ESCANABA — With a meet under the belts, the Escanaba cross country teams are ready to test themselves again.

The Eskymos, with nine boys and five girls on their roster, resume in Friday’s Dale Phillips Invitational at Marquette’s Presque Isle Park.

Senior Derek Douglas, an All-Upper Peninsula Division 1 selection a year ago, placed sixth among the boys in last Friday’s opener in Marquette. He covered the 3.1-mile course in 18 minutes, 27 seconds.

“Derek had a good opening run,” said second-year coach Dominique Bougie. “He had been running throughout the summer. He’s a good leader for our team. Hopefully, he has a good last season for us.

“The opener was good for us. The kids were right where I expected them to be. I think the kids were happy with their times. We have some kids who never ran cross country before, but I think we’ll be pretty strong this year.”

Also returning are sophomores Daniel Smith and Isaac Carlson.

Newcomers include senior Brodey Bevins, juniors Austin Watchorn and Viktor Pospisil, an exchange student from the Czech Republic, sophomore Trenton Turchin and freshmen Ben Smith (Dan’s brother) and Nick Hamlin.

“We’re happy to see our boys’ numbers up,” said Bougie. “We’re also happy to have Viktor with us. I think he’ll be a great asset to our team.”

The girls return senior Holly Chenier, junior Ciara Ostrenga and sophomore Morgan Makosky. Newcomers are senior Chasity Brown and freshman Annabelle Neumeier.

“Our returners are solid, but depth is an issue,” said Bougie. “We need to keep everybody healthy. We have five solid girls’ runners. Hopefully, we’ll have a few more next year.”

Like other teams, the Eskymos are facing their share of challenges with Covid-19.

“We need to wear masks on the busses and wear them at the meets when we’re not competing,” said Bougie. “We also have to keep social distancing. We’re being careful and following the rules. We’re just glad to be having a season. Hopefully, it can continue.”

After Friday, the Eskymos are idle until Sept. 15 when they travel to the Iron Mountain City Park for the Kingsford Invitational. They host their own invitational Sept. 26 at Ludington Park.

The remaining schedule:

Sept. 4 — at Marquette; Sept. 15 — at Kingsford (Iron Mountain); Sept. 26 — Escanaba Invitational; Sept. 29 — at Munising.

Oct. 8 — at Gladstone (Flat Rock); Oct. 15 — GNC meet at Marquette; Oct. 24 — U.P. D-1 Finals at Marquette.