ESCANABA — The Escanaba cross country teams are light on numbers as they resume their season.

Esky, which opened at Munising Aug. 21, has eight girls and six boys on its roster.

Next up is the Marquette Invitational Thursday noon at Presque Isle Park.

“I’m having a lot of fun,” said second-year coach Randi Wender. “We have a lot of young kids. They’re learning as I was last year.”

The girls return senior Alli Picord and sophomore Kyra Magnuson.

“They’re tough girls,” said Wender. “They set a good example for the others.”

They’re joined by sophomore Holly Chenier and freshmen Ciera Ostrenga, Brooke Furmanski, Ava Fix, Gabi LaCosse and Jillian Cobb. Ostrenga placed 13th at Munising.

“Ciera comes from a running family,” said Wender. “She has a good work ethic and is very respectful. A lot of kids didn’t know what to expect in the first meet.

“Being young, we’re trying to get them to be competitive.”

Boys’ returners are sophomores Derek Douglas, who took seventh in the opener, and Brody Bevins and senior Charlie Tackman.

“Derek and Brody are good for each other,” said Wender. “They’re super competitive and push each other back and forth. At Munising, they were two minutes faster than their beginning times last year.”

They’re joined by freshmen Jared Hanson, Colin Hudson and Zach Morehouse.

“I thought our freshmen ran well for the first meet on that hilly course,” said Wender.

The Eskymos can expect more of the same in Marquette.

“That’s a tough course,” said Wender. “We’ve been doing a lot of weight and circuit training and focusing on developing mental toughness.”

Among the other teams, Wender expects the Marquette and Neguanee girls to be among the frontrunners.

“The Ishpeming boys looked real good at Munising, and Marquette, Negaunee and Houghton could be real strong,” she said.

After Thursday’s meet, the Eskymos are idle until Sept. 11 when they travel to Iron Mountain for the Kingsford Invitational.

The remaining schedule:

Aug. 30 — at Marquette.

Sept. 11 — at Kingsford (Iron Mountain); Sept. 15 — at Marinette; Sept. 25 — at Munising.

Oct. 4 — Gladstone Invitational at Flat Rock; Oct. 11 — GNC meet at Flat Rock; Oct. 20 — U.P. D-1 Finals at Munising.