Jeffers’ Simone Barp wins the Division 2 U.P. Finals boys race at Gentz’s Homestead Golf Course on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021, in Marquette, Mich. (Jason Juno/Ironwood Daily Globe)

MARQUETTE — The Dollar Bay cross country runners were nearly the last ones to leave from the Upper Peninsula Finals on Saturday.

Not only were they celebrating the boys’ second straight Division 3 championship, they were celebrating Cooper Stout’s 17th birthday and the girls’ runner-up finish.

The Dollar Bay boys edged Stephenson 57-63 for the title and third-place Brimley had 77 points.

“We have fun running on the tough courses,” said Dollar Bay coach Matt Zimmer. “Then you get on a golf course and you think it’s going to be an easy course, and it really isn’t. The Copper Country conferences were well represented and both of our teams ran very well. We have three girls who have been with us since junior high. We’ve become a family. There’s absolutely a lot of camaraderie and it’s a family atmosphere.”

Ewen-Trout Creek senior Jonah Nordine retained his title, covering the 3.1-mile course in 17 minutes, 15.7 seconds on this sunny and seasonably cool day at Gentz’s Homestead Golf Course in Chocolay Township.

“I’m pretty happy with my time,” Nordine said. “I really tried to push it in the first mile. I ran a little more conservatively in the second mile, then tried to pick it up in the third. This is a pretty big confidence builder, I guess. I was a little nervous coming in here because Nik beat me in the (Copper Mountain) conference race last week. That definitely motivated me for the U.P. Finals.”

His former teammate and Dollar Bay senior Nik Thomas was runner-up (17:16.6), followed by Munising freshman Trevor Nolan (17:47.1) and Dollar Bay junior Amos Norland (17:56).

“I’m so proud of our team,” said Thomas. “After the girls took second, it woke us up. We knew we had to do our part. It’s real competitive in our area. It’s just a great day for our school. It was so cool running with Jonah again. At 2 1/2 miles, we were just talking about how great it was to be running together again. We weren’t really running against each other. We were running with each other.”

Chassell freshman Kalvin Kytta was sixth (18:42.6) and Stout took 15th (19:14.9).

Jeffers placed four among the top five, earning its first D-2 title with 22 points. The Jets were followed by Ironwood 50 and Manistique 62.

This marked the Jets’ first championship since 2009 when they captured the D-3 crown.

“We got some fast boys here today,” said Jeffers coach Sam Kilpela. “We moved up to D-2 and last year we were runners-up. It felt weird jumping up to D-2. The start was real fast, but the guys ran smart. We have a real young team and our middle school crew is strong.”

Jets’ senior Simone Barp took his first title at 18:30.1, followed by freshmen Benton Rajala (18:37.1) and Brit Heinonen (18:40.5), West Iron County senior Landon Sundelius (18:44) and Jeffers junior Tavin Larson (18:50.7).

“I just went out at my regular pace,” said Barp. “I wanted to save some energy for the end.”

Hancock’s leader was senior Jan Baaslrud in seventh (18:58.8).

The Marquette Redmen placed four in the top seven and copped D-1 for the third straight year with 32 points, followed by Sault Ste. Marie 48 and Houghton 75.

Marquette junior Carson Vanderschaaf gained his first title at 16:45.1, followed by Houghton senior Eric Weise (17:04) and Gladstone junior Drew Hughes (17:23.7).

Hughes was undefeated through 11 races this season prior to Saturday.