East Grand Rapids Finishes 1st Boys Ski Championship Climb since 1999
By
Brian Freiberger
Special for MHSAA.com
February 24, 2025
HARBOR SPRINGS – East Grand Rapids ended a 25-year championship wait in boys skiing Monday, claiming the Division 2 title at Boyne Highlands in one of the closest finishes in MHSAA Finals history – and ending one of the sport’s most impressive winning streaks in the process.
The Pioneers most recently had won Finals championships in 1999 and 1997. They earned this one thanks to a fifth-skier tie-breaker with Petoskey, which had won the last five Division 2 titles.
"We just came out with no expectations on the boy's side and just said, ‘Let's ski like it's practice,’ and we had a good day," East Grand Rapids coach KC McGovern said.
"When you’ve got six athletes finishing all the runs, it's a lot easier to win these championships. Petoskey is such a good team, stacked top to bottom, and for us to beat those guys, it's really something else. They're in a class of their own. It's lucky if one of us can get one championship off those guys every 20 years. We really lucked out this time."
Emotions were high at the Day Lodge, especially for McGovern, who's led the program the last 25 seasons. Assistant coach Aiden Anderson was also pivotal from a coaching perspective.
East Grand Rapids and Petoskey both scored 94 points. Great North Alpine finished third with 108, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep placed fourth, Orchard Lake St. Mary's fifth, Houghton sixth, Grand Rapids Christian seventh, Bloomfield Hills eighth and Grand Rapids West Catholic ninth to round out the team competition.
Senior Quinn Irwin led the Pioneers with a winning two-run combined time of 1:06 in giant slalom.
"I'm pretty happy with finishing my career on a strong note," Irwin said. "No one thought we were going to come in here and be a big name, but I think we came in here and showed that we're a good team and that we can play around with the big schools. ... We're happy that we came out here and left it all out on the slopes," Irwin said.
Irwin finished fifth in slalom, followed by teammate Matthew Koster in 14th. Eric Gurek was 26th, Sam Souter was 28th, Asher Sage was 32nd, and Graham Schiefler was 44th.
Koster finished 20th in GS, Sage finished 22nd, Souter in 36th and Whittacker Norton finished 63rd.
"It's a crazy feeling to think that I fell down on my second run of GS, and even me getting back up and finishing the race was what put us over the edge is just a surreal feeling. … I've never hoisted a trophy like this," Norton said.
Bright spots for Petoskey included sophomore Elijah Dettmer, who finished second in slalom. Petoskey senior Gavin Galbraith, the 2024 Finals champion in the race, finished seventh this time, followed by Taylor Keiswetter in eighth.
Dettmer finished second in giant slalom as well (1:16.15), and Gavin Galbraith placed seventh.
"It was a tough way to end the season, definitely one of the closest races that I've ever seen, and unfortunately, we came down on the wrong side of it. But congratulations, East Grand Rapids. Well done and great skiing today," Petoskey coach Ben Crockett said.
Crockett hopes the team takes away that "nothing is assured when it comes to sports, and that's what makes it beautiful and what makes it fun to be a part of," he said. "Runner-up is also a big honor, though we are disappointed we couldn't take that top position this year. Certainly, it's an honor to participate in the state meet, and coming up second is absolutely excellent."
Gaylord senior Keaton Abraham finished first in slalom. He recalled leading after the first run last year but having one mistake cost him the championship.
Not this time around.
"I had a rough morning, and then this afternoon, I was in fourth after the first run in slalom, and I said, ‘I don't really want to be fourth. I'm gonna go for it,’" Abraham said. "I've raced my whole life, so finishing it this way feels really good."
Click for full results. Click to watch NFHS Network broadcasts: Slalom | Giant Slalom
PHOTOS (Top) The East Grand Rapids boys ski team hoists its trophy after winning the Division 2 title Monday at Boyne Highlands. (Middle) Petoskey’s Elijah Dettmer races to a runner-up finish in slalom. (Below) Gaylord’s Keaton Abraham clears a gate on the way to finishing first in slalom. (Click for more photos by Sarah Shepherd - more will be added throughout this week.)
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MHSAA Winter Sports Start with Extended Basketball Schedules, New Wrestling Weights
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 13, 2022
The addition of two games to basketball regular-season schedules and a new series of wrestling weight classes are likely the most noticeable Winter 2022-23 changes as an estimated 65,000 athletes statewide take part in 13 sports for which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors postseason tournaments.
Girls gymnastics and boys ice hockey teams were able to begin practice Oct. 31, with the rest of those sports beginning in November – including also girls and boys basketball, girls and boys bowling, girls competitive cheer, girls and boys skiing, Upper Peninsula girls and boys and Lower Peninsula boys swimming & diving, and girls and boys wrestling.
A variety of changes are in effect for winter sports this season, including a several that will be noteworthy and noticeable to teams and spectators alike.
Basketball remains the most-participated winter sport for MHSAA member schools with 33,000 athletes taking part last season, and for the first time, basketball teams may play up to 22 regular-season games. This increase from the previous 20-game schedule allows more games for teams at every high school level – varsity, junior varsity and freshman.
Another significant change has been made in wrestling, as the majority of boys wrestling weight classes have been adjusted for this season in anticipation of a national change coming in 2023-24. The updated boys weight classes are 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 144, 150, 157, 165, 175, 190, 215 and 285 pounds. Only 215 and 285 remain from the previous lineup. There is also one change to girls weight classes, with the 255 class replaced by 235 to also align with national high school standards.
A series of notable changes will affect how competition takes place at the MHSAA Tournament levels. In hockey, in addition to a new classification process that spread cooperative and single-school programs evenly throughout the three playoff divisions, the MHSAA Tournament will employ two changes. The Michigan Power Ratings (MPR) will be used to seed the entire Regional round, not just the top two teams, and prior to the start of Semifinals, a seeding committee will reseed the remaining four teams in each division with the top seed in each then facing the No. 4 seed, and the No. 2 seed facing No. 3.
Bowling also will see an MHSAA Tournament change, as the Team Regional format will mirror the long-standing Team Final with teams playing eight Baker games and two regular games at both levels. And as also applied during the fall girls season, there is a new qualification process for divers seeking to advance to Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Finals. In each of the three divisions, each Regional will be guaranteed 10 qualifiers for the Finals, with six more “floating” qualifier entries to be distributed to the Regionals that have one of the previous year’s top six returning Finals divers in their fields. If a team changes division from the previous season, any floating top-six spots are added to the six already allowed in the school’s new division.
A gymnastics rules change provides an opportunity for additional scoring during the floor exercise. A dance passage requirement was added in place of the former dance series requirement to encourage creativity and a more artistic use of dance. The dance passage requires gymnasts to include two Group 1 elements – one a leap with legs in cross or side split position, the other a superior element.
In competitive cheer, the penalty for going over the time limit in each round was adjusted to one penalty point for every second over the time limit, not to exceed 15 points. The new time limit rule is more lenient than the past penalty, which subtracted points based on ranges of time over the limit.
The 2022-23 Winter campaign culminates with postseason tournaments, as the championship schedule begins with the Upper Peninsula Girls & Boys Swimming & Diving Finals on Feb. 18 and wraps up with the Boys Basketball Finals on March 25. Here is a complete list of winter tournament dates:
Boys Basketball
Districts – March 6, 8, 10
Regionals – March 13, 15
Quarterfinals – March 21
Semifinals – March 23-24
Finals – March 25
Girls Basketball
Districts – Feb. 27, March 1, 3
Regionals – March 7, 9
Quarterfinals – March 14
Semifinals – March 16-17
Finals – March 18
Bowling
Regionals – Feb. 24-25
Finals – March 3-4
Competitive Cheer
District – Feb. 17-18
Regionals – Feb. 25
Finals – March 2-3
Gymnastics
Regionals – March 4
Finals – March 10-11
Ice Hockey
Regionals – Feb. 20-March 1
Quarterfinals – March 4
Semifinals – March 9-10
Finals – March 11
Skiing
Regionals – Feb. 13-17
Finals – Feb. 27
Swimming & Diving
Upper Peninsula Girls/Boys Finals – Feb. 18
Lower Peninsula Boys Diving Regionals – March 2
Lower Peninsula Boys Finals – March 10-11
Wrestling – Team
Districts – Feb. 8-9
Regionals – Feb. 15
Finals – Feb. 24-25
Wrestling – Individual
Districts – Feb. 11
Regionals – Feb. 18
Finals – March 3-4
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.3 million spectators each year.