GLADSTONE — The Gladstone Braves are on a little bit of a high as they continue their cross country season.

Gladstone, despite having just eight boys and eight girls on its roster, opened by sweeping top honors in the Munising Invitational at the Valley Spur Cross Country Trails Aug. 24.

The Braves resume in Friday’s Dale Phillips Invitational, which begins at 11 a.m. at Presque Isle Park.

“It’s nice that we won the first meet,” said coach Gary Whitmer. “We really didn’t expect that. It got the kids excited. That’s a tough course. The hill in the second mile is like a stairway and goes up about 3/4 mile.”

Junior Drew Hughes, an All-Upper Peninsula Dream Team and Division 1 all-state selection a year ago, won the opening 3.1-mile race in 17 minutes, 11.66 seconds, nearly 1 1/2 minutes ahead of the field.

“Drew looked real strong,” said Whitmer. “He’s getting some good training in, and (sophomore) Tanner Howes has been our No. 2 guy.”

The Braves’ lone senior is Andrew Bracket. Joining him are junior Alex Eilola and freshmen Aaron Hughes, Drew LaFave, Max Wilson and Hunter Styczynski.

“Andrew and Aaron have been going back and forth,” said Whitmer. “We have a good bunch of kids. They’re hard-working and enjoying the camaraderie.”

The girls are led by seniors Jamisyn Bergeron, Lilly Karl and Sam Stasler, who placed 7-8-9 at Munising.

Also on their roster are classmate Aleyna Wetthuhn, junior Katie Hagebusch, sophomore Kayla Farnes and freshmen Kristy Karl and Lauren Sundquist.

“The girls have good leadership,” said Whitmer. “Three of our seniors were right up there, and Munising and Menominee had two girls up there. Our team is coming along. We’re all pretty healthy, and we seem to stay healthy. It’s a balance of running hard and easy.”

In Friday’s meet, the Gladstone boys will run against Marquette team, which dominated last Friday’s Queen City Invitational.

“They look strong and were missing one of their top runners,” said Whitmer. “They’re a big school and have a lot of runners. They’re the team to beat. The girls’ (D-1) field looks wide open. If we keep coming on, we could be competitive.”

After Friday, the Braves run in the Manistique Invitational Sept. 8 before going to Holly 10 days later.

The remaining schedule:

Sept. 3 — Dale Phillips Invitational at Marquette; Sept. 8 — Manistique Invitational; Sept. 18 — Holly Invitational; Sept. 21 — Stephenson Invitational at Banat; Sept. 25 — Escanaba Invitational; Sept. 28 — Munising Invitational.

Oct. 2 — Sault Ste. Marie Invitational; Oct. 5 — Gladstone Invitational at Flat Rock; Oct. 14 — GNC meet at Menominee; Oct. 18 — M-PC meet at Ishpeming; Oct. 23 — U.P. D-1 Finals at Marquette.