RIPLEY — The Houghton Gremlins ski teams opened their season Thursday with the Houghton Invitational. Both the boys and the girls got a good look at the Marquette Sentinels, with the boys finishing second at Mont Ripley.

“The Marquette boys and girls teams will be hard to beat,” said Gremlins coach Larry Heathman. “They are very deep with good skiers. If they don’t win state titles, I’ll be surprised.”

In the boys slalom, the Sentinels took the top four spots before Houghton’s Jack Haessler earned the fifth spot with a combined time of 1:13.85.

Logan Niemi and Brady Rubin finished eighth and ninth with combined times of 1:19.37 and 1:20.37, respectively.

Indrek Seigel finished fourth for Houghton and 15th overall.

In the boys’ giant slalom, Houghton’s Eli Heathman made his first run in 35.70, which was the fourth-best time overall. His second run was even more impressive at 34.81 as he was the only skier to finish the course in less than 35 seconds. His combined time of 1:10.51 was impressive.

Marquette’s Sam Dehlin finished second with a combined time of 1:11.14, finished second.

“The boys’ field is held up by Marquette’s Sam Dehlin and Houghton’s Eli Heathman,” said Larry. “They go back and forth with each run and each race. Fun to watch last year’s D1 and D2 state champions in the giant slalom fight for the wins.”

The Sentinels skiers took the next four best times.

Haessler finished ninth with a combined time of 1:18.24. Niemi and Rubin finished 10th and 11th.

On the girls’ side, the Sentinels had four racers finish in the top seven spots of the slalom.

Houghton’s Rachel Sun was the top local racer with a combined time of 1:29.78.

Lily Martineau, Reagan Aho and Martyna Szatkowska finished 13th, 14th and 20th, respectively.

In the giant slalom, the Sentinels finished 1, 2, and 3, before Sun’s second run of 40.84 was enough to push her into fourth. She finished her first run in 39.61, making her combined time 1:20.45.

Martineau, Aho, and Lezley Heldt finished 13th, 16th, and 21st, for the Gremlins, who took third as team in the event.