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Jackson would have liked the performance the Cros-Lex girls' team turned on Thursday in the meet named in his honor.

The Lady Pioneers upended a strong Port Huron team to claim the title in the Mike Jackson Memorial Invitational. And, they did it with the "pack attack". Cros-Lex, with its first seven runners finishing among the top 18, totaled 45 points, edging the Big Reds, who had 52. Brown City finished fifth with 123.

Sophomore Leah O'Connor and junior Erika Lerma were the first finishers for the Lady Pioneers. O'Connor (a standout on the track team last spring) was third overall in her first-ever cross country event with a time of 21:21 and Lerma was close behind in sixth with a clocking of 22:08. Then came the C-L pack. The next four runners finished from 11th to 15th, just 12 seconds apart. They were Michaela Maze (11th, 23:"26), Joz Worden (12th, 23:29), Amanda Kalso (13th, 23:32) and Julia McEntee (15th, 23:38).

"That pack, the 4th to 7th runners or whatever it was, there was just a few seconds between them. It was a great team effort," said Cros-Lex coach Lisa Shaw. "With a great team like Port Huron, it's hard to beat them. And, it's the first race of the season. "(The girls) did a wonderful job."

Lauren Martinelli was 18th for C-L and also earned a medal

Brown City was led by Katherine Kreiner and Katie Takacs, medal winners for placing 19th and 20th.

Pioneer boys 2nd

In the boys event Thursday, the host Pioneers were runners-up, scoring 55 points. Port Huron claimed first with 38. Brown City was fourth out of six schools with 89.

C-L had three strong front-runners with Josh Matthews (3rd, 18:52), Adam Martinelli (4rh, 18:56), and Taylor Kasper (6th, 19:04). Ethan Campbell collected a medal in 20th place.

Brown City had three medal winners in Andrew Tidrick (10th, 19:40), Matt Proctor (12th, 19:48), and Jesse Williams (16th, 21:24).

Both Cros-Lex teams will face a larger field of competition this Thursday at the Port Huron Invitational.