Marquette Boys Continue D1 Dominance
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
March 1, 2016
MARQUETTE — It was a great day to be a member of the Marquette ski program Monday, as both team won MHSAA Division 1 championships at Marquette Mountain.
The Marquette boys turned in a dominating performance with 22 points, followed by Traverse City Central with 90 and Bloomfield Hills with 135.
Marquette, which earned its fourth straight championship, grabbed the top four places in slalom and top three spots in giant slalom on a sunny, but chilly and windy day.
“Everybody had to finish together,” Marquette coach Marty Paulsen said. “For the girls, this was probably their strongest performance as a team all year. The boys have been solid all year. Our junior (developmental) programs have coaches who start grooming these kids in elementary school. We also have supportive parents who drive their kids all over for ski tournaments, buy the equipment and pay for coaches, which is a big commitment for them.”
Junior Brad Seaborg captured the boys individual title in slalom in one minute, 11.3 seconds, followed by senior Joe Weber (1:12.49) and teammates Drew Thomas (1:14.16) and Adam Skendzel (1:14.37).
“We’ve been training for this all year and had good preparation for today,” Seaborg said. “We spent the past week training on this hill and have been very focused in practice all year. This was a great meet. The conditions were brutal this morning. The wind was very strong. I made sure I stayed low. In giant slalom, I think I did some of my best skiing all year.
“We had a good day as a team, and Joe had a great day. Joe and I have gone back and forth all year.”
Weber won the giant slalom in 57.54 seconds, followed by Seaborg (58.4) and Thomas (58.8) and Central’s Lars Hornburg (59.51).
“As a team we came out here to execute,” said Weber, who will attend University of Michigan this fall. “We performed the way we knew we could. There was a lot of wind out here today, but you really have to go for it. You can’t hold back. We have a lot of competition in practice, which helps a lot. We’re going at it every day, trying to win. It has been my goal for the last four years to help keep the title in Marquette.”
The Marquette boys have captured 11 MHSAA titles overall. Traverse City Central finished second for the third straight season.
PHOTOS: (Top) Marquette’s Brad Seaborg speeds downhill on the way to winning the slalom championship Monday. (Middle) Teammate Joe Weber cuts past a gate on the way to winning the giant slalom. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Marquette Ski Teams Lead Chase Again
March 16, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
There are communities all over Michigan known for nurturing their athletes from the youngest levels through high school – football towns, basketball towns, volleyball towns, etc.
Marquette is a skiing town, with a decades-old infrastructure that would seem to guarantee no slowing down for the Marquette High boys team that has won six straight Division 1 championships and the girls team that last month clinched its third consecutive title.
Marquette’s boys and girls ski teams are the MHSAA/Applebee’s Teams of the Month for February after continuing those impressive streaks.
In Marquette, skiers who fill the high school teams came up on the local Marquette Mountain Race Team and Great Lakes Ski Academy. And every once in a while there’s an athlete with especially high aspirations who chooses to continue competing solely outside the high school.
But second-year coach Dan Menze – who has coached in both non-school programs and skied for the Redmen through graduation in 2009 – said over the last two seasons every student who ski races has raced with his high school teams.
“The amount of skiing that’s available to these kids to make them better athletes and come to high school as already accomplished skiers – this wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t have the programs that do bring those kids up,” Menze said.
“They teach skiing the right way. When they come to the high school, (athletes) already have a good foundation and good base. It’s just taking them to the next level for me, which I don’t usually have a ton of kids that I have to bring up to that level.”
The boys team won its title Feb. 26 at Boyne Mountain with 56 points, as Traverse City Central came in second for the fifth straight season this time with 80.5. The Redettes scored 48 points to finish ahead of Traverse City West’s 76.
Sophomore Ainsley Kirk and senior Sadah Scheidt took first and second in the girls slalom, and junior teammate Natalie Robinia was sixth. Kirk was then third in the giant slalom, and sophomore Jacey Johnson was seventh.
On the boys side, sophomore Aaron Grzelak, senior Andrew Thomas and freshman Haydn Kauppila took the first three places, respectively, in the slalom. They then finished second, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the giant slalom.
If the feeder programs are the key, Marquette Mountain’s participation is nearly as important. Menze said the hill “bends over backwards” to make it easier for the Redmen and Redettes to get in their training runs – and with the ability to set up courses comparable to any of the terrain the teams might see elsewhere.
Marquette High, the largest school in the Upper Peninsula, dominates in a number of sports throughout the school year. But also making the ski teams’ accomplishments impressive is the competition – skiing and hockey are two sports where Marquette regularly sees and succeeds against teams from both the Upper Peninsula and downstate.
The boys team has won 13 MHSAA Finals titles, dating to its first in 1997. The girls have won 11 going back to 1999.
“There’s not really a lot of other teams at the high school that get to compete with a lot of these teams from downstate,” Menze said. “It is nice to go down there; we’re in our element.
“The last 30 years we’ve been fairly consistent and competitive, and it’s awesome to bring that back to the school.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2017-18
January: Sterling Heights Stevenson competitive cheer - Report
December: Cadillac boys bowling - Report
November: Ottawa Lake Whiteford football - Report
October: Beaverton volleyball - Report
September: Shepherd girls golf - Report
PHOTO: Marquette’s girls and boys ski teams hold up their latest MHSAA championship trophies last month at Boyne Mountain. (Photo by Keith Dunlap.)