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.
Marquette Comes Back, Finds Final Gear
February 23, 2015
By James Cook
Special for Second Half
HARBOR SPRINGS – Marquette made up a lot of ground in not a lot of time.
The Redmen, who finished behind Traverse City Central in their Regional two weeks ago, put that in the rear-view mirror by winning the MHSAA Division 1 Finals championship Monday at Boyne Highlands.
"At Regionals, we knew we still had a lot more to give," Marquette's Joe Weber said. "TCC, they're a good team, but we knew we could be a lot better. We just performed."
Central won by 37 points two weeks ago, but the Redmen turned the tables and won by 13 this time.
"Between the two Traverse City teams and us, it's anybody's game," said Marquette coach Marty Paulsen, who won his third team crown in five seasons at the program's helm. "Everybody has to have their 'A' game on that day. I knew our guys had the potential. We just needed to all have four good runs."
Clarkston's Derek Vanitallie won both individual titles, the slalom by a half-second over Bloomfield Hills' J.T. Stewart and the giant slalom by only 0.49 seconds over Central's Lars Hornburg.
"Lars skied excellent; Dirk Phelps and Brendan Wells were excellent," Traverse City Central coach Nick Stanek said. "We're happy with our second place. Marquette always has a (good) ski team up there – and they always will. Maybe next time (for us)."
Even with Vanitallie's efforts, the Wolves were a distant third. Marquette scored 47 points to 60 by TC Central and 114 from Clarkston.
That Regional setback wasn't necessarily a motivating factor, Weber said, but it didn't hurt to avenge it by winning the school's 10th boys championship.
"We were just looking to get to states, that's it," said Weber, a junior who has won an MHSAA team title every year in high school.
Weber took third in slalom and fourth in GS to lead Marquette. His older brother Nick was fourth in slalom and fifth in GS.
Drew Thomas – who along with Joe Weber crashed at Regionals – claimed fourth in GS and eighth in slalom to give the Redmen three top-10 finishers in both disciplines.
"Nick Weber is our sole senior on our 'A' team," Paulsen said. "Nick, as a senior, took on a lot of leadership this year. His brother Joe is a junior and also a very mature racer and took on a lot of leadership this year. Their maturity helped these guys focus as a team and put on the best performance they could."
Marquette's effort allowed them to offset the loss of Nathan King in his second slalom run.
"Nate King had a great first run in slalom," Paulsen said. "Unfortunately, he got hooked up on a gate in the second run. But our fourth seed, Adam Skenzel, he's a sophomore, and he knew he didn't put on his best performance (in) his first run and he came back strong and had a great performance for the team."
Skenzel would place 10th in slalom and 13th in GS as Marquette's last counter in each.
Central's effort was led by Hornburg's second-place slalom runs and a bunched group thereafter.
"I was really happy with that – definitely better in slalom than in GS, but overall I was really happy," Hornburg said.
The Trojans took places 12-15 in giant slalom with Hornburg, Tyler Sepanik, Teague Tompkins and Brendan Wells. In GS, Wells was sixth, Dirk Phelps seventh and Sepanik 13th.
"He's a lot of fun to watch ski slalom," Stanek said of Hornburg. "His first one was the one that looked the fastest, just because the course was a little more open."
Freshmen Max Ranger and Tompkins were in Central's top six. They'll graduate seniors Zak Collins, Phelps and Sepanik.
"We beat them at Regionals, but today was just not our day," Hornburg said. "We didn't put it together quite as well as (in Regionals)."
Hornburg said this season was the quest for Central's 20th state championship. And as a junior, he'll be able to continue that quest next season.
But cold temperatures in single digits and wind chills dipping into the minus-20s couldn't deter Marquette on Monday.
"That's been the goal all season long," Weber said. "Eyes on the prize. Three in a row."
PHOTOS: (Top) Walled Lake Central's Andrew Katz races downhill during Monday's MHSAA Division 1 Finals. (Middle) Marquette poses with its championship trophy. (Click for more photos from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)