Ironwood's Smith, E-TC girls win UP titles

By JASON JUNO

sports@yourdailyglobe.com

MUNISING — Ironwood’s Aubrey Smith and the Ewen-Trout Creek girls lived up to expectations on Saturday as they became U.P. champions at the Upper Peninsula cross country finals at Pictured Rocks Golf Course.

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Division 2

Smith had recorded the fastest time among the Division 2 runners during the regular season and she led the entire race Saturday, finishing in under 20 minutes with a time of 19:57, more than 25 seconds ahead of runner-up Ella Keranen of Hancock.

There’s some pressure to being the favorite.

“I definitely felt a lot of that,” Smith said. “Being seeded first, I was like, ‘Oh boy, I really gotta go out there and really show them what that’s all about,’ perform up to the name. I did that, so that’s awesome.

“I think that’s one of the things that really pushed me to do my best today — I didn’t want to let myself down, but I also didn’t want to let down all the people cheering for me, that were really rooting for me.”

Her friends and family were out on the course telling her how far behind the field was because she ran the race up front by herself throughout pretty much the whole course.

She was glad to clear 20 minutes, something she had done another time during the regular season. She was also glad the weather was so nice, with sun and warm temperatures in the 60s.

When she watched Ironwood’s last U.P. champion, Aundrea Stengard, at the 2020 U.P. Finals, there was snow on the course.

She wasn’t expecting to be a U.P. champion herself back then, or even all that recently. 

“For my entire high school career, it was something that seemed far out and unreachable almost, but it’s really great to finally be here,” she said.

It wasn’t until she started getting faster this season, and especially when she earned Most Valuable Runner honors in the Copper Mountain Conference that being a U.P. champion seemed like a real possibility.

“That really got in my mind — ‘OK, this is something I can do. I’ve worked up to this, for my whole four years of high school basically,’” she said. 

Ironwood’s Ben Schmandt was a proud coach afterwards.

“So proud of Aubrey, what she has accomplished over the course of her career, to come out and take this race,” he said. 

Hancock won their fourth straight U.P. title with four runners in the top 10. The Devils were fourth and Gogebic fifth.

“I’m proud of all my girls, I think they all ran close to PR times, if not PR times,” Schmandt said. 

The Miners were led by senior Alyssa Shirkey, who finished in third place in 21:13.2.

“Alyssa had a great season this year,” Gogebic coach Lauren Korpi said. “After last year, we talked about her goals and she kept her training up throughout the year and was committed to running consistently over the summer. All of those miles really paid off this year and her improvement was impressive. I’m looking forward to seeing where her running will take her after high school.”

The Ironwood boys finished in third place, just three points behind Rudyard, 81-84, and one position away from taking team hardware back home.

“They ran their tails off, the boys did, couldn’t ask for anything more than what they gave me,” Schmandt said. “It’s, uh, so close, but give Rudyard a lot of credit. … It was great competition today. Proud of the boys.”

Ironwood’s Zach Smith finished in fourth place and teammate Joey Lauzon was seventh.

“Both are going to be all-state runners. They ran really well. It was a nice way to close their season off, their careers off, being in the top 10 there,” Schmandt said.

It was four straight titles for the Jeffers’ boys as well, who had four runners in the top 10.

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Division 3

E-TC’s vast collection of basketball hardware has some company in the trophy case.

The Panthers have rarely had a shortage of basketball players, but they’ve never had enough cross country runners to field a team before this season.

And here they are, U.P. champions already.

“It’s crazy, the first year we have a team and we get a … U.P. championship,” said E-TC freshman Bree Besonen, who led the Panthers in sixth place. “It’s just great because we’ve been working so hard and seeing it happen is crazy.”

“That’s pretty special stuff,” E-TC coach Brad Besonen said. “But that’s this group of girls, they’re hard workers and they’ve got skills, they’ve got talent in this sport. You can’t do anything without that. I would say the thing that sets them apart from any other team that I’ve coached, they just have so much fun with each other’s company.”

Like Ironwood’s Smith, E-TC came in as the favorite to win the title. Besonen and his daughter had different perspectives on whether that created pressure.

He compared it to basketball because he’s been a basketball coach even longer. 

“Nobody defends you out here, sometimes your shots don’t go in, but here, it’s you’re in the course and you’re running,” he said. “So there’s almost a little more pressure in that if you don’t get the job done it’s really on you because you haven’t done what you did all season long.”

Bree said, “If anything, it was like a comfort because you know that you’re good enough to do it if you just go and have your race.”

Four Panthers finished in the top 11. Bree Besonen, who has led them all season, took sixth, with junior Emma Besonen eighth, Alyssa DeCremer 10th and eighth grader Leona Schutz 11th.

Those four set the school record in the 4x800 relay at the U.P. track-and-field fields in June. That’s where the training for this title started.

“Those four just absolutely carried us today,” coach Besonen said. 

It was Bree’s best race of the whole season, he said. Chassell’s Syliva Aho beat her in a sprint to the finish line for a top-five spot. They’ve been racing each other all year.

“Seeing Bree fight like that was really satisfying to see. She’s worked so hard to get where she is this year,” Brad said. “Emma’s had a dynamite year. She does not look like the other good runners in the race, she’s not the normal cross country build, but she works her butt off all the time.”

The original plan for DeCremer, an eighth grader, before the season was to build up to potentially running varsity 5K races by the end of the year. But when coach Besonen saw how well everyone was running before the season started, he thought the team could do well, and that she could compete herself on the varsity team. Without her, they wouldn’t have had enough for a team. She decided to run varsity.

“That clearly was the best decision for our team that anybody made all year,” Besonen said. “Without her, we’re not scoring. And then, her season was just awesome, she just kept getting better and better and better.”

She has raced with Schutz all year and they pushed each other all year.

“Leona was medalist a lot of meets this year as well,” Besonen said. “When your third running is getting medals pretty much every meet, that makes you a really strong team. She’s just had a really good season. She’s built for the sport, she has a great stride and gait about her. She’s going to do some big things for us, too.”

The girls are all back next year, they range from seventh graders to juniors.

“This could be the start of something really special here,” he said.

E-TC also had a strong showing in the boys race with Brody Majurin taking third individually. Chassell’s Kalvin Kytta won by more than a minute over runner-up Dakota Taylor of Engadine, which won the team title.. 

Results

Girls

Division 1

Team champion: Marquette

Individual champion: Tessa Rautiola, Houghton, 19:31.3.

Division 2

Team: 1. Hancock 35, 2. Baraga 67, 3. Munising 97, 4. Ironwood 107, 5. Gogebic 116, 6. Rudyard 125, 7. West Iron County 150, 8. Manistique 189.

Top 10: 1. Aubrey Smith, Ironwood, 19:57; 2. Ella Keranen, Hancock, 20:22.9; 3. Alyssa Shirkey, Gogebic, 21:13.2; 4. Alena Pietila, Hancock, 21:33.6; 5. Princess Pierre, Baraga, 21:36.9; 6. Jill Berg, Hancock, 21:56.1; 7. Sophie DesRochers, Baraga, 22:08.7; 8. Rayna Towles, Hancock, 22:09.1; 9. Olivia Cotey, Munising, 23:05.8; 10. Dayne Behning, Munising, 23:12.5.

Other local finishers: 21. Aubrey Miller, Gogebic, 24:35.3; 24. Madelyn Smith, Ironwood, 24:44.4; 26. Aubrey Balduc, Ironwood, 24:45.9; 28. Keira Graham, Gogebic, 25:17.4; 31. Ryan Routheaux, Ironwood, 25:41.6; 35. Ellie Libertoski, Gogebic, 26:12.5; 38. Iyla Lagalo, Ironwood, 26:37.9; 42. Emily Dums, Gogebic, 29:45.3; 43. Anneli Meyer, Gogebic, 30:06.4; 44. Ashlen Kangas, Ironwood, 30:36.6; 50. Alexandreya Schiiller, Ironwood, 34:57.1.

Division 3

Team: 1. Ewen-Trout Creek 54, 2. Engadine 100, 3. Chassell 102, 4. Brimley 118, 5. Stephenson 120, 6. Newberry 123, 7. Pickford 129, 8. St. Ignace 154, 9. Rapid River 200, 10. Superior Central 203.

Top 10: 1. Talya Schreiber, Pickford, 18:48.8; 2. Abby Taylor, Newberry, 19:49.1; 3. Samantha Taylor, Newberry, 19:55.9; 4. Molly McNamara, Engadine, 20:14.4; 5. Sylvia Aho, Chassell, 21:26.8; 6. Bree Besonen, E-TC, 21:58.6; 7. Aesara Lupinski, Mid Peninsula, 21:53.6; 8. Emma Besonen, E-TC, 21:58.6; 9. Faith Cappaert, Stephenson, 22:08.6; 10. Alyssa DeCremer, E-TC, 22:08.8.

Other local finishers: 11. Leona Schutz, E-TC, 22:09; 23. Zoey Hemming, E-TC, 23:54.1; 43. Enara Moreno, E-TC, 26:13.2.

Boys

Division 1

Team champion: Marquette

Individual champion: Gabe Litzner, Sault Ste. Marie, 15:14.4.

Division 2

Team: 1. Jeffers 33, 2. Rudyard 81, 3. Ironwood 84, 4. Munising 90, 5. Manistique 128, 6. Gogebic 145, 7. Gwinn 148, 8. Hancock 153.

Top 10: 1. Dan Goss, Munising, 16:43; 2. Cameron Anderson, Jeffers, 16:55.2; 3. Steven Kirschner, Rudyard, Rudyard, 17;23.4; 4. Zach Smith, Ironwood, 17:26.1; 5. Landon Larson, Jeffers, 17:30.9; 6. Branson Anderson, Jeffers, 18:07.3; 7. Joey Lauzon, Ironwood, 18:20; 8. Blake Lakosky, Munising, 18:27.6; 9. Tage Rajala, Jeffers, 18:32.2; 10. Ben Gilroy, Manistique, 18:44.1.

Other local finishers: 14. Noah Verbos, Gogebic, 18:53.2; 16. Daniel Tibaldo, Ironwood, 19:17.7; 19. Logan Holm, Ironwood, 19:32.4; 23. Izaiah Adams, Gogebic, 19:51.8; 37. Ayden Rau, Gogebic, 21:06.1; 38. Mikael Delacruz, Gogebic, 21:13.6; 39. Drew Johnson, Gogebic, 21:21.4; 40. Mark Jaunzems, Ironwood, 21:36.9; 45. Nathan Jaunzems, Ironwood, 22:10.2; 49. Alex Lopez, Ironwood, 24:32; 49. Alex Lopez, Ironwood, 24:32.

Division 3

Team: 1. Engadine 62, 2. Stephenson 82, 3. Dollar Bay 106, 4. Crystal Falls Forest Park 111, 5. Mid Peninsula 132, 6. Superior Central 136, 7. Newberry 144, 8. Rapid River 168, 9. Chassell 197, 10. Paradise Whitefish Township 203.

Top 10: 1. Kalvin Kytta, Chassell, 16:10.2; 2. Dakota Taylor, Engadine, 17:22.2; 3. Brody Majurin, Ewen-Trout Creek, 17:28; 4. Ethan Snyder, Cedarville, 17:33.9; 5. Nate Stielstra, Engadine, 18:10.9; 6. Canon Kuntze, Stephenson, 18:18.4; 7. Owen Kuehnau, Stephenson, 18:24.8; 8. Wyatt Huhn, St. Ignace, 18:32.7; 9. Joshua Gaunt, Dollar Bay, 18:37.1; 10. Trevor Verba, Stephenson, 18:40.7.

Other local finishers: 42. Cameron Logghe, E-TC, 20:49.3; 48. Gage Hacker, Watersmeet, 21:22.5; 73. Xavier Barajas, Watersmeet, 24:06.3.