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.)
Meyers Races to Bring Home Elusive Title
January 26, 2017
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
GRAND RAPIDS – Ben Meyers still remembers when he raced competitively for the first time on the ski slopes.
The Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern senior standout was 7 years old at the time and competed in a small local race one afternoon at Cannonsburg Ski Area.
And how did he end up?
“I took second,” Meyers recalled. “That might have started my competitive drive. I participated in it and thought it was a lot of fun. Since then I’ve grown to absolutely love the sport.”
Meyers’ competitive nature and immense dedication has helped him emerge as one of the top skiers in the state.
A three-time MHSAA Finals qualifier, Meyers is attempting to accomplish a feat next month that hasn’t been done in almost 20 years.
A skier from Grand Rapids hasn’t won a Division 1 individual title since 1998, when Forest Hills Central’s Eric VanTongeren won the giant slalom with a two-run total of 54.42 seconds.
Meyers has made steady progress in his run to end the drought. As a sophomore he placed fifth, and last season he finished runner-up to Marquette’s Joe Weber.
“I always set my goals pretty high, and my goal was to get the individual state title last year,” Meyers said. “I’ve been racing against those top guys since I was little, and knowing them and my abilities, my goal was to be a state champion. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out.”
Meyers has one more shot at making his goal a reality.
The Forest Hills Northern-Eastern combined team will compete in Regionals on Feb. 13 at Schuss Mountain. The MHSAA Finals are slated for Feb. 27 at Nubs Nob.
While Meyers is looking forward to another opportunity to bring home a Finals championship, he’s more concerned with the team’s potential bid.
“First, we have to get through Regionals with our boys team, and we didn’t lose anyone from last year,” Meyers said. “So it’s trying to get the team to state, and then the focus would shift toward getting that state championship. Right now it’s about getting the team to state and getting some good finishes.”
A Forest Hills Northern/Eastern squad has never made it to the Finals, according to coach Chris Glasco, and she said Meyers’ team-first approach to this season has been refreshing.
“As much as he wants to be a state champ, I think it would be more important to him for his entire team to make it to state,” she said. “I truly believe that, and he has changed. I think when he first started it was about Ben and his goals, but he has realized that it’s more important to be a part of something bigger than yourself and that’s the teammates around you.
“Ben has the talent to make it to state by himself, but he wants nothing more than to have his whole team there with him.”
Meyers’ team mentality was prevalent as the goalkeeper on the school’s soccer team that advanced to the Regional Finals last fall.
“I think the similarities with soccer and skiing is having a solid team behind you,” Meyers said. “People think skiing is an individual sport, but it’s greatly a team sport. You cannot succeed just by yourself.”
Glasco said Meyers’ drive to improve sets him apart. He intently watches film and other skiers, looking for any edge he can get in order to succeed.
“He wants to be the master of his sport, and at his level, hundredths (of a second) count and it’s hard to cut them,” she said. “He knows he has to become a technical specialist to make that happen. He watched everything, his high school competitors, the Olympics and the World Cup. Just figuring out what works for them and how he can apply it to his own skiing.
“If there is anything he can do to cut a hundredth here, or a hundredth there, he does it. He works on it until he has it perfected.”
Meyers didn’t rest on his laurels from last season and had a productive summer while fine-tuning certain aspects he lacked.
Increased strength was a major factor.
“I worked on strength deficiencies that I had identified so I was able to get stronger,” Meyers said. “At the beginning of the season I felt like I picked up where I left off last year. I don’t think I’ve lost anything, and I think I’ve improved.”
Meyers, who hopes to ski in college and study pre-med, points to his intangibles as motivation.
“I think my determination is my biggest strength,” he said. “Coming up through the ranks I was struggling to do well and never seemed to find the speed. It wasn’t until a few years ago when everything started to click and I was getting strong enough to finish well. That’s been a defining factor through the years.”
The recent lack of snow locally has hindered Meyers’ training; however, the team has made several trips up north where snow is more abundant.
The coaching staff has gotten creative with indoor training techniques and video sessions.
“We are behind a little bit, especially with the up north schools that are getting to be on snow, but I feel we’ve done everything possible to prepare ourselves,” Meyers said. “We’ve adapted well to the changes, and I’m looking forward to next month.”
Dean Holzwarth covered primarily high school sports for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years and more recently served as sports editor of the Ionia Sentinel and as a sports photojournalist for WZZM. Contact him at[email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern’s Ben Meyers speeds through the giant slalom on the way to finishing second in that race at last season’s Division 1 Final. (Middle) Meyers clears a gate during a run at Marquette Mountain. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)