Sports

Last Saturday, on a day that had mixed results for the Mustangs, the middle school cross country girls were the big team winners at the Rapid River Cross Country Invitational. The team defended their team title from last year with an eight-point win, 47-55, over runner-up Vulcan Middle School. Emma Concklin again led the way for the team by capturing third place in a time of 13 minutes 45.9 seconds. Following Emma was Karter Goings (7th, 14:14.8), Lennon Livermore (11th, 14:53.9), Maddie Kulppi (13th, 15:12.1), Kahlan Ramsey (17th, 15:21.2), Ava Prunick (44th, 17:35.3), Payton Brey (48th, 17:55.5), Peyton Dyer (49th, 18:01.9), Miika Michelson (51st, 18:58.2), and Amber Defrancesco (57th, 19:58.3). For the boys’, Evan Kelto placed ninth in 12:52.3 and Trey Defrancesco was 52nd in 17:24.0.

The Mustang cross country team had a busy schedule last week as they traveled to away meets at Manistique on Wednesday and downstate to Holly on Saturday. They had great results at both events with solid performances by all runners. Starting with the Manistique Cross Country Invitational, both the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams placed second in their events. With both teams fielding complete teams for the first time this season, they had strong performances which propelled them to their solid team finishes. The girls were led by Olivia Cotey (7th, 24:22.3). She was closely followed by Kate Mattson (9th, 24:25.7), Addie Bowerman (12th, 24:42.1), Dayne Behning (14th, 24:50.1), Elizabeth Wing (30th, 29:33.3) and Kaylen Kienitz (35th, 30:49.6). The boys ran equally well, led by their star senior, Danny Goss, who placed first in a time of 17:05.4. Rounding out the top seven boys were Trevor Nolan (3rd, 17:31.5), Blake Lakosky (12th, 19:21.1), Zach Lindquist (28th, 20:42.7), Nolan Dolaskie (31st, 21:24.8), Dylan Adkinson (37th, 21:36.5) and Nate Petersen (41st, 22:52.0). Sault St. Marie won both the girls and boys races with 47 and 25 points respectively. The Mustang girls had 59 points and the boys totaled 58 points. Orin Shalom was the lone JV runner, placing 7th in a time of 24:19.0.

The Munising tennis team took part in a match at Norway on Monday, September 9. The Lady Mustangs came up just short, 5-3. They also competed at Ishpeming Westwood on Thursday, dropping that match 8-0.

Munising’s fast start to the 8-player football season continued on Friday. The Mustangs were hosting Gogebic for a non-conference game and managed to take a two possession lead after the first quarter, never looking back on their way to a 3818 victory, though things weren’t exactly perfect.

It was a game originally scheduled to take place in Newberry. However, since Newberry’s gymnasium is still under renovation, Munising got to host the Lady Indians on Tuesday, September 3. And they gave their hometown fans quite the treat; a thrilling five set victory, 25-27, 16-25, 25-19, 25-23 and 15-13.

Before the high school football season even started, Munising head coach Matt Mattson felt like their week two home contest with Lake Linden-Hubbell would be a good early season measuring stick for his team. The Lakes were a semi-final team in last year’s Division 2 8-player playoffs and annually churn out competitive teams; but Mattson and the Mustangs got the better of them in this match-up, 48-22.

The Superior Central cross country team saw action at the Gwinn Invitational on Tuesday, September 3. The Cougars were able to get their boys’ team to come in fifth place, while the girls’ squad had a second place finish.