HOUGHTON — Area cross country runners were provided with an opportunity to try something new here Thursday.

The Bill Fezzey Memorial Invitational strayed from tradition, offering a match-race format, formerly known as fox and hounds.

Houghton’s girls grabbed the top five places and posted a perfect score of 15 points. They were followed by L’Anse 49 and Calumet 74.

“We decided to make it different this year,” Houghton coach Traci Welch said. “Our kids were really upset about it at first. Although the kids were apprehensive, I think this brought out the best in them. Some of them ran significantly better times. This was the first perfect score ever for our girls. I was a little worried about the boys because we knew (Painesdale) Jeffers was going to be tough, although I’m super happy wit

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