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MARQUETTE -- Area cross country teams may not have been in the running for top honors in the Dale Phillips Invitational, but few of the local runners turned in solid individual performances here Friday.
The Marquette girls squeezed past Houghton 58-60 for the girls' title. Downstate Shepherd placed third with 90 points, followed by Munising 102 and Negaunee 151.
Shepherd edged Marquette 33-39 for the boys' crown. They were followed by Houghton 119, Negaunee 178 and Gladstone 186.
"This is a good start for us," Marquette coach Kyle Detmers said. "I'm happy with both teams. It was good to see the downstate teams come up here. I like the competition up here. All the coaches are friends and they're competitors."
Newberry senior Abby Taylor won the girls' race by covering the 3.1-mile course in 20 minutes, 14.2 seconds. She was followed by Shepherd junior Cailyn Baker at 20:34.2, Houghton junior Holly Cooke (20:40.1) and Marquette sophomore Emma Ziegler (20:42.8) and freshman Charlotte Jones (20:43.9).
"I'm pleased with my time for the beginning of the season," Taylor said. "I wanted to go out real conservative. I think the competition helped me out. I thought it was going to be colder than this. I think this is a good confidence builder."
Superior Central freshman Edye Burdett placed ninth in the girls' race by covering the 3.1-mile course at Presque Isle Park in 21 minutes, 32.6 seconds on this sunny and mild morning.
"I beat some people from last week," she said. "I also dropped my time by a minute. I'll take that. I definitely wanted to keep a positive attitude. I know with all the training I've been doing thatI know I can do this. That especially helped me on the hill (in the second mile). I think our team did really well."
Esky sophomore Avah Akerley placed 15th (22:13.1) and Superior Central junior Kendra Pederson earned a medal by taking 20th (23:21.2), one place ahead of Gladstone senior Joselyn Mills (23:32.1).
"I'm happy with my finish," Akerly said. "I wanted to take the first mile easy and picked up my pace in the second mile. By doing that, I had more left for the hill and ran that pretty strong. There were a lot of good runners here."
The Houghton girls were fresh from winning Wednesday's Jeffers Kilpela Farm Invitational in Atlantic Mine.
"I was happy with the boys and girls today," Houghton coach Traci Welch said. "Our teams always get better as the season goes on. Right now we're starting to pull together as a team. The race at Jeffers is a nice one to start the season. We didn't really know what to expect today."
Marquette senior Lucas Ballard won the boys' race at 16:21. He was followed by Shepherd seniors Bryce Cahoon (16:24.3) and William McDonald (17:45.9), Marquette junior Lake Skytta (17:49.5) and Shepherd senior Drew Davis (17:49.5).
"It felt good and it was fun," Ballard said. "I'm excited for the rest of the season. I had a 15:10 at NMU (in the season-opener August 21). I think overall I ran a little better race today because of the hills. It was good to have Shepherd up here."
Rapid River sophomore Owen Truitt paced the area runners in 20th (19:24.2). Escanaba junior Kingston Berube took 22nd (19:39.5) and senior Chuck Cameron was Gladstone's leader in 27th at 20 minutes flat.
"I think we had some good times," Esky coach Scott Dykema said. "We had a freshman (Amelia Chouinard) drop nearly two minutes from her previous best time. Dominic Dahl dropped his time a minute and Michael Lemerand lost 80 pounds and said it felt like he was running on air. Kingston's time was okay. Kingston was a little frustrated with his time, but it was good for him to run with these runners. Overall, we did pretty good."
Boys
Shepherd 33, Marquette 39, Houghton 119, Negaunee 178, Gladstone 186, Munising 187, Ishpeming Westwood 202, Rapid River 223, Bangor 269, Escanaba 276, Stephenson 284, Kingsford 285, Menominee 287, Superior Central 336. Calumet Copper Island Academy, Ishpeming, Hancock, Indian River Inland Lakes and Gwinn NTS.
Top 10 -- 1, Lucas Ballard, Marquette, 16:21; 2, Bryce McDonald, Shepherd, 16:24.3; 3, William McDonald, Shepherd, 17:45.1; 4, Lake Skytta, Marquette, 17:45.9; 5, Drew Davis, Shepherd, 17:49.5; 6, Brandon Van Karsen, Houghton, 17:58.2; 7, Calvin Carlson, Ishpeming Westwood, 18:14.7; 8, Tyler Rule, Houghton, 18:20.2; 9, William Lindsay, Marquette, 18:22; 10, Welly Fillmore, Marquette, 18:22.6.
Girls
Marquette 58, Houghton 60, Shepherd 90, Munising 102, Negaunee 151, Kingsford 153, Superior Central 197, Escanaba 199, Menominee 212 and Rapid River 214. Newberry, Indian River Inland Lakes, Gladstone, Ishpeming, Stephenson, Hancock, Ishpeming Westwood, Bangor and Gwinn NTS.
Top 10 -- 1, Abby Taylor, Newberry, 20:14.2; 2, Cailyn Baker, Shepherd; 3, Holly Cooke, Houghton, 20:40.1; 4, Emma Ziegler, Marquette, 20:42.8; 5, Charlotte Jones, Marquette, 20:43.9; 6, Maria Movrich, Kingsford, 21:09.2; 7, Brooke Hoppe, Houghton; 8, Molly McNamara, Newberry, 21:17.1; 9, Edye Burdette, Superior Central, 21:32.6; 10, Winley Brandt, Menominee, 21:35.