POWERS — North Central’s cross country teams are receiving some neighborly help from a longtime rival school this season.

Included in its program for the first time are runners from Bark River-Harris through a co-op venture.

The Jets, who resume at Manistique Sept. 7, have five girls and three boys on their varsity teams.

Two of the BR-H students were the pacesetters for the Jets at the Munising Invitational Aug. 23.

Sophomore Wes Knauf placed sixth in the boys’ race, covering covered the hilly 3.1-mile course in 20 minutes, 37 seconds, and sophomore Hope Varoni, who plays volleyball at BR-H, placed 15th in the girls’ race at 25:52.

“The co-op is really helping our program this year,” said second-year coach Mike Jenkins. “We’re hoping to get some of the younger kids involved in the program. The two girls we had for the first meet did quite well.”

Junior Julia Olsen took 25th (27:46) in the opener.

North Central, which has five girls and three boys on its roster, resumes at Manistique Sept. 7.

Also on the girls’ roster are junior Faith Javurek and sophomore Ella Riley.

“Ella is the lone North Central girl on the team,” said Jenkins. “We also have one more from Bark River-Harris. I’m very happy with the way the kids ran (at Munising). Hope ran a very nice race, and the boys did well.”

Senior Jesse Sampson took 17th (21:53), and sophomore Alex Pipkorn was 37th (24:18) in the boys’ event.

“Last year, Jesse PR-ed three or four times,” said Jenkins. “He had a nice season. He continued to improve as the year went on. He and Alex are going to make big improvements on their times. “We got a late start with practice. We’re not quite at our best shape yet. Munising is a tough course. I think we’re going to be faster in our next race.”

Jenkins points to the Munising girls as the team to beat in the Skyline Central Conference.

“Munising looks strong, and Superior Central is pretty good,” he said. “I don’t know a lot about the other boys’ teams, but Rapid River always has a pretty good team.

“The Bark River-Harris kids never ran cross country before. This is a bit of a learning experience for them. Jesse came close to 20 minutes last year. I told him I think he can get into the 19s, and I think Wes will get into the 18s before the end of the season.”

The remaining schedule:

Sept. 7 — Manistique Invitational; Sept. 17 — Superior Central Invitational; Sept. 24 — Rapid River Invitational.

Oct. 5 — Skyline Central Conference; Oct. 10 — Norway Invitational; Oct. 17 — North Central Invitational; Oct. 22 — U.P. D-3 Finals at Flat Rock.