ESCANABA — A new girls’ head track coach is on duty at Escanaba High School this season.

Ryan Wender, who coached the Esky boys in the past, made his girls’ coaching debut Saturday in Sault Ste. Marie where the Eskymos placed fourth among 19 schools, although just five points behind the leaders.

“There’s a lot of improvement to be made, but we’re happy with how we started the season,” he said. “We took away a lot of positives from our first meet which gave us something to build on. We were competitive all day. We can’t ask for more than that. That was a good way to start.”

Wender takes over for Dan DeLong, who had coached the team for more than two decades.

The Eskymos, who have 15 on their team including four seniors, resumes in today’s Gladstone Invitational at 3:30 p.m.

“We lost nine seniors from last year,” Wender said. “We had only one freshman last season, but have seven this year which is a good thing. We’re looking forward to our next meet. It’s always good to see the teams in our region and how we stack up with them.”

Junior Ava Stalboeger won the 55-meter hurdles in 9.66 seconds and placed fourth in long jump Saturday.

“I still have a lot of work to do, but left there with a good feeling,” Stalboerger said. “We hope to be up with the leaders this year. I’m really excited to be able to run with these girls. We’re going to work real hard. We feel really good about going over to Gladstone.”

Senior Alicia Mabie, who’s setting the pace in the distances, was runner-up in the 800, 1600 and 3200 and anchored the second-place 1600 relay last weekend.

“Alicia had a solid day and Ava winning the 55 hurdles was special,” Wender said. “We’re a little disappointed they didn’t have the (300) intermediate hurdles. That would have helped us out.”

Additional seniors include Sonya Maki in the 3200 run and relay, Maggie Martin (hurdles, long jump and 1600 relay) and Grace Hamlin (high jump, open 800 and 3200 relay).

Also showing promise are junior Anna Yakovleva (weight events) and sophomore Sophie Hill (high jump and sprint relays).

“This is kind of a rebuilding year, but we’ll get it worked out,” Wender said. “Sophie improved a lot from last year. It’s still too early to tell about other underclassmen. We’re still trying to find spots for them.”

The Eskymos return to Gladstone for Tuesday’s Delta County Invitational. They will host their invitational May 2 and the Division 1 regional two weeks later.

The remaining schedule

April 22 — Delta County Invitational at Gladstone; April 29 — at Menominee.

May 2 — Escanaba Invitational; May 6 — Manistique Invitational; May 16 — Division 1 regional; May 19 — GNC meet at Kingsford; May 31 — U.P. Finals at Kingsford.