Houghton’s Roman Peterlin (784) stays ahead of Negaunee’s Marlee Plaxco (935) at around the midpoint the Houghton Invitational at the Tech Trails Monday. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — It finally felt like fall on the Tech Trails Monday as the Houghton High School cross country team hosted their (WestPAC) invitational.

While the temperature was in the 40s and tolerable, less acceptable for the runners was the rain. However, all of the runners fought through the conditions and most of them were happy with their results.

The top girls’ finisher, Lola Korpi of Ishpeming, who came in at 20:36.5, was happy to finally run in fall weather.

“I will take this weather over 80 degrees any day,” she said. “It was super slippery out there, but I am happy with my time.”

While Korpi was the first-place finisher, she was followed by a pack of Gremlins, which led Houghton to top team finishes in both the varsity girls’ and boys’ races. The girls won with a score of 21. Hancock followed at 43, and Ishpeming-Westwood finished third with 72 points.

For the boys, Birk Seagren, of Houghton, came in first with a time of 18:18.6. His teammates all had Top 10 finishes for an impressive team score of 19. Negaunee followed with 53 and the Ishpeming-Westwood squad took third with a score of 74.

The key to success for the Gremlins was a well-tested formula — run as a pack.

“It is something that has gotten us top finishes all season long,” said Gremlins coach Traci Welch. “And both teams did very well with that here today. This is a tough course, and the weather today only made it harder. So, I am very proud of everyone. This is a nice win on our home course.”

Welch added that she was particularly proud of the strong run of junior Roman Peterlin. She placed second on Monday beating out teammate Tessa Rautiola for the first time this season, and setting a personal best at 20:59.8. Her philosophy was simple, suck it up.

“If your legs are hurting, don’t slow down,” stated Peterlin, “and mine were really hurting.”

On the boys’ side Seagren said a strong start was key, and the weather was not an issue.

“Everybody had to run in the same miserable conditions,” he said. “I’m a runner, and this was another opportunity to race. I was pushed by the second- and third-place runners, and that helped. Having competition with you helps you go faster.”

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Negaunee is hosting their WestPAC meet was originally scheduled for Thursday, but was pushed up to Wednesday at 4 p.m.