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MARQUETTE -- Ericka Asmus celebrated her 15th birthday in fine fashion Thursday.
So did her Marquette Senior High School teammates.
Asmus earned top overall honors and the Redettes captured the cross country title in the Dale Phillips Invitational with 47 points.
They were followed by Chassell 75, Negaunee 82, Ishpeming 107 and Escanaba 146.
Asmus covered the 3.1-mile course at Presque Isle Park in 19 minutes, 27.1 seconds. She was followed by Negaunee senior Clara Johnson (19:51.6) and sophomore Emily Paupore (19:54.4), Munising sophomore Madeleine Peramaki (20:15.7) and senior Alyssa Webber (20:16.7).
"I always get too nervous before the race, so I try to do things to take my mind off it," said Asmus. "I think this being my birthday gave me a little extra motivation. I tried to run ahead of the other girls. They kind of scared me into going out faster than I planned. The (weather) conditions were awesome. I never really felt the wind."
Esky freshman Nicole Kamin placed sixth at 20:47.4 on a day which was sunny and cool with a light breeze.
"This was a little easier than last week (at Munising)," said Kamin. "There's not as many hills. It also helped to know this was a 5-K and not longer. I just tried to run my own race. My time was all right."
Junior Grace Delaire was Gladstone's leader in 21st (23:08.8).
The Marquette boys were also crowned champions with 45 points. They were followed by Houghton 59, Negaunee 94, Ishpeming 117 and Chassell 174.
Negaunee senior Colton Yesney won at 16:05.5, followed by Houghton senior Clayton Sayen (16:47), Marquette's Garrett Rudden (16:47.7) and Luke Rambo (16:55) and Houghton's Seth Helman (17:01.7).
"I'll take this anytime to start the year," said Yesney, who covered the first mile in 5:18. "The second mile has been my slowest. Today's strategy was to get in position to push it in the second mile. I'm just trying to become more consistent. It was a pretty good day to run, but I like it around 55 degrees. Today was a little warm for my standards. Although, you have to be ready to run in all kinds of weather up here."
Sayen was fourth in the last mile, then vaulted into second by sprinting past Rudden and Rambo down the streetch.
"I knew I was going to stick with Rudden and Rambo," he said. "They've been running about the same times I have. I let them set the pace and started my sprint with about 80 yards to go. I had a lot more left than I really wanted.
I thought I attacked the hills well in the second mile."
Gladstone junior Adam Bruce placed sixth (17:11.5). Classmate Jake Strasler took eighth (17:51.5) and Esky senior Justin Sanpaka waa 11th (17:56.5).
"This was definitely not my best race," said Bruce. "I've been training for the Marquette Half-Marathon (on Saturday) and my legs were a little tight. It was okay, though. Jake and I did good. I thought the course was nice. I like running the hills. I'm still having a good start to the season."
Coach Gary Whitmer was generally pleased with the Braves' performance.
"Our team did well," he said. "I know the kids were a little tired, but they'll get faster. We've had some hard workouts. I told Adam he needed to slow down a little in practice."
The meet marked the head coaching debut for Marquette's Kyle Detmers.
"We've had a good start," he said. "Ericka had a great race. She attacked the hills pretty well. Delaney Sall, Sami Borzick, Guinn Wuorinen and Josie Danielkiewicz also did a great job for us.
"Our boys had a good battle with Houghton. They looked awfully good. I don't know if I've seen a more diverse runner in the U.P. than Clayton Sayen. He has speed and endurance. Seth Helmen is also a very good runner and Colton is one of the best all-time runners I've seen the U.P."