Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By JASON JUNO
Ironwood — Four Ewen-Trout Creek girls placed in the top 10 at the final Copper Mountain Conference meet of the season Thursday at Gogebic Country Club in Ironwood, giving them their sixth straight meet victory of the season.
Their success throughout the season earned them the league’s Team of the Year award.
Ironwood’s Aubrey Smith has been the best individual runner throughout the season; she won her home meet Thursday and earned the league’s Most Valuable Runner award.
The Panthers are hoping to wrap it up with a seventh straight win at Saturday’s U.P. Finals at Pictured Rocks Golf Course in Munising.
“I think what’s really motivated all of our girls is the potential for something big,” E-TC coach Brad Besonen said. “They’re not running for themselves at all right now. They’re running for our team and they’re running for something they can put on the wall at our school.”
The Panthers are a favorite at the Division 3 U.P. Finals with Chassell and Newberry also among those in contention. Based on the best times of the year for all the runners, E-TC is the best of them, Besonen said. They, of course, need to perform on Saturday.
“We really do, we have a great opportunity,” he said. “Chassell has gotten a lot better in the last three weeks. They’ve got such a strong tradition in girls cross country that they’ll be tough.”
Bree Besonen led the Panthers with a fourth-place finish at the final conference meet with Emma Besonen sixth, Alyssa DeCremer ninth and Leona Schutz 10th.
Bree, Emma and Schutz made the all-conference First Team, which was announced after the meet.
“Emma and Bree are just running fantastic right now. Ally and Leona have been top 10,” Besonen said.
Smith dominated to win the meet. Gogebic’s Alyssa Shirkey finished second and was also a First Team selection.
“Runner of the Year, Most Valuable Runner, Conference champion, you can say it any which way you want, big accomplishment for her,” Ironwood coach Ben Schmandt said of Smith. “That was one of her goals coming into the season. Finishing runner-up last year, that was something on her bucket list to take care of. She’s worked hard all summer and all season long and hard work pays off.”
She has run the fastest time of anyone in Division 2 going into Saturday’s U.P. Finals.
Jeffers won the boys meet and was named Team of the Year. Chassell’s Kalvin Kytta is the boys Most Valuable Runner after winning another meet.
Ironwood finished runner-up, edging third-place Dollar Bay 59-60.
Ironwood’s Zach Smith took fourth and teammate Joey Lauzon was eighth. Both made the boys First Team.
“Very happy for Joey. I know it wasn’t probably the year he was hoping for as a whole, but I was happy the fact he was able to turn it on when it was needed the most. I think that was a big boost of confidence going into the U.P. Finals,” Schmandt said. “As for Zach, like his sister, working hard all summer, getting the mileage in, working hard during the season, staying healthy and maintain the training. Hard work pays off, no question about it.”
Smith (D-2), Kytta (D-3), the E-TC girls (D-3), the Jeffers boys (D-2) and Hancock girls (D-2) all are in a good position to win U.P. titles. The Ironwood boys will likely battle Munising and Rudyard for the runner-up trophy, Schmandt said. Hancock will likely have to contend with surging Baraga, Munising and Gogebic, he said.
But nothing is guaranteed just based on season times. Ironwood, for instance, had a surprise U.P. champion in 2020 when Aundrea Stengard surprised Ishpeming’s Lola Korpi. That was the only year of her career Korpi didn’t win the championship.
“The U.P. Finals is a wacky day,” Schmandt said. “Oftentimes the best runners do show up, but there’s times where really good runners have an off day and someone who hasn’t had the best of seasons has the race of their life. You can look at all the projections you want, you have to run the race.”
U.P. Finals — Pictured Rocks Golf, Munising
All Times CDT
Boys races
D-1, 10 a.m.
D-2, 10:30 a.m.
D-3, 11 a.m.
Girls races
D-1, 11:30 a.m.
D-2, 12 p.m.
D-3, 12:30 p.m.
Results
Boys
Team: 1. Jeffers 26, 2. Ironwood 59, 3. Dollar Bay 60, 4. Chassell 91.
Top 10: 1. Kalvin Kytta, Chassell, 17:00.7; 2. Cameron Anderson, Jeffers, 17:35; 3. Landon Larson, Jeffers, 17:58.7; 4. Zach Smith, Ironwood, 18:04.8; 5. Branson Anderson, Jeffers, 18:52.9; 6. Blake Heltunen, Jeffers, 19:22.4; 7. Joshua Gaunt, Dollar Bay, 19:30; 8. Joey Lauzon, Ironwood, 19:35.9; 9. Landon Halkola, Dollar Bay, 19:53.6; 10. Tage Rajala, Jeffers, 20:11.2.
Other local finishers: 12. Daniel Tibaldo, Ironwood, 20:16.7; 13. Noah Verbos, Gogebic, 20:21.3; 16. Mikael Delacruz, Gogebic, 21:15.9; 17. Cameron Logghe, E-TC, 21:20.4; 18. Logan Holm, Ironwood, 21:22.7; 23. Mark Jaunzems, Ironwood, 22:13.1; 25. Gage Hacker, Watersmeet, 22:49.7; 26. Ayden Rau, Gogebic, 22:50.7; 27. Izaiah Adams, Gogebic, 23:12.7; 28. Nathan Jaunzems, Ironwood, 23:13.7; 32. Xavier Barajas, Watersmeet, 26:17.2; 34. Talon Hughes, Ironwood, 28:01.4.
Girls
Team: 1. Ewen-Trout Creek 47, 2. Baraga 53, 3. Chassell 67, 4. Ironwood 77, 5. Gogebic 85.
Top 10: 1. Aubrey Smith, Ironwood, 20:38.9; 2. Alyssa Shirkey, Gogebic, 21:22.9; 3. Sylvia Aho, Chassell, 22:08.8; 4. Bree Besonen, E-TC, 22:12.5; 5. Princess Pierre, Baraga, 23:03.6; 6. Emma Besonen, E-TC, 23:09.7; 7. Sophie DesRochers, Baraga, 23:24.6; 8. Breyelle Bowers, Baraga, 23:55.3; 9. Alyssa DeCremer, E-TC, 24:01.2; 10. Leona Schutz, E-TC, 24:03.9.
Other local finishers: 15. Aubrey Miller, Gogebic, 25:41.6; 16. Madelyn Smith, Ironwood, 25:50.9; 17. Ryan Routheaux, Ironwood, 26:02.7; 18. Enora Moreno, E-TC, 26:12.6; 19. Aubrey Balduc, Ironwood, 26:14.1; 21. Keira Graham, Gogebic, 26:53.5; 22. Ellie Libertoski, Gogebic, 27:19.6; 23. Hannah Ferguson, E-TC, 27:34.3; 24. Iyla Lagalo, Ironwood, 28:05; 25. Anneli Meyer, Gogebic, 28:37.7; 28. Emily Dums, Gogebic, 29:51.7; 30. Ashlen Kangas, Ironwood, 32:37.6; 31. Alexandreya Schiiller, Ironwood, 34:40.2; 32. Katelyn Stanislawski, Gogebic, 35:44.7.
Copper Mountain All-Conference selections
Girls
Team of the Year: Ewen-Trout Creek
Most Valuable Runner: Aubrey Smith, Ironwood, Sr.
All-Conference
First Team
Alyssa Shirkey, Gogebic, Sr.
Sylvia Aho, Chassell, Soph.
Bree Besonen, E-TC, Fr.
Sophie DesRochers, Baraga, Soph.
Emma Besonen, E-TC, Jr.
Leona Schutz, E-TC, 8th
Second Team
Princess Pierre, Baraga, Fr.
Alyssa DeCremer, E-TC, 8th
Breyelle Bowers, Baraga, Fr.
Lily Etelamaki, Chassell, Sr.
Jordan Holombo, Chassell, Fr.
Enara Moreno, E-TC, Jr.
Madelyn Smith, Ironwood, Sr.
Aubrey Balduc, Ironwood, Jr.
Boys
Team of the Year: Jeffers
Most Valuable Runner: Kalvin Kytta, Chassell, Sr.
All-Conference
First Team
Landon Larson, Jeffers, Jr.
Zach Smith, Ironwood, Sr.
Cameron Anderson, Jeffers, Jr.
Joshua Gaunt, Dollar Bay, Sr.
Branson Anderson, Jeffers, Fr.
Joey Lauzon, Ironwood, Sr.
Second Team
Blake Heltunen, Jeffers, Fr.
Tage Rajala, Jeffers, Soph.
Landon Halkola, Dollar Bay, Soph.
Caleb Kentala, Dollar Bay, Jr.
Daniel Tibaldo, Ironwood, Sr.
Noah Randell, Jeffers, Soph.
Noah Verbos, Gogebic, Soph.
