Benzie Central may rule the Northwest Conference in cross country this year, but Suttons Bay's boys' team Tuesday proved it's a legitimate threat for second place.

Competing in both a Northwest and Greater Northwest Conference Jamboree at Lake City, the Norsemen boys surged past their chief adversary, Kingsley, and finished second to Benzie, which won both the boys’ and girls’ meets.

Sophomore Ben Wynsma finished second overall, and first in the Northwest, and classmate Sawyer Lawler passed four Kingsley runners in the final 600 yards to help the Norsemen earn runner-up status. Kingsley was third.

“We’re all very excited. The guys worked hard, and it was nice to finally accomplish something,” said Norsemen coach Mark Smith. “Sawyer’s performance was outstanding. He knew who we were going after (Kingsley), because we’ve been talking about them all week. He stepped up and saved the day.”

Kingsley beat Suttons Bay for second place at the Jamboree earlier this year, and the two teams will square off one more time at the Buckley Jamboree on Oct. 9 to determine who finishes as league runner-up behind Benzie.

Wynsma, meanwhile, became the conference champion even before the season concludes. By virtue of being the top Northwest runner in the first two Jamborees, he’s already sewed up the league crown. Wynsma ran a personal-best 16:58 to pace the Norse attack. He was followed by Juan Reyes (18th in 18:38), Mark Jasinski (23rd in 18:55), Chase Palmer (24th in 18:57), Lawler (31st in 19:24), Tom Pritz (43rd in 19:58), and Travis Smith (49th in 20:26). Other Norse finishers included Marco Brambini (21:46), Nathan Blue (22:41) and Nick Collins (24:56).

Glen Lake’s boys finished 11th in the Greater Northwest, with senior captain Mike Keim and John Lee the top finishers for the Lakers. The third through sixth finishers for Glen Lake – Tony Weinke, Mike Grumley, Danny Kornelis and Brian Hoedeman – all had personal records.

Kienan Sutton of St. Mary shaved 45 seconds from his time at the Lake City course Saturday to finish 60th in 21:15. Other top-5 runners for St. Mary included Eric Smith (21:23), Layton Korson (69th in 22:31), Aaron Helwig (71st in 22:53), and Christiaan Krombeen (74th in 22:59).

Amber Therrien of Glen Lake again led the Lakers with a fifth place finish overall while knocking 10 seconds off her previous-best effort as the girls’ squad finished fifth out of 15 teams, while St. Mary was just behind in sixth. Nadine Gilmer, the Lakers’ second finisher, sliced 35 seconds from her time on the same course Saturday. The next three Lakers across the line were Cody Yeager, Alicia Glazier, Maura Niemisto, with all establishing lifetime bests. Abbie Clark was the Lakers’ seventh-place finisher.

Alyssa Korson finished 28th in 22:25 to lead the Eagles to sixth place. She was followed by Allison Korson (29th in 22:37), Laura Keller (41st in 23:49), Brianna Korson (42nd in 23:50 in her return from an angle injury), Kayla Kermode (43rd in 23:53), and Alissa Boone (59th in 26:44, a personal best).

“Overall, I felt we did well. We’re coming together as a team,” said St. Mary coach Karen Kirt. “The kids are starting to learn this a sport, it’s not just running a race, and they won’t be successful unless they train hard.”

Suttons Bay fielded a full time for the first time this year and finished eighth overall. Elizabeth Adams ran a 23:21 and was 35th overall for the Norse, and was followed by Cassandra Buffum (38th in 23:24), Lizzy Freed (44th in 24:03), Chelsea Moyer (45th in 24:07) and Rachel Farrell (56th in 26:01).