Marquette Peaks in D1 Final
February 26, 2013
By John Raffel
Special to Second Half
BOYNE FALLS – Marquette is back as MHSAA Division I Boys Skiing champions after the Upper Peninsula school ended competition Monday with a combined score of 57 points to finish ahead of defending champion Clarkston’s 74 at Boyne Mountain.
The championship was the Redmen’s first since 2009 and eighth since skiing became an MHSAA-sponsored sport in 1975.
Marquette had a score of 34 in the slalom to match 2012 champion Clarkston. But Marquette was superior with a 23 in the giant slalom compared to 40 for Clarkston.
“I was proud of the boys,” said Marquette coach Marty Paulsen, who finished his third season running the program. “We scored well as a team. They all skied as a team and all knew what had to be done.
“It marks a pretty long tradition of skiing excellence and top skiing performances in the state,” he added. “It's great to be a part of that tradition.”
Taylor Janssen of White Lake Lakeland was the giant slalom individual champ while Finley Clark of Traverse City West took first place in the slalom.
Traverse City Central was third among teams at 95 points, Traverse City West fourth at 127 and Lake Orion fifth at 143. Okemos took sixth at 237 followed by South Lyon at 240, Grand Blanc at 271 and Brighton at 279.
Monday’s meet was Marquette’s finest performance this season, Paulsen said.
Luke Johnson, Nick Weber and Matt Anderson paced the Marquette attack in the giant slalom by placing fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. Dylan Larson scored a 14th place for Marquette. In the slalom, Nick Weber was eighth, Joe Weber 10th, Johnson 13th, Larson 15th, Anderson 23rd and Kyle King 36th.
“We had good results in giant slalom at Regionals,” Paulsen said. “All three top teams – Traverse City West, Traverse City Central and Marquette struggled in slalom a little bit. At Regionals, Traverse City West pulled it out. They had a great slalom performance. So today, we were able to put together our giant slalom with our slalom.”
Lakeland’s Janssen was the giant slalom individual champ with runs of 29.77 and 30.39 for a combined championship time of 1:00.16. Derek VanItallie of Clarkston was second at 1:00.49.
Also in the GS, Loan Stetsko of Lakeland was third at 1:00.50 while Johnson, Weber and Anderson had combined times of 1:00.55, 1:00.60 and 1:00.61, respectively.
Seth Thompson of Fenton/Linden was seventh at 1:00.63, Robbie Cort of Birmingham Brother Rice eighth at 1:00.71, Clark, the slalom champ, finished ninth at 1:00.80, and Ryan Callahan of Clarkston 10th at 1:00.88.
Janssen's family has a place in the area and he considers Boyne as his home hill.
“I grew up on this hill so it's kind of nice to win it my senior year,” he said. “I was really happy with my results. It's my senior year and I'm trying to get it done. The results speak for themselves. I had a really good day and I was happy.”
Fifth in the slalom was Janssen's previous best finish at an MHSAA Final.
“I knew I was going to ski well today,” he added. “I took kind of a conservative first run and had not my best run. I kind of got angry after my first run and was in seventh. I went into my second run saying 'it's do or die here. I went in with complete confidence that whatever I do on this run will be my high school legacy. I went after it and it all worked out.”
Clark, a senior at Traverse City West, took first in the slalom with runs of 31.44 and 32.85 for a 1:04.29. John Merchant of Walled Lake Northern was second at 31.65 and 32.67 for 1:04.32, and Ryan Callahan of Clarkston was third in 32.28 and 32.96 for 1:05.34.
“Last year, I was going in and one of my skis popped off, and I was sitting second after the first round, Clark said. “I changed bindings in skis, and I matured a little more so I knew what I was doing a little bit more.”
Also in the slalom, Janssen, the GS champ, was fourth in 1:06.05, followed by Cort at 1:06.58, VanItallie at 1:06.81, Kalvis Hornburg of TC Central at 1:07.49, Nick Weber at 1:07.59, Alex McIntosh at 1:07.79 and Joe Weber at 1:07.86.
PHOTOS: (Top) Marquette celebrates its eighth MHSAA team championship. (Middle) Traverse City Central's Kurt Frick races down the mountain during Monday's competition. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
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.)