GLADSTONE — It was a tight race for the boys’ track and field title here Thursday as the Escanaba boys became repeat winners in the Gladstone Invitational by edging Rapid River 137-134. The host Braves placed third with 125 points.

The Gladstone girls won for the fourth consecutive time with 172 points. They were followed by Manistique 157 and Esky 79.

Gladstone junior Andrew Karl won the boys’ pole vault with a school-record leap of 14-5, an inch higher than the previous best by Josh Syverson in 2009.

“The weather is amazing for the first meet which I think helped, and our family support is huge,” he said. “I couldn’t do it without them. Jumping with the Marquette guys also helped. It was fun jumping with them. I had a couple good attempts at 15 feet. I’m happy to get it in the first meet of the year. For now it takes away a lot of the pressure, although that’ll come back before long.”

His sister, sophomore Maggie Karl, copped girls’ pole vault at 9-6½, edging Manistique senior Kyra Carlson on a tie-breaker.

“We were close,” Maggie Karl said. “I moved on to a different pole which helped. Although, I go back and forth between two poles. Much depends on the weather. I use the longer pole in warmer weather. Kyra did really good, too. This was really a good first meet temperature-wise.”

Carlson’s effort on this sunny and mild afternoon was a half-inch higher than the previous school record by Amy Hokenson in 2000.

“I didn’t really have a goal today,” Carlson said. “This is the first time I did pole vault this year. Maggie’s a good vaulter. I enjoy competing with her. This is definitely a confidence builder. This makes me thankful for what I have.”

Maggie Karl also won high jump by matching her personal-best at 5-0 and took the 100-meter hurdles (19.22). Esky freshman Rayne Martin placed second in high jump (4-8).

“I’m happy with that,” Maggie said. “Rayne is a good jumper. This is a real big step up from junior high. I like jumping in our home meets. It feels like a practice, although it’s not.”

Martin, who set the junior high record at Holy Name (5-2) last year, transferred to Esky for gymnastics.

“It felt good,” she said. “I need to get a little more practice. We’re both in gymnastics and we’re friends. This feels about the same as last year. We had so much snow. We couldn’t practice very much.”

Gladstone sophomore Ella Bracket added firsts in the 200 (28.17) and 400 (1:02.18) and was runner-up to Esky freshman Carsyn LaBonte in long jump.

“Ella is brand new to long jump, but still had a pretty good day,” Braves’ coach Jim Murtha said. “She looked strong in the 200 and is so smooth in the 400 and Maggie had a great day.”

Manistique led 145-140 after the 200.

The Braves surged ahead by taking the top three places in the 3200, won by senior Lexi Gilbert (13:45.74) followed by junior Joselyn Mills (13:50.18).

“Lexi had three PRs (personal records) today,” Murtha said. “Joselyn also ran well and Makenna (Mills) had a good day. Payton (Takkunen) winning the 800 was huge and I thought Adele (Ostlund) had a real nice day. Manistique has a great team. We knew it was going to be tough. Escanaba’s numbers are down, but they have some quality athletes. Getting Rayne from Holy Name really helped them. Our girls in the 3200 are working hard. We’ve had good practices since we moved outdoors and had some good indoor practices.”

Manistique junior Aaliyah Sears took the 100 (13.78) and led off the winning 400 relay. Senior Gwen Brewster captured shot put (33-3¾) and freshman Leah Joslin added a first in the 300 hurdles (54.37).

“Our hurdlers had an awesome day,” Emeralds’ coach Erik Mason said. “We got 24 points in the 300 hurdles which was huge. All the girls had maximum performances, but we underestimated their two-milers.”

The Esky boys got victories from sophomore Andrew Hamlin in high jump (6-4) and the 400 (55.16).

Esky junior Alex Ison copped the 200 (25.02) and anchored the winning sprint relays.

“They’re amazing,” Esky coach Scott Dykema said. “All our sprinters are doing real good. Andrew was just an inch under the school record in high jump. Our sophomores and hurdlers are doing good. I didn’t think it would be this close. Rapid River and Gladstone are tough. I was pretty nervous at the end.”

Hamlin, who also anchored the winning 1600 relay, edged Gladstone senior Mason Peltin on a tie-breaker in high jump.

Gladstone senior Carter Farnes took discus (126-5) and Manistique junior Sam Moose won shot put (43-9½).

Holy Name senior Michael Rexford copped long jump (18-9), an inch further than Peltin. Hamlin placed third at 18-7½.

“That was a close meet,” Braves’ coach Gary Whitmer said. “We were missing two guys in the 200. Andrew has really worked hard on pole vault and was going to Green Bay off and on during the winter and this was a pretty good day for Carter. We’re happy with the effort. We had a couple freshmen in the 3200 relay and they don’t mind doing it and Chuck Cameron did a nice job winning the 1600.”

Rapid River got a victory from freshman Joey Goudreau in the 800 (2:22.31) and grabbed the next three places in the 1600 behind Cameron, who was clocked at 5:21.09.

The Rockets opened by winning the 3200 relay, then got a first from senior Greg Taylor in the 110 hurdles (18.72).

Gladstone Invitational

Boys

Escanaba 137, Rapid River 134, Gladstone 125, Manistique 51, Ishpeming 48, Iron Mountain 12, Escanaba Holy Name 10, Gwinn 6.

3200 relay — 1, Rapid River (Thorbahn, Goudreau, Poma, Denkins), 9:22.94; 2, Ishpeming; 3, Escanaba; 4, Gladstone; 5, Manistique

110 hurdles — 1, Taylor, RR, 18.72; 2, Carrao, E; 3, Kee, RR; 4, Denis, E; 5, Casey, Glad; 6, Closs, RR.

100 — 1, Karl, Glad, 11.68; 2, DeAgostino, Glad; 3, Clauss, M; 4, Englund, E; 5, M. Sierpien, Glad; 6, Ison, E.

800 relay — 1, Escanaba (Lambert, Englund, Rouse, Ison), 1:38.19; 2, Rapid River; 3, Ishpeming; 4, Iron Mountain; 5, Manistique; 6, Escanaba.

1600 — 1, Cameron, Glad, 5:21.09; 2, Truitt, RR; 3, Denkins, RR; 4, Poma, RR; 5, Jackson, M; 6, Schroeder, E.

400 relay — 1, Escanaba (Rouse, Lambert, Englund, Ison), 47.2; 2, Manistique; 3, Gladstone; 4, Ishpeming; 5, Rapid River; 6, Gwinn.

400 — 1, Hamlin, E, 55.16; 2, Boston-Marsh, RR; 3, Davis, IM; 4, DeKeyser, M; 5, Beauchamp, Glad; 6, Green, RR.

300 hurdles — 1, Denis, E, 48.16; 2, Kee, RR; 3, Carrao, E; 4, Farnes, Glad; 5, Closs, RR; 6, Benish, M.

800 — 1, Goudreau, RR, 2:22.31; 2, Poma, RR; 3, Schroeder, E; 4, Blair, Glad; 5, Wozniak, I; 6, Kenneally, E.

200 — 1, Ison, E, 25.02; 2, Meyer, I; 3, Clauss, M; 4, Huskey, RR; 5, M. Sierpien, Glad; 6, Green, RR.

3200 — 1, Gearhart, I, 11:14.8; 2, B. Denkins, RR; 3, Cameron, Glad; 4, J. Denkins, RR; 5, Truitt, RR; 6, Gallagher, E.

1600 relay — 1, Escanaba (Schroeder, Englund, Rouse, Hamlin), 3:51.5; 2, Rapid River; 3, Ishpeming; 4, Iron Mountain; 5, Manistique; 6, Gladstone.

High jump — 1, Hamlin, E, 6-4; 2, Peltin, Glad; 3, Farnes, Glad; 4, Smith, RR; 5, Hewitt, I; 6, Chmurynski, G.

Pole vault — 1, Karl, G, 14-5 (school record); 2, Chmurynski, Glad; 3, Olson, RR; 4, Lambert, E; 5, Jones, Gw; 6, Weiland, Gw.

Long jump — 1, Rexford, HN, 18-9; Peltin, Glad; 3, Hamlin, E; 4, Carrao, E; 5, Clauss, M; 6, Praham, Gw.

Shot put — 1, Moose, M, 43-9½; 2, Anderson, E; 3, Wilson, Glad; 4, Shiverdecker, RR; 5, Ketola, Gw; 6, Denis, E.

Discus — 1, Farnes, Glad, 126-5; 2, Moose, M; 3, Anderson, E; 4, Wilson, Glad; 5, Shiverdecker, RR; 6, Olson, RR.

Girls

Gladstone 172, Manistique 157, Escanaba 79, Rapid River 52, Gwinn 36, Iron Mountain 16, Ishpeming 5, Escanaba Holy Name 1.

3200 relay — 1, Gladstone (Gilbert, Takkunen, M. Mills, J. Mills), 11:17.23; 2, Manistique; 3, Escanaba; 4, Rapid River.

100 hurdles — 1, Karl, Glad, 19.22; 2, Joslin, M; 3, Coppock, RR; 4, Lewandowski, IM; 5, Renk, M; 6, Kaiser, M.

100 — 1, A. Sears, M, 13.78; 2, Bracket, Glad; 3, LaBonte, E; 4, Andersen, M; 5, Delmont, Gw; 6, Warner, E.

800 relay — 1, Manistique (Flodin, M. Carlson, Andersen, Scheffer), 1:58.27; 2, Gwinn; 3, Rapid River; 4, Gladstone; 5, Iron Mountain.

1600 — 1, Akerly, E, 6:05.14; 2, J. Mills, Glad; 3, Gilbert, Glad; 4, Poma, RR; 5, Siren, IM; 6, Bevins, E.

400 relay — 1, Manistique (A. Sears, Flodin, K. Carlson, Andersen), 54.7; 2, Gwinn; 3, Gladstone; 4, Rapid River; 5, Iron Mountain; 6, Ishpeming.

400 — 1, Bracket, Glad, 1:02.18; 2, A. Sears, M; 3, Akerly, E; 4, Labonte, E; 5, Soyring, Gw; 6, Taavola, Glad.

300 hurdles — 1, Joslin, M, 54.37; 2, Tiglas, M; 3, Coppock, RR; 4, Kaiser, M; 5, Renk, M; 6, Josephson, I.

800 — 1, Takkunen, Glad, 2:41.15; 2, M. Mills, Glad; 3, Akerly, E; 4, Poma, RR; 5, Jones, M; 6, Bevins, E.

200 — 1, Bracket, Glad, 28.17; 2, Scheffer, M; 3, LaBonte, E; 4, Joslin, M; 5, Warner, E; 6, Delmont, Gw.

3200 — 1, Gilbert, Glad, 13:45.74; 2, J. Mills, Glad; 3, Taavola, Glad; 4, Lewandowski, IM; 5, Renk, M; 6, Kaiser, M.

High jump — 1, Karl, Glad, 5-0; 2, Martin, E; 3, Paquette, RR; 4, Petrelius, M; 5, Cameron, Glad.

Pole vault — 1, Karl, Glad, 9-6½; 2, K. Carlson, M, 9-6½ (school record); 3, Martin, E; 4, Hart, M; 5, Benetti and Hill, E (tie).

Long jump — 1, LaBonte, E, 14-10; 2, Bracket, Glad; 3, Andersen, M; 4, Scheffer, M; 5, Benetti, E; 6, Martin, E.

Shot put — 1, Brewster, M, 33-3¾; 2, Tadgerson, Gw; 3, Ostlund, G; 4, Fisher, M; 5, Ranthum, Glad; 6, Derwin, Gw.

Discus — 1, Ostlund, Glad, 86-7; 2, Olson, RR; 3, Derwin, Gw; 4, Brewster, M; 5, Irving, M; 6, Hughes, Glad.