FLAT ROCK — Gladstone senior Drew Hughes was in contention until the end prior to gaining runner-up honors in the Upper Peninsula Division 1 Boys’ Cross Country Finals here Saturday.

Sault Ste. Marie freshman Gabe Litzner won the 3.1-mile race on the Richer farm property in 16 minutes, 41.55 seconds on this sunny and mild day.

“I tried to lay back for two miles, then I tried to reel people after that,” said Litzner, who made his move approximately 400 meters after the two-mile mark. “At that point I felt real good and thought to myself, ‘I have a chance to win this.’ I ran a 16:30 at Rudyard (on Oct. 15) which gave me a lot of confidence. Our team also did real well. I think this will motivate us.”

To nobody’s surprise, Marquette captured its fourth straight title with 29 points, followed by Sault 83, Houghton 97, Negaunee 99 and Gladstone 107.

“I thought the boys would get third,” said Gladstone coach Gary Whitmer. “Marquette is just so strong and they were without two of their top runners. Gabe ran smart. He and Drew had five-minute splits at the mile and two other guys came through in 4:56.”

Hughes was clocked at 16:48.83 and Marquette senior Brady Ketzenberger took third (16:58.61).

Gladstone sophomore Aaron Hughes placed 10th (17:50.78) and classmate Tanner Howes took 15th (18:11.94).

“Aaron did well after playing football last night,” said Whitmer. “We had three guys medal and two of our freshmen had PRs (personal records).”

Junior Nate Lanaville was Escanaba’s pacesetter in 18th (18:30.34).

Sault coach Jim Martin was happy with his team’s effort.

“There’s no quit in these kids,” he said. “All seven contributed. Gabe and Cody worked so hard and fed off each other. With all their hard work and the guys going through so many injuries, I couldn’t be happier. Although, there’s still a lot of work to do in the off-season. Hats off to Marquette. They did what they had to do.”

Painesdale Jeffers grabbed the top three places and retained its D-2 title with 27 points, followed by Ishpeming 70, Ironwood 78 and Manistique 85.

Senior Tavin Larson won at 17:43.83, followed by freshmen Landon Larson (17:44.4) and Cameron Anderson (17:53.4).

“This was my best race of the year,” said Tavin. “Once I got into first place (after the first mile), I tried to hold off my brother. Our top four runners always run as a pack and we’re always within 30 seconds of each other. Our top runner from last year missed this season with a broken leg, but we have two freshmen who are fast. We have a lot of good middle school runners coming up. The future looks bright.”

Manistique sophomore Ben Gilroy took eighth (18:46.5), followed by senior teammate Grant Mason (19:17.15).

Sophomore Wes Knauf paced North Central in 16th (19:45.43), followed by senior Jesse Sampson at a personal-best 20:03.69.

Stephenson earned its first D-3 championship with 77 points, followed by Engadine 86 and Republic-Michigamme 89.

The marked the first title in a decade for the Eagles when they were competing in D-3.

“We ran a lot of races with Munising and they really pushed our boys,” said Eagles’ coach Kate Kuntze. “I’m really proud of our boys. They performed on a day we really needed them to. In D-3 there’s so many schools without full teams. We couldn’t settle for passing just one runner. The weather was perfect and the boys came in with a good mindset.”

Dollar Bay senior Amos Norland copped the individual championship in a school-record 16:44.18, followed by Pickford’s Hayden Hagen (18:00.14) and Munising sophomore Trevor Nolan (18:04.1).

“Getting a lot of sleep and eating healthy were keys in the last two days,” said Norland. “I did 1-K repeats in practice and tried to keep a steady pace today. I got the school record by 21 seconds which was unexpected for sure. I knew I had a chance, but I thought I’d get it by just a couple seconds.”

Holy Name sophomore Joe Carlson took eighth (18:41.08) and Superior Central eighth-grader Will Spranger was 19th (19:43.55).