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RAPID RIVER -- After winning their opener the Rapid River cross country teams are ready to move on to other meets.
The Rockets, who won both ends of the Engadine Rock & Roll Relays August 20, resume in today's Dale Phillips Invitational at Marquette.
"That was a nice way to start," coach Zach Truitt said. "The girls were pretty excited. It's exciting to have full boys' and girls' squads.
The Rockets have eight girls and seven boys on this year's teams.
Juniors Kaylee Tyler and Julia Poma were runners-up at Engadine and classmates Ashlynn Thompson and Victoria Coppock placed third.
"Victoria did weight lifting twice a week this summer and ran strong at Engadine," Truitt said. "Julia is one of our top contenders. She's hoping to get her time down. She also did a lot of weight lifting. Julia did all the things she needed to do. Ashlynn did well in the relays and will be in the mix. Kaylee wanted to be part of the team and will be an asset for us."
Other hopefuls are fourth-year senior Sarah Beauchaine, who spent six weeks of her summer in Ann Arbor, and juniors Olivia Quinn and Evonna LaCosse, who ran at Big Bay de Noc a year ago.
"Sarah put in some decent mileage this summer," Truitt said. "She got to run at the U-M (University of Michigan) track and was pretty excited about that. Olivia had a good year on the track and put some time in this summer. She's motivated and pushes herself. Evonna was a little late coming in, but ran all summer."
The boys, who are harboring high hopes, have four seniors.
Senior Jae Poma and sophomore Owen Truitt placed second and seniors Jeb Green, who will be joining the Coast Guard, and Jon Denkins placed third at Engadine.
Camden Holmio, also a senior, was part of the sixth-place duo.
"Jon should be strong this year and Jae put the work in during the summer. He showed quick recovery during the relays which is huge. Jeb put 200 miles in this summer and also showed nice recovery. Cam is running 45 seconds faster per mile on average than last year and Owen did a lot of cross training and had the fastest splits on average at Engadine.
"Owen did four triathlons this summer and qualified for the nationals in Milwaukee where he finished in the middle of the pack. He was among the youngest in that race and was pretty excited about where he finished."
Also on varsity are freshmen Brody Denkins and James Beauchaine.
"Brody put the most time in this summer of anybody," coach Truitt said. "James is doubling with football. He's going to be strong. He'll be in a good fight for the No. 6 position with Camden. They'll be pushing each other."
After Labor Day, the Rockets entered in the Manistique Invitational (Sept. 9) and Superior Central Invite (Sept. 12).
New on their schedule this year is a trip downstate for the Holly Invitational (Sept. 19).
The Rockets are hosting their invite Oct. 14.
"The Munising and Forest Park boys will be strong," coach Truitt said. "We're doing it one meet at a time. Our senior boys have been running together for seven years. The experience is there. We're excited to be going down to Holly.
"The L'Anse girls have good numbers and Pickford will throw in a little curve in there. Stephenson has a decent team and Munising will be a contender in the conference. In D-3 it often comes down to fielding a full team."
The remaining schedule:
Aug. 28 -- Dale Phillips Invitational at Marquette.
Sept. 9 -- Manistique Invitational; Sept. 12 -- Superior Central Invitational; Sept. 19 -- Holly Invitational; Sept. 23 -- Harger Invitational at Munising; Sept. 26 -- Bay College Invitational.
Oct. 7 -- Skyline Central Conference at Banat; Oct.14 -- Rapid River Invitational; Oct. 24 -- U.P. Division 3 Finals at Houghton.