ESCANABA — Underclassmen will have an opportunity to prove themselves under a new cross country coach at Escanaba this season.

The Eskymos, with nine girls and six boys on their roster, helped Dominique Bougie make her coaching debut in Tuesday’s Munising Invitational.

The Eskymos have no seniors, with three juniors on the girls’ team and two on the boys’ squad.

“A couple girls aren’t running due to injuries, but they’re welcome to start when they’re healed,” said Bougie, a 2011 Esky graduate who now teaches at the Webster Kindergarten Center. “We have a very young team. But I’ll take it, especially for my first year. We’ll grow together. We’re all going to try to recruit runners for the years to come.

“I plan to stick around and help with the program and build it up. I’ve been waiting a long time to be a teacher and cross country coach at Escanaba. I’m so happy where I’m at. I feel very blessed.”

Esky, which placed fifth among 12 schools on the Valley Spur Cross Country Trails Tuesday, resumes in Friday’s Marquette Relays.

“It was fun,” said Bougie, who enjoys running with the team in practice.

“The kids did a good job for the first meet. It’s a challenging course, but they pushed through it. I ran on that same course as a high school runner. It definitely makes you proud as a coach because you know what they’re going through.”

Junior Derek Douglas was Esky’s highest finisher at Munising, placing sixth in the boys’ 3.1-mile race at 18 minutes, 52 seconds.

“Derek is a very strong runner,” said Bougie. “We hope to get him down in the low 17s by the end of the season. I know he can do it.”

Joining him are junior Carter Hudson and sophomore Colin Hudson (brothers), sophomores Zach Morehouse and Isaac Carlson and freshman Dan Smith.

“Zach also has a lot of potential and I can tell Dan has so much potential,” said Bougie. “I can’t wait to see what he (Smith) can do over the next four years. I think Colin is also going to be one of our top runners this year and Carter has a great work ethic.”

Sophomore Ciera Ostrenga paced the girls in 18th with classmate Ava Gardner also placing in the top 25 Tuesday.

“Ciera comes from a family with a strong running background,” said Bougie. “We definitely count on her to be a leader. Ava is also a very strong runner. We expect to see great things from her.”

Joining them are juniors Holly Chenier, Kyra Magnuson and Makaela Babb, sophomores Gabi LaCosse, Jill Cobb and Brooke Furmanski, who’s coming off an injury, and freshman Morgan Makosky.

“These girls are going to stick around,” said Bougie. “The longer they stay on the team, the stronger leaders they will become.”

Bougie said she was impressed with the championship teams at Munising.

“The Ishpeming boys looked real strong,” she added. “Twenty-five points is a pretty good score. The Kingsford girls have a nice team and Westwood was right there (four points behind Kingsford).”

The remaining schedule

Aug. 23 — Marquette Relays; Aug. 29 — Marquette Invitational.

Sept. 7 — Escanaba Invitational (at Flat Rock); Sept. 10 — Kingsford Invitational (at Iron Mountain); Sept. 19 — Stephenson Invitational; Sept. 21 — Marinette Invitational; Sept. 24 — Munising Invitational; Sept. 28 — Rapid River Invitational.

Oct. 3 — Gladstone Invitational (at Flat Rock); Oct. 10 — GNC meet at Kingsford (at Iron Mountain); Oct. 19 — U.P. D-1 Finals at Marquette.