TC Central Boys Break Rival's Finals Title Streak, Claim 1st Since 2011
By
James Cook
Special for MHSAA.com
February 26, 2024
HARBOR SPRINGS – The first birthday gift of the day for Jace Rowell was hard to beat.
The Traverse City Central junior had all his Trojans teammates and parents sing "Happy Birthday" as he went to the podium to accept his medal for placing third in the slalom at Monday's Division 1 alpine skiing championships at Boyne Highlands in Harbor Springs.
The medal was the first of several for Rowell and many of his TCC teammates, as the Trojans won the boys program's first Finals championship since 2011.
"It's super big," Rowell said. "We've been working hard at it and been super close the past few years and we finally, finally got it this year. It feels really good."
Rowell's all-state slalom effort helped Traverse City Central win its 20th Finals championship.
"He had a great birthday today," Trojans head coach Amy Kudary said. "What a present for his day. It was icing on the cake."
Kudary became only the fourth woman to lead a boys team to the Division 1 title, and sixth overall in any MHSAA Class/Division.
"It's pretty cool to be a female coach of a boys team and win this," Kudary said. "They give me the same respect they give everybody."
Central's boys were nearly flawless in the morning slalom session, leading three-time reigning champ Traverse City West 18-41. The Titans cut into that deficit in slalom with an 18-point performance of their own, but Central scored 29 to come away with a 47-59 final tally. The remainder of the finals field consisted of Marquette (97), Linden-Lake Fenton (191), Northville (202), Birmingham (210), Milford (235), Clarkston (244) and Detroit Catholic Central (246).
TC West senior Caleb Lewandowski added to his legacy with a GS championship, raising his career total to four individual Finals titles.
"It's pretty cool to do that, but kind of sad the team couldn't do it, too," Lewandowski said.
Lewandowski took a gate too tightly early in his first slalom run, resulting in a bobble that cost him precious time. He made up for it the rest of the run and with a solid second run that put him second overall to Marquette's Sam Dehlin by 1.02 seconds.
He rebounded in GS with the day's two fastest runs to edge out Dehlin by 0.56 of a second.
"It was my last high school race ever," said Lewandowski. "We were hoping to come away with it, but we had fun out there."
West had won the last three boys D1 titles, getting dual titles last year with the girls' first since 2015.
Central's boys were Finals runners-up in seven of the last 10 years.
"We finally ended that drought," Kudary said. "Anything could happen today. It's always been a battle with West all season. All of the team contributed to the effort today. So happy to bring one home this year. The boys have been working on this for awhile."
Sophomore Rocco Elkins helped lead Central's efforts with a fourth-place slalom finish and fifth in GS.
Last year it was really, really close," Elkins said. "It definitely felt good to come from a close loss last year to a pretty good win this year."
Central's slalom group put four in the top 10, with Rowell third, Elkins fourth, Asher Paul fifth and Trevor Suttle seventh.
"The morning was awesome," Kudary said. "The boys just completely dominated in slalom, and we knew we had a good lead going into the afternoon."
Isaac Shapiro (fourth) and Grady Ellis (ninth) joined Lewandowski in the GS top 10 for West, with Didier Ramoie (seventh) and Cooper Gerber (10th) joining Elkins in the GS top 10.
"It feels really good knowing (TC) Central is one of the best teams in Michigan," Elkins said. "The whole Traverse City area just has the best skiers in Michigan."
The remainder of the slalom top 10 consisted of Lake Orion’s Marcel Anders (sixth), Brighton’s John Popov (eighth), Flushing’s Anthony Trovato (ninth) and Kalamazoo United’s Sam Oberlee (10th).
Trovato took third in GS, with Popov sixth and Lake Orion’s Broden Janczarek eighth.
Dehlin earned his fifth and sixth all-state finishes as a junior, winning the slalom with the event’s two fastest runs.
“I thought I skied pretty well,” Dehlin said. “My slalom was good. I think my GS wasn't the best, but was pretty good. I'm happy with it.”
He took second in slalom and third in GS last season, and said slalom is his favorite of the two.
“Slalom is just a lot faster paced, and there's a lot more going on,” Dehlin said. “I just find it more interesting.”
Marquette could return five of its top six skiers next season.
Dehlin said Marquette looks to end Traverse City’s four-year stranglehold on the D1 boys title next year. Marquette had won eight Finals titles in a row before West ended that streak in 2021.
“We're going to try,” Dehlin said. “Next year, we have some promising athletes coming in. I think it's going to be interesting. It's going to be fun.”
PHOTOS (Top) Traverse City Central's Jace Rowell approaches a gate during Monday's Division 1 Finals. (Middle) Traverse City West's Caleb Lewandowski finishes one of his championship runs. (Below) Marquette's Sam Dehlin races the slalom. (Photos by Tori Burley. Click for more; photos will be added throughout this week.)
Marquette Boys Finish D1 Strive for 5
February 27, 2017
By James Cook
Special for Second Half
HARBOR SPRINGS – Bradley Seaborg doesn’t think this is the end of the road for Marquette’s boys skiing championships.
The Redmen graduate four seniors from a team that won Monday’s Division 1 title for the fifth straight year, more than doubling runner-up Traverse City Central.
“I don’t think this is the end at all,” Seaborg said. “We’ve still got Andrew Thomas, who is a very good junior. We’re losing four good guys, but we’re picking up a couple good freshmen next year.”
Seaborg is one of those seniors, but he went out by taking the individual slalom championship.
He and the rest of the team also went out a different way.
In shorts.
The entire Redmen team showed up to the awards ceremony – which was held outdoors at Nub’s Nob in Harbor Springs – in khaki shorts, much to the amusement of the crowd gathered.
Besides, the Redmen had their Upper Peninsula championships canceled because of unseasonably warm weather, so why not celebrate being able to win another crown in mild conditions?
“We were all like, ‘What should we wear for awards?’ and we were thinking khakis,” Seaborg said. “Then it was going to be pretty hot, so why not khaki shorts?”
First-year coach Dan Menze didn’t wear shorts, but wasn’t about to stop his boys from doing what they wanted after winning a school-record fifth straight title.
“You have to be professional throughout the day,” Menze said. “But at the end of the day, if you want to have a little fun and celebrate winning five championships in a row, I feel like they deserve to celebrate.”
The Redmen won four straight from 2000-03, a mark now eclipsed by this group’s streak of five.
“For us to break that and get our fifth is pretty sweet,” said Seaborg, who was involved in three of those titles.
Seaborg is a six-time first-team all-state selection, taking fifth in giant slalom in addition to his slalom championship.
He also won slalom last season and was top five in GS. He was top 10 in both as a freshman before taking off his sophomore season to focus on club skiing.
Menze said he inherited a great program, and added the pressure was on to continue its winning ways.
“I was blessed with an extremely talented team that I walked into coaching,” Menze said. “I’ve coached a lot of these guys coming up.”
Like Seaborg, Menze also isn’t willing to concede that the Redmen’s run could end next season.
“We had a lot of freshmen competing for spots on that A team,” Menze said. “We will have a slight rebuild. You can’t say you’re not going to after you had first and second on one side were seniors and three in the top 10 on the other side. It’ll be an interesting year next year. It’ll be a lot closer than it has been for years.”
Traverse City Central was second, 53 points behind Marquette (35). Rochester (110) was third, followed by Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern (164) and Brighton (187).
“We expected to get second, and we got second,” said Central junior Joe Aulicino, who was seventh in slalom and ninth in GS. “It was kind of exactly what we thought would happen. It’s still pretty cool.”
Seaborg and teammates Eric Gencheff and Andrew Thomas gave the Redmen three of the top four slalom spots. Dylan Robinia was 11th, Adam Skendzel 20th and Truman Durand 21st.
Forest Hills Northern/Eastern’s Ben Meyers was the only non-Marquette skier in the top four of the event, taking third.
Meyers also won the giant slalom championship, holding off runner-up Gencheff on the second run.
PHOTOS: (Top) Marquette's Dylan Robinia comes around a gate during the Division 1 Finals at Nub's Nob. (Middle) Traverse City Central's Joe Aulicino helps the Trojans to a team runner-up finish. (Photos by James Cook.)