Northmen Kings of the Mountain Again
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
February 26, 2013
MARQUETTE — The Petoskey boys were nearly in top form Monday, earning their third straight MHSAA Division 2 ski title at Marquette Mountain with 39 points.
They were followed by Bloomfield Hills Andover with 119 and Houghton-Hancock with 129.
The Northmen placed three among the top six in giant slalom and a trio among the top nine in slalom.
Petoskey junior Gunner Lundteigen became a double winner, taking giant slalom in 59.76 seconds and slalom in 1:19.22.
“We have a deep team this year,” Lundteigen said. “We all have the potential to win a race on any given day. We can also trust each other. If somebody has an off day, we have somebody else who can pick up the slack. It’s been like that all year. We felt there was a little extra pressure on us this time, although we tend to use that to our advantage.
“We’re a close-knit group and we all worked real hard for this. Some of my best friends are on this team. I just tried to ski to my potential and push myself harder each time.”
Lundteigen toured the course in 28.94 during the first run, and followed with a 30.82 in giant slalom. In slalom, he opened at 39.64 and improved to 39.58 in the second run.
Senior teammate Brian Erhart was runner-up in giant slalom (1:00.13), with Gerret Lundteigen sixth (1:01.22) and Ben Loomis 12th (1:02.31).
“This is definitely an exciting time for us,” said Erhart, who plans to attend a college in Colorado this fall. “We felt we had pretty good chance to win it. Although, we didn’t really plan anything. You never know what might happen. I was glad to see my teammate win. We train together all the time. This has been an awesome season. We’re a real strong team.”
Noah Honaker added a sixth in slalom (1:22.45), with Gerret Lundteigen ninth (1:23.61), Trevor Kingsbury 13th (1:26.8) and Erhart 16th (1:27.08) on a partly sunny and mild day.
Petoskey had just 13 points in giant slalom and 26 in slalom. Its top four skiers finished within three seconds of each in giant slalom.
The Northmen were coming off an even more dominant performance in this year’s Regional at Boyne Mountain, where they won by 90 points.
“The boys were one point away from a perfect score in the regional,” said Petoskey coach Travis Hill. “When you have momentum like that, it’s a great thing. And the kids really wanted it. This is good stuff.”
Maple City Glen Lake’s Thomas Waning was runner-up in slalom (1:19.38) and ninth in giant slalom (1:01.77).
Andover’s T.J. Stewart was third in both races. He was clocked at 1:00.23 in giant slalom and 1:20.03 in slalom. The Barons’ stronger event on this day appeared to be giant slalom, where Braden Cleary was 14th (1:02.53) with Ryan Stewart 16th (1:02.55).
Houghton’s Ian Helman was the highest Upper Peninsula finisher, taking 10th in slalom (1:25.08). Teammate Jacob Jarvis was 11th in giant slalom (1:02.16).
The Houghton-Hancock unit was the lone U.P. team to qualify for the Finals. Its next highest finisher was Tony Stein, who was 15th in slalom (1:26.98) and 22nd in giant slalom (1:03.71).
PHOTO: The Petoskey boys ski team poses with its MHSAA championship trophy. (Photo courtesy of Petoskey skiing program.
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.)