Michel Finishes with Story to Tell
June 11, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Andrew Michel received the heart-breaking news only moments before leaving his golf team’s Regional on Friday to get ready for that night’s Brownstown-Woodhaven prom.
But missing making the MHSAA Finals by a stroke was not the first thing he shared with those who asked about his day at West Shore Golf and Country Club in Grosse Ile.
Instead, the graduating senior told of the 132-yard shot he dropped for a hole-in-one on the par-3 12th hole, his second ace but first in competition.
Michel finished with a season-best 76, missing the cut for this weekend’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final by a stroke despite firing another eagle during the final holes of his round.
“At the start of the day, I told myself don’t leave anything on the table. Go for it on every hole, make every shot and just have fun at your last tournament,” Michel said Tuesday afternoon as he readied for that night’s graduation ceremony. “Being a senior, I went for everything.”
The best part might’ve been how he came back from a disappointing previous hole.
Michel had just finished off a triple bogey on No. 11, and admitted he was down on himself. He stepped to the next tee with his pitching wedge, and “I didn’t really care what happened. I chose the club I like to hit on that hole, and in the air I was thinking it was really good,” he said.
The ball touched down on the green and spun back into the hole.
Michel also played golf and soccer at Brownstown-Woodhaven. He’ll attend Grand Valley State University in the fall, study engineering, and will try to walk-on the Lakers’ golf team.
“Deep down inside,” he said he’s disappointed he won’t be playing at Michigan State’s Forest Akers West on Friday. But he’s got a quite a highlight to take with him from his final high school round.
“It was very bittersweet. I really wanted to go to state,” Michel said. “But the hole-in-one balanced it out a bit.”
Eye on the official
Hopefully you caught our MHSAA benchmarks piece (also published on Second Half) on longtime official Lamont Simpson, who has worked not only MHSAA Finals but NCAA tournaments and is one of 32 officials in the WNBA. (Here’s the link in case you missed it.)
He also became that league’s first to wear the referee cam, debuting the new gear during a recent game between the Phoenix Mercury and Indiana Fever.
The camera provides plenty of ref’s-eye views. Click the video below to check it out.
Wheels of Steele
We’ve been watching the inspiring progress of Frankenmuth runner Bobby Steele especially over the last few years as his story became known across the Lower Peninsula.
Steele, who is visually impaired, has run cross country and track for the Eagles, thanks to the help of guides who ran with him to help him stay on course.
If you haven’t heard Steele’s awesome story, check out this 8-minute video. Not only did Steele run, but he cut roughly 12 minutes off his first cross country times over the course of his career.
Petoskey Boys Take Back Top Spot in D2
February 24, 2020
By Andrew Rosenthal
Special for Second Half
HARBOR SPRINGS – Petoskey is back on top of Division 2.
Coach Erik Lundteigen and the Northmen earned their 12th MHSAA Finals title scoring 56 points to win Monday’s Final at Nub’s Nob after finishing second last season to Great North Alpine. Harbor Springs was runner-up this time with a score of 64, and Great North Alpine placed third with a score of 84.5.
Petoskey had won eight straight Division 2 titles before last season's second-place finish.
“It’s great to be back on top,” Lundteigen said. “It's nice being on the home hill. We certainly had an advantage racing on our home turf.”
Harbor Springs was feeling the same way, earning the runner-up trophy seven miles away from its school.
“The boys team especially has been challenged every week,” Harbor Springs coach Jane Ramer said. “They've been working so hard, and it's really great to see all their hard work being paid off.”
Jimmy Flom led the Northmen on Monday with the individual title in the slalom and a sixth-place finish in the giant slalom. Flom raced for a time of 1:15.54 in the slalom with the second-best runs each side of the mountain.
Starting off the day with three Northmen on the podium, Petoskey scored 27 points off the giant slalom. Andrew “Tripp” Thomas took fourth place, joining teammates Anders McCarthy and Flom on the podium.
“We kind of locked it down a little bit,” Flom said. “We walked into slalom with a nice lead. Unfortunately our first seed skier tripped, he had a little bobble which kind of hurt us a little bit, but everyone else just skied calm and controlled.”
Andrew Truman of Harbor Springs took the title in the morning race, later turning around for a second-place finish in the slalom. In the GS race, Truman posted the best times in both runs.
It was Truman’s first Finals title after finishing second in both the slalom and GS in 2019.
“I was really hoping I could win at least one,” Truman said. “When I won it this morning, I was so relieved that I won.”
Flom beat Truman’s time by 22 hundredths of a second in the slalom. Flom, McCarthy and Will Goelz all finished within the top 12 of that event, and the Northmen were again the top boys team with a score of 29.
Truman joined Cole Huffman each with two medals. Huffman placed fifth in GS with a time of 51.60 and seventh in slalom with a time of 1:20.19.
“(Truman) is a great racer, and he is a great athlete,” Ramer said. “He's really focused, he's really dedicated to the sport. He practices like he's racing, he's got a great attitude and he’s a joy to coach.”
GNA’s Cooper Kerkhof was right in the fight for first in both events, taking second in the giant slalom and third in the slalom. Andrew Bliss won a pair of medals as well, taking eighth in slalom and ninth in giant slalom.
PHOTOS: (Top) Petoskey’s Jimmy Flom navigates the hill in leading his team to the Division 2 championship Monday at Nub’s Nob. (Middle) Harbor Springs’ Andrew Truman earned first and second-place finishes. (Click to see more from Sports in Motion.)