Marquette Shines Again in Repeat
February 24, 2014
By Chris Dobrowolski
Special to Second Half
BELLAIRE — The pressure was on.
But Marquette still managed to thrive at the MHSAA Division 1 Boys Skiing Final at Schuss Mountain.
Despite winning the title last year, and even though it recorded a perfect score at the Regional to enter this year's championship meet as the prohibitive favorite, the Redmen didn't have any type of letdown in winning the school's second consecutive skiing crown.
"To win back-to-back, it's really difficult to do," Marquette coach Marty Paulsen said. "There was huge pressure. I preferred being the underdog. Coming in last year we were a little bit of an underdog.
“We were a little under ranked at the beginning of the year. We came down for Petoskey's invitational and showed a little bit of the depth that the boys have. At our Regionals (at Marquette Mountain) we had a little bit of a home hill advantage. They really shined there, and then we come here and the pressure's on. Our boys, it wasn't spotless. We've been getting perfect scores, but they held together in slalom, skied like a team and they won as a team."
The Redmen finished with 49 points, well ahead of second-place Traverse City Central, which had 92.5. Clarkston was third with 134.
Marquette had three in the top 10 in giant slalom and three in the top four of slalom to run away from the field.
Marquette's Luke Johnson was the top slalom finisher with a combined total of 1:00.02, while Nick Weber was brilliant in both disciplines, taking second in giant slalom (47.21) and third in slalom (1:01.89). Bradley Seaborg finished fourth in slalom (1:02.25) and was ninth in giant slalom (48.68), and Dylan Larson took 11th in giant slalom (48.85) and 12th in slalom (1:03.86). Matt Anderson captured a seventh-place finish in giant slalom (48.19) for the defending champs.
"This is a really special group of seniors we have," said Paulsen, who has helped guide Marquette to two titles and a runner-up finish in four years coaching at the school. "You could see their potential when they were freshmen."
Traverse City Central had seen what the Redmen were capable of when it saw them win the Regional title earlier in the month. So finishing second wasn't a disappointment whatsoever for Central boys coach Nick Stanek.
"We were happy to get second," said Stanek. "It was kind of our goal to get second because we knew Marquette had such a strong team. We knew how good their team was, and we just wanted to try and close the gap. Ultimately, we knew second was an option, and Clarkston was our main competition for that so we were able to handle and take down Clarkston.
"(Marquette) is probably one of the best teams, the best group of kids I've seen in the time I've coached. You've got six kids right there, and every one of them could potentially win the state title themselves."
Dirk Phelps topped the Trojans with a sixth-place finish (1:02.96), Tyler Sepanik was eighth (1:03.4), Kurt Frick took 10th (1:03.6) and Zak Collins claimed 16th (1:04.37). Led by giant slalom champion Derek Vanitallie (46.69), Clarkston finished second as a team in giant slalom, but Central was close enough (52.5 points) to make it count in the final overall standings.
"We definitely wanted to win it all, but we were happy getting second because we all skied solid today," said Sepanik, who added a 14th-place finish (49.2) in giant slalom for Central. "It was pretty awesome."
Frick added a fifth-place finish to lead Central in giant slalom (48.1).
"It was a good way to close out my high school career," Frick said. "I did what I could for the team."
Lars Hornburg (15th, 49.22) and Phelps (18th, 49.55) rounded out Central's GS counters.
PHOTO: (Top) Marquette skiers celebrate their latest championship. (Middle) Lake Orion's Justin Pavliscak comes around a gate during one of his runs. (Middle photo courtesy of Schuss Mountain.)
'Ordinary' GNA Achieves Extraordinary Feat
February 25, 2019
By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half
BOYNE FALLS – Coming into this year’s Division 2 Boys Ski Finals at Boyne Mountain, Great North Alpine senior Finn Husband had reasons to be both motivated and reassured based on last year’s results at the championship meet.
Finn felt confident he could win the slalom after doing the same last year, but he also was inspired because a bad turn cost him a chance to win last season’s giant slalom, as he instead finished third in that race.
“I remember that it was my own fault, and I could’ve been a better skier,” Finn said.
Finn certainly couldn’t have been a better skier this time around, as he won both the giant slalom and slalom races Monday.
Even better, Finn’s performance led to some noteworthy news from a team perspective.
For the first time in nine years, a team other than Petoskey won the Division 2 championship.
GNA, comprised of skiers from Elk Rapids, Traverse City St. Francis, Central Lake and Grand Traverse Academy, ended Petoskey’s reign as champion by collecting 48 points, comfortably ahead of Petoskey’s total of 83. Petoskey’s streak of eight straight titles was tied for the longest in MHSAA boys skiing history.
GNA also had defeated Petoskey at their Regional two weeks ago.
“I told them (Sunday night) that they didn’t have to be extraordinary, they just had to be ordinary,” said GNA co-coach Ben Ferris. “You just have to ordinary. Just be you. You already ski fast. That was kind of the message.”
Leading the way was Husband, who won the giant slalom with a time of 1:09.49 and the slalom in 1:02.88.
Conditions at Boyne certainly were a lot different than last year, when it was nearly 40 degrees and slushy.
Following a blizzard and windstorm Sunday night, the course was firm throughout.
“What we had when it rained and then froze up again made it a really nice base here,” Husband said. “Last year, it was starting to get slushy and made it (sink) the course. We had a good base where we can push off of that.”
Andrew Truman of Harbor Springs finished second in both events, finishing with a time of 1:10.50 in the giant slalom and 1:03.89 in the slalom.
Tripp Thomas of Petoskey was fourth in both events, earning a time of 1:11.43 in the giant slalom and 1:04.60 in the slalom, and Will Blackmer of Rochester Hills Stoney Creek had two fifth-place finishes, with a time of 1:11.64 in the giant slalom and 1:05.59 in the slalom.
The only deviation in the top-5 between the events was that Alex Netzley of Cadillac finished third in the giant slalom in a time of 1:10.63, while Colin Dehart of Rochester Adams took third in the slalom in 1:04.52.
Ultimately though, every other team bowed to GNA, which ended Petoskey’s quest to take over the championship streak record alone.
“They are awesome guys, and I love them all,” Husband said of Petoskey. “But I think we really deserved it. I think we came out and showed them what we had. It was a team effort to really take it.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Great North Alpine's Finn Husband skis the slalom course on the way to winning both event titles Monday. (Middle) Tripp Thomas, here in the slalom, led Petoskey to the runner-up team finish. (Photos by James Cook. For more from Monday's Finals, see Sports in Motion.)