Brian Bell | Marinette EagleHerald Esky’s Anna Smith clears the pole during the high jump event at Tuesday’s meet in Menominee.

MENOMINEE — The Menominee girls track team kicked off the season the right way on Tuesday, taking first out of six teams and beating second-place Escanaba by 36 points.

Menominee totaled 129.5 points, Esky had 93.5, third-place Stephenson had 74 points and Rapid River came in sixth with 45.

The Maroons had five first-place finishes on the day. Two came from Makenzie Wellner in the 100-meter high hurdles with a time of 16.53 seconds and the 300-meter hurdles (48.96).

Two more came from long distance runner Katie Anderla, who swept the 1,600-meter (5:56.66) and 3,200-meter (12:35.53) runs. Menominee also got a first place finish from its 800-meter relay team (1:56.15).

“Just a good, team win,” Menominee girls coach Scott Melchoir said. “A lot of people contributed and I was real proud of how the girls competed in the first meet of the season. Katie and Makenzie both looked very strong in the first meet and Hayden Buck is going to be a good long distance runner as well.”

Menominee’s 3,200-meter relay team came in a close second to Escanaba, who finished in 11:17.78. The Stephenson squad of Kylee Kuntze, Ally Schultz, Jenna DeYoung and Allie Cappaert took fourth.

Emily Johnson of Stephenson came in fifth in the 100-meter high hurdles and Courtney Boyle of Esky took second behind Wellner. Emily Thibault of Rapid River came in fourth.

In the 100-meter dash, Amanda Starzynski of Stephenson nearly got under the 13-second mark, taking first with a time of 13.30. Menominee’s Alicia Nordquist, Ely Wellner and Anna Nerat locked up third, fourth and fifth place, and Meghan Farrell of Esky was sixth.

Stephenson’s 800-meter relay team of Schultz, Lilly Grinsteiner, Autumn Rasner and Starzynski came in fourth behind Menominee, Escanaba and Ishpeming, but the 400-meter relay team with Gena Anders taking the place of Schultz just edged out Menominee for first place. Starzynski took the baton as the anchor and took off, catching up to and eventually passing the Maroons to finish in 55.59. Escanaba came in third and Rapid River took fifth.

Schultz took second in the 400-meter dash, Anna Smith of Esky was third and Marin Park of Menominee was fourth.

Behind Wellner in the 300-meter hurdles were, in order, Brittany Bailey, Courtney Boyle and Faith Lancour all of Esky, while Stephenson’s Grinsteiner came in sixth.

Jaida Lesperance of Menominee took fourth in the 800- and 1,600-meter runs, Hayden Buck was second in the 3,200-meter run and Kuntze came in third.

In the field events, Morgan Anderson of Rapid River came in first in the shot put with a throw of 28 feet, 9 inches, Morgan Gartland of Esky was second and Menominee’s Anna Magrane came in third.

Anderson also took the discus with a throw of 84 feet, 6 inches, Magrane took second and Stephenson’s Paige Cappaert and Morgan Brown came in third and fourth, respectively.

Stephenson’s Starzynski came in first in the long jump, Esky’s Smith was third and Jenna Nolde of Menominee took fourth.

The Menominee boys didn’t have as much luck as the girls, coming in fifth place with a score of 40 while Ishpeming took home first with a total of 163 points. Escanaba took fourth with 52 points and Stephenson was sixth with 18.

“I just thought it was nice to get a meet under our belts,” Menomineeboys coach Drew Buyarski said. “We did a lot of good things and learned a lot about our athletes.”

The Maroons 400- and 800-meter relay team of Jon Boucher, Hunter Goldschmidt, Bryce Parrett and Caden Bigger came in third, edging Rapid River in the 800 by 1.5 seconds and beating Esky in the 400 by two seconds. Westwood won the 800 relay and Ishpeming took the 400.

Landon Clausen took third in the 800-meter run, Goldschmidt took fourth in the 100-meter dash and Dylan Oudeans was third in the shot put (39 feet, 10 inches) and fourth in the discus (107 feet, 10? inches). Gunner Larson of Rapid River won the discus (145 feet, 9 inches).

Escanaba’s Kyle Gendron won the long jump by leaping 18 feet, 11 inches while Menominee’s Dante Sartorelli took fifth with a jump of 17 feet, 1 inch. Gendron also won the high jump by clearing 6 feet, 1 inch. Rapid River’s Vinny Micheau came in second (5 feet, 11 inches) and Nate Olson came in third.

Tyler Sundling of Rapid River took the 400-meter dash, setting a new personal-best time of 53.75 seconds. Rapid River’s Parker Dausey placed third in both weight events and Azariah Hernandez was third in 300 hurdles. The Rockets were also runners-up in the 3200 relay, and took third in the meet with 69 points.

“I thought we worked hard,” Rockets coach Steve Ostrenga said. “Ishpeming is real good in the distances. The 3200 relay got us off to a good start and Noah Sefcik led us off pretty good. Avery Closs is battling a shoulder problem, but he really worked hard. There was some quality competition down there and we found out what we need to work on.”

Menominee’s next track meet comes on Tuesday up in Escanaba.