Lake Linden-Hubbell’s Laura Lyons beats out Houghton’s Anabel Needham and Joslynn Perala for the win in the 100 during the Houghton County Invite Friday in Lake Linden. (Daily Mining Gazette/Eden Laase)

LAKE LINDEN — Gary Guisfredi is getting older; he’ll be the first one to tell you that. But when called upon the Lake Linden-Hubbell coach can still take a lap or two around the track. OK, just a single lap, but that’s all the LL-H girls need from him. They’ll do the rest.

The Lakes took first in the Houghton County Invite, Friday at Lake Linden with 193 points.

Then, Guisfredi joined them in a victory lap, something that has become a bit of a tradition when the Lakes win.

“I’m getting a little older, but I can still make the quarter mile with them,” he said. “I tell them if we win some of these bigger meets and they want to do a victory lap, then I’ll do it with them. Maybe that is a little more incentive.”

Guisfredi is certainly getting his exercise, as the Lakes have won four meets this season.

They’ve been consistent and balanced all the way through, leading to victories on the track.

“This group is a pretty talented group, and they are unselfish,” Guisfredi said. “They do what they need to do and we have so much talent in different events. We have depth.”

Laura Lyons led the way for LL-H, with four individual wins. She took first in the 100 meter dash, 400 meter dash, 200 meter dash and the long jump to set the pace for the Lakes.

The Copper Country weather hasn’t been kind to outdoor athletes this year, so track season has been shortened drastically. With fewer meets, every trip around the track, jump and throw becomes even more important. But no one has to tell the Lakes that.

“We are trying to take it meet by meet,” Guisfredi said. “We just try and look for that next meet. So far it has been working out … They are competitors. They work hard and they want to win. They want to win individually and they know what they need to do individually, whether they are first or sixth, that is going to help the team.”

The Lakes took first in 10 of the 17 events.

Boys

Despite the perceived individuality, track is very much a team sport. It’s powered by stars, but role players need to pick up points throughout the meet in order to gain a team victory.

But star power is still vital to victory, which is why assistant coach Erik Johnson and the Gremlins didn’t expect much on Friday.

“We had a lot of kids gone,”Johnson said. “Our seniors were all gone for a physics trip, so we got some kids that really stepped up this meet.”

Houghton was missing some key pieces, including standout Michigan Tech signee Clayton Sayen, but the Gremlins still pulled out a first-place finish with 155 points.

Calumet was second with 128.

“We didn’t think we would break 100 points this meet,” Johnson said. “For them to step up that much today was a really big team effort. The coaching staff is really proud of them. We’ve been working really hard with them, and for a young group to come through was really nice to see.”

Johnson cited freshman Nathan Erva as one of the Gremlins who stepped up and helped Houghton snag the win. He won the 110 hurdles and was second in the 300 hurdles.

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Girls

1. Lake Linden-Hubbell 193; 2. Houghton 148; 3. Chassell 64; 4. Hancock 50.50; 5. Calumet 45.50; 6. Dollar Bay 22; Jeffers 0.

3200 relay — 1. Houghton (Johnson, Sague, Trewhella, Needham) 10:38.74; 2. Chassell, 3. LL-H 12:03.16; 4. Calumet 12:10.65; 5. Dollar Bay 13:17.36.

100 hurdles — 1. Anderson, LL-H, 17.25; 2. Peters, Calumet, 17.44; 3. Allen, Chassell, 17.97; 4. Cyrus, Houghton, 18.01; 5. Kumpula, LL-H, 19.25; 6. Johnson, Calumet, 20.51.

100 — 1. Lyons, LL-H, 13.55; 2. Perala, LL-H, 13.58; 3. Baccus, LL-H, 14.08; 4. Isaacson, Dollar Bay, 14.19; 5. Archer, Houghton, 14.39; 6. Kumpula, LL-H, 14.50.

800 relay — 1. LL-H (Seppala, Baccus, Willmer, Perala) 1:57.63; 2. Calumet 2:01.25; 3. Chassell 2:06.67; 4. Houghton 2:07.00; 5. Dollar Bay 2:08.32. 

1600 — 1. Needham, Houghton, 5:29.94; 2. Sturos, Hancock, 5:40.92; 3. Rautiola, Chassell, 5:49.58; 4. Sague, Houghton, 5:57.40; 5. Pietila, Chassell, 6:03.11; 6. Kangas, Chassell, 6:08.25.

400 relay — 1. LL-H (Kumpula, Anderson, Baccus, Perala) 55.57; 2. Calumet 56.33; 3. Chassell 58.44; 4. Houghton 58.45; 5. Dollar Bay 59.29.

400 — 1. Lyons, LL-H, 1:04.84; 2. Trewhella, Houghton, 1:07.47; 3. Hendrickson, LL-H, 1:09.41; 4. Holmstrom, Hancock, 1:13.62; 5. Salmi, Houghton, 1:15.02; 6. Sturos, Calumet, 1:15.49. 

300 hurdles — 1. Cyrus, Houghton, 53.70; 2. Seppala, LL-H, 56.13; 3. Anderson, LL-H, 57.65; 4. Allen, Chassell, 57.77; 5. Mattila, Houghton, 1:03.07; 6. Baker, Houghton, 1:06.50.

800 — 1. Willmer, LL-H, 2:30.37; 2. Sturos, Hancock, 2:36.08; 3. Johnson, Houghton, 2:43.16; 4. Wagner, LL-H, 2:51.76; 5. Li, Houghton, 3:14.61; 6. Tarnowski, Calumet, 3:18.97.

200 — 1. Lyons, LL-H, 28.26; 2. Needham, Houghton, 28.37; 3. Perala, LL-H, 29.09; 4. Hendrickson, LL-H, 29.52; 5. Seppala, LL-H, 29.85; 6. Holmstrom, Hancock, 30.18.

3200 — 1. Rautiola, Chassell, 12:40.62; 2. Sague, Houghton, 12:47.09; 3. Sleeman, Chassell, 13:19.36; 4. Nuttall, Hancock, 13:33.74; 5. Gipp, Calumet, 13:46.19; 6. Destrampe, LL-H, 13:53.72.

1600 relay — 1. LL-H (Hendrickson, Wagner, Seppala, Willmer) 4:38.68; 2. Houghton 4:48.75; 3. Calumet 4:58.47; 4. Hancock 5:00.60; 5. Dollar Bay 5:06.97.

Discus — 1. Jo Caskey, Dollar Bay, 93-3; 2. Williston, Houghton, 96-4; 3. Jarvis, Hancock, 83-10; 4. Codere, LL-H, 75-8; 5. Kruse, Houghton, 73-3; 6. Maki, Houghton, 72-9.

Shot put — 1. Jarvis, Hancock, 34-5; 2. Willison, Houghton, 32-1; 3. Codere, LL-H, 29-7; 4. Cote, Houghton, 28-1; 5. Kruse, Houghton, 24-7; 6. Rantamaki, Chassell, 24-5. 

High jump — 1. Hendrickson, LL-H, 5-3; 2. Hokenson, Chassell, 4-8; 3. LePage, LL-H, 4-6.3; 4. Stone, Houghton, 4-6.2; 5. Archer, Houghton, 4-6.1; 6. Gariepy, Calumet, 4-6. 

Pole vault — 1. Stone, Houghton, 8-6.1; 2. Baker, Houghton, 8-6. 3. Corrigan, LL-H, 8-0; 4. Fenton, Hancock, 7-6.1; 5. Kumpula, LL-H, 7-6; 6. LePage, LL-H, 7-0. 

Long jump — 1. Lyons, LL-H, 15-5; 2. Willmer, LL-H, 14-5; 3. Needham, Houghton, 14-5; 4. Rilei, Calumet, 13-8; 5. Sturos, Calumet, 13-4.25; 5. Holmstrom, Hancock, 13-4.25.

Boys

1. Houghton 155; 2. Calumet 128; 3. Lake Linden-Hubbell 99; 4. Hancock 53; 5. Chassell 50; 6. Dollar Bay 31; Jeffers 6. 

3200 relay — 1. Houghton (Bishop, Jackson, Bulleit, Blough) 9:14.40; 2. Calumet 9:19.06; 3. LL-H 9:39.14; 4. Dollar Bay 9:43.14; 5. Hancock 10:04.63.

110 hurdles — 1. Erva, Houghton, 18.43; 2. Gregoire, LL-H, 18.74; 3. Wilson, LL-H, 19.24; 4. Schneiderhan, Calumet, 19.31; 5. Codere, LL-H, 19.51; 6. Jurva, Houghton, 19.61.

100 — 1. Stuber, Hancock, 12.16; 2. Hainault, LL-H, 12.21; 3. Barnes, Chassell, 12.33; 4. Rajala, Houghton, 12.47; 5. Ashburn, Houghton, 12.50; 6. Chopp, LL-H, 12.55. 

400 relay — 1. Calumet (Lehton, M. Ojala, Djerf, Lundquist) 1:40.09; 2. LL-H 1:41.34; 3. Houghton 1:43.64; 4. Dollar Bay 2:04.35.

400 — 1. M. Ojala, Calumet, 55.76; 2. Bulleit, Houghton, 56.81; 3. A. Salani, Hancock, 57.93; 4. Hill, Jeffers, 58.58; 5. Larson, Calumet, 58.69; 6. Jackson, Houghton, 58.89.

300 hurdles — 1. Cole Gregoire, LL-H, 46.52; 2. Erva, Houghton, 47.71; 3. Caleb Gregoire, LL-H, 48.11; 4. Gockenbach, Houghton, 48.15; 5. Codere, LL-H, 49.21; 6. Schneiderhan, Calumet, 49.48. 

800 — 1. Holmes, Chassell, 2:16.66; 2. Onder, Calumet, 2:17.35; 3. B. LeClaire, Dollar Bay, 2:17.80; 4. Bishop, Houghton, 2:18.71; 5. Chynoweth, Hancock, 2:19.93; 6. Larson, Calumet, 2:23.21.

200 — 1. Lundquist, Calumet, 24.64; 2. Stuber, Hancock, 24.66; 3. Barnes, Chassell, 25.12; 4. Rajala, Houghton, 25.27; 5. Ashburn, Houghton, 25.32; 6.Hainault, LL-H, 25.60.

3200 — 1. Wood, Houghton, 10:56.75; 2. Jackson, Houghton, 11;02.40; 3. Loukus, Calumet, 11:14.27; 4. Peterson, Houghton, 11:18.56; 5. Brennan, Jeffers, 11:44.27; 6. Larson, Calumet, 11:55.13. 

1600 relay — 1. Calumet (Lehto, M. Ojala, McParlan, Larson) 3:54.23; 2. Houghton 3:58.56; 3. Dollar Bay 4:06.65; 4. Hancock 4:07.94; 5. LL-H 4:10.13. 

Discus — 1. Twardzik, Calumet, 136-4; 2. Wilson, Chassell, 117-11; 3. Kinnunen, Chassell, 114-8; 4. Cooper, Houghton, 113-2; 5. Gariepy, Calumet, 103.2; 6. Vandenburg, Calumet, 100-10.

Shot put — Twardzik, Calumet, 42-11; 2. Kinnnunen, Chassell, 38-10; 3. Zapolnik, Houghton, 37-3; 4. Cooper, Houghton, 36-11; 5. Kariainen, Dollar Bay, 35-9; 6. Vandenburg, Calumet, 35-7. 

High jump — 1. Scott, Houghton, 5-6.1; 2. Schmitz, Dollar Bay, 5-6; 3. Cole Gregoire, LL-H, 5-4; 3. Holmes, Chassell, 5-4; 3. Lang, Hancock, 5-4; 6. McParlan, Calumet, 5-2. 

Pole vault — 1. Daavettila, Houghton, 10-6.2; 1. Djerf, Calumet, 10-6.2; 3. Touvila, LL-H, 10-6.1; 4. Lang, Hancock, 10-6; 5. Erva, Houghton, 10-0; 6. Chynoweth, Hancock, 9-6. 

Long jump — 1. Caleb Gregoire, LL-H,  18-0; 2. Scott, Houghton, 17-7; 3. Cole Gregoire, LL-H, 17-1; 4. Lang, Hancock, 16-9; 5. Djerf, Calumet, 16-6; 6. Wagner, LL-H, 16-5.