victory over Houghton with the teams' final runners making a difference, too.
Here are details:
Girls
Freshman Charlotte Jones pulled off a 20-second victory to lead her Sentinels to a 49-point total as runner-up Houghton had 55 and Sault Ste. Marie third with 67.
Negaunee was fourth with 83, while Kingsford had 125, Menominee 173, Calumet 185 and Escanaba 204.
Westwood and Manistique were among several teams, also including Gladstone and North Central, that didn't field full teams and thus didn't score.
All five of Marquette's scorers cracked the top 20 (for scoring purposes), with its sixth runner 21st, while the Gremlins' fifth runner came in 25th.
Jones finished the five-kilometer (3.1-mile) course in 19 minutes, 42.4 seconds, a shade better than 20 seconds ahead of Kingsford junior Maria Murvich with 20:02.8.
A young Negaunee runner made it two freshmen on the medals stand, with ninth-grader Julia Plaxco coming in third -- the bronze medal -- in 20:11.6.
Following was Houghton junior Holly Cooke fourth in 20:27.2 and Sault Ste. Marie senior Asia Jones fifth in 20:29.7.
Marquette sophomore Emma Ziegler was sixth in 20:38.8, with another MSHS sophomore, Ava Cantway, ninth in 21:10.5.
Negaunee senior Keira Waterman led the local contingent in the second 10 by placing 12th in 21:30.1, while junior teammate Eliza Sicotte was 18th in 22:38.7.
Slotting between them was Sentinels sophomore Amira Perrier in 13th in 21:34.6.
In most meets, a good team's final finishers don't make much of a difference, but on Saturday they were critical for Marquette, with senior Eryn Veverka coming in 21st in 22:59.4 and sophomore Sophie Coxon 22nd in 23:02.2.
Negaunee sophomore Brynn Wieciech was 23rd in 23:28.7, while junior teammate Adela Miller was 29th in 24:13.0 and senior Riley Conklin 33rd in 24:46.4.
Westwood senior Oni Heinzel was 41st, while Manistique's finishers were sophomore Keira Hart in 52nd and senior Jersie Marcella 56th.
Boys
Ballard posted a nearly 40-second victory as the Sentinels finished 1-2-3 with all seven of their runners actually in the first 14.
That allowed Marquette to run away and hide in the team competition, scoring 19 points to 79 for runner-up Sault Ste. Marie as Houghton finished third with 84.
Westwood was fourth with 131, winning a tiebreaker with Gladstone with the same point total. Negaunee came in sixth with 137, while Kingsford had 190 and Menominee 198.
Manistique was among several schools that didn't field full teams and didn't score.
Ballard clocked 16:28.9, beating out senior teammate Vasu Esplin by just about 40 seconds in 17:08.1.
In addition, MSHS junior William Lindsay was third in 17:23.8, junior Garrett Crimmins fifth in 17:58.4, junior Lake Skytta eighth in 18:03.4, senior Welly Fillmore 13th in 18:24.2 and junior Jayden Seekie 14th in 18:27.1.
Westwood sophomore Calvin Carlson also fitted into the top 10, finishing seventh in 18:01.0, while Negaunee sophomore Tyler Rautiola came in 20th in 18:53.8.
Patriots senior Caleb Christensen was 24th in 19:29.5, and Miners junior Anders Johnston was 26th in 19:34.7.
Westwood freshman Noah Wachter was 28th in 19:48.6, while Manistique junior Kavin Jackson 30th in 19:54.2.
Negaunee had four runners nearly back to back to back to back -- junior Marvin Niemi was 32nd, senior Joshua Frederick 33rd, senior Marcel Juul 34th and freshman Evan Menge 36th.
Another trio from Westwood was right around 40th, with junior Charlie Erickson 38th, sophomore Nicholas Christensen 40th and sophomore Jude Kyllonen 42nd.
Manistique had senior Matt Clark finish 43rd and sophomore Trent Mason 47th.
Story contents based on email received from an examination of the Superior Timing website at www.superiortiming.com. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.