St Francis, Benzie Built to Contend Again
September 15, 2017
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
TRAVERSE CITY – “Begin with the end in mind.”
Those words were at the heart of Julie Duffing’s preseason message to her Traverse City St. Francis cross country teams last month.
“It’s something we always talk about,” Duffing said. “We’re not really concerned about what’s going on right now. These meets give us an idea, but it’s the end of October and early November that we’re concerned about. We say, ‘Keep the end in mind. Where do we want to end November 4th?’”
The girls ended right where they wanted last November, successfully defending their MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 title. They did it by turning a one-point loss to Lansing Catholic at the Portage Invitational into an 11-point win over the Cougars a month later at the Finals meet.
“They knew what had to be done,” Duffing said.
Well, the challenge might be even greater this fall, even though Lansing Catholic moved up to Division 2.
“They left, but now we have Hart,” Duffing said.
Hart, which finished seventh a year ago, stamped itself as the team to beat with a dominating performance at the season-opening Benzie Invitational. The Pirates won the large school division, topping Division 1 Traverse City Central by five points, 73-78. Benzie Central, which was third in Division 3 a year ago, was sixth with 165 and St. Francis seventh with 170.
To no surprise, Hart, led by individual Division 3 Final champion Adelyn Ackley, is ranked No. 1 in the first coaches poll. St. Francis and Benzie Central are tied at No. 2.
“They’re stacked,” Benzie Central coach Asa Kelly said of Hart. “As long as they stay healthy, they’ll be very tough to beat.
“But,“ he cautioned, “you can never tell. I think last year Hart was ranked fourth coming in (last year) and finished seventh.”
One month into the season, Hart has three runners with times among the top seven in Division 3. All are Ackleys (Adelyn at 16:54.5, Savannah at 18:43.6 and Alayna at 18:51.4). Benzie has two in the top 11 (Lucy Karpukhno at 18:51.1 and Sierra Pallin at 19:08.9). St. Francis has one in the top 10 (Joyana Tarsa at 19:08).
Kelly and Duffing, however, are of the same belief. They can’t worry about Hart. All they can control is how much their respective teams improve.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Duffing said. “We are coming along slowly, which is OK. We did last year, too. Our girls tend to come together for the bigger meets at the end of the season.”
The Gladiators, who run at Michigan State in the Spartan Invitational today, return five of their top six finishers from last year’s MHSAA Finals meet. Tarsa’s been the lead runner. She won the Buckley Invitational last Saturday with a time that was 42 seconds faster than a year ago on that course.
“Definitely a good thing,” said the 16-year-old senior, who finished eighth in LP Division 3 last year.
Katelyn Duffing gives the Gladiators a potent one-two punch when healthy. Her times have been slower than last year when she placed 11th at the Final. But the 16-year-old junior is also coming off mononucleosis.
“I feel 100 percent,” she said. “I feel a lot stronger. Maybe not quite (as strong) as in the past, but I’m working towards it. I still have time to improve.”
“If she comes back to form,” Kelly said, “they’re a whole different team.”
One runner who is making strides is junior Christine Scerbak, the No. 3 runner. She improved by 23 seconds at Benzie.
“She’s coming on,” Katelyn Duffing said. “She’s working hard and really pushing herself. She wants it. You can tell.”
“And that’s good because we need her up there,” Tarsa added.
Sophomore Libby Gorman, who was 35th at last year’s Finals meet, improved her times significantly at Benzie and Buckley, too.
Lauren Bramer, Nicole Polemitis, Madelyn Taylor, Abby Chittle, Athena Gillespie and Rori Richardson are battling for top seven positions.
After winning MHSAA titles the last two years, the Gladiators are not lowering their expectations.
Three-peating is their goal.
“We definitely have high goals,” Tarsa said. “We want to make it back and do really well. But we need to stay healthy. That’s one of my main worries.”
Julie Duffing is not thinking that far ahead yet.
“I go into every season hoping we do our best,” she said. “I’m not one to say we’re going to win it. That’s not how I coach. I go into it with the forethought that we have to work hard every day to get better.
“The girls set their goals at the beginning of the season and they said they would like to repeat. We (coaches) didn’t say anything about it. They know what they want to do, and we’re going to guide them.
“Hart is tough and you can’t count Benzie out. They’re tough, too. We’ll have to get tougher as the season goes on. But we’ll be ready.”
Kelly expects Benzie to be ready, too. The Huskies are led by two all-staters in Karpukhno and Pallin, who were 20th and 24th at last year’s Finals. Paige Johnston and Mary Claire Smeltzer are back and give Benzie a solid top four. Kelly’s mission was to find a No. 5.
And senior Hadley O’Connor, a first-year runner, is emerging as that candidate. She was fourth overall in the first Northwest Conference jamboree.
“She played volleyball three years and is a sprinter on the track team,” Kelly said. “She came to a summer running event, and four miles in she was still running with the top girls.
“I said, ‘Do you even know what you’re doing right now?’ She said, ‘I’m just running.’ I said, ‘You’re running with all-state girls, and you’re keeping up with them.’
“I thought she still was going to play volleyball, but the night before she called and said she was going to run cross. For her to show up was great news for us.”
Kelly, who coaches with his wife Tracie, said this could be one of Benzie’s best teams.
“Theoretically, it could be one of our top two or three fastest teams in school history, and we’ll probably be a longshot to win it,” he said. “Hart is that stacked.
“But we don’t talk about, ‘we’ve got to beat Hart, we’ve got to beat Hart.’ Right now we talk about how we can improve this team, how we can get our top five to where we want them and how we can get our 6-7-8-9-10 right on their heels. Those are the things we can control.”
Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Benzie Central’s Sierra Pallin (7) and Lucy Karpukhno, (6) and Traverse City St. Francis’ Katelyn Duffing (222) all are back pacing top-ranked teams this season after running against each other at last year’s Regional. (Middle) St. Francis’ Joyana Tarsa, left, has been the fastest on her team this fall. (Below) Karpukhno’s best time also ranks among the top 10 in LP Division 3 this season. (Photos courtesy of the Traverse City St. Francis and Benzie Central girls cross country programs.)
St. Francis Sophomore Building Up to Possible Multi-Sport Championship Story
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
October 7, 2022
Although there are plenty of races run on golf courses across the state, it is unlikely anyone would win both high school golf and cross country events on the same golf course.
The odds aren’t very good either that an athlete will capture an MHSAA Finals championship in both sports.
The chances must be even slimmer still for that athlete’s teams to sweep both titles in the same season.
Meet Grace Slocum, a golf and cross country standout at Traverse City St. Francis High School. Don’t bet against her work ethic and talent. Her coaches say both are second to none.
The odds of her capturing golf and cross country first place on the same golf course, winning an individual state championship in both golf and cross country in the same season and helping – if not leading – the Gladiators to team state titles in the same season cannot be calculated.
There might not be a need to do any speculating. Her coaches and teammates can’t wait to see what she accomplishes yet this season and throughout her career. Slocum is only a sophomore.
Her school is undergoing some re-modeling right now. A bigger trophy case perhaps should be under consideration.
She’s been accumulating hardware at golf events away from her high school team for some time. Now, she’s winning high school championships. This week, she won a golf Regional title and led her team to a second-place finish qualifying the Glads for the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final to be played Oct. 14-15 at Grand Valley State University. St. Francis shot a 400 to trail only champion Harbor Springs – one of the strongest golf programs in the state – which finished with a 383.
Slocum finished ninth at the Finals last year as a freshman, and the Glads wound up 13th. Craig Ardery, who is in his 20th season as the St. Francis girls golf coach, is hoping his team cracks the top 10 this time.
When the Golf Finals are over, veteran St. Francis cross country coach Julie Duffing will have Slocum dedicated to running – and the Glads have their eyes on a team championship again after winning LPD3 titles in 2015 and 2016. They were third last year and have ridden consecutive conference and Regional successes to the Finals every year since 2015 – the year Duffing became head coach.
That was also the year her daughter, Katelyn, was a freshman on the Glads team. Julie Duffing's role didn’t change a whole lot with the new title. Prior to joining St. Francis as an assistant track coach in 2013, she had coached at Kingsley for 17 years. The Stags regularly finished among the top 10 in boys and girls cross country during her tenure.
The last year the Glads girls did not qualify as a team for the Finals was 2014 – also the year Holly Bullough won the first of her two individual Finals championships.
Today, the Glads are still feeling some sting from missing out on second place last year by just a few points to Kent City.
“The plan was to come back with a vengeance this year,“ said Duffing, who enjoyed a prep running career herself at Tawas and competed in track & field and cross country at Saginaw Valley State University. “Last year being third, and only two points separated second and third, was a little bitter.”
Slocum’ s twin brother, Josh, also plays golf for the Glads and runs cross country. He’s recovering from a summer injury but ran a personal record last week in his first race of the season. He was the top finisher too for the team ranked second in LPD3.
The St. Francis girls, ranked number one in LPD3, will soon have Slocum dedicated to cross country. She’ll be with the Glads for their last three scheduled meets including the Regional in East Jordan and the Final on Nov. 5 at Michigan International Speedway.
Hart won the LPD3 girls championship last year and is currently ranked fourth. The Glads have run against the Pirates twice this season, winning one of the matchups.
Last year as a freshman, Slocum missed several cross country races but finished 29th at the Final. Sophia Rhein, despite running injured, finished 31st. Betsy Skendzel, 10th, was the Glads’ top finisher. Reilly Duffing was 52nd, Mary Masserant was 62nd and Maddie Gallagher was 84th.
Rhein is the only senior this year among the six returnees. Add stellar freshman Paige Ritchie, and the Glads are ready to contend. Other members of the team looking to compete are senior Cora Garrey, junior Margot Haggerty, sophomores Katie Harrand and Maya Padisak, and freshmen Lucy Noggle, Olivia Padisak and Sarah Trojanowski.
“We did beat Hart at Benzie, and everybody was super excited about that,” Duffing noted. “And then we lost to them this last weekend.
“We didn’t have Grace this last weekend,” she continued. “We just didn’t have a great weekend.”
The loss to Hart can only help the Glads as they prepare for the postseason.
“I told the girls it’s OK. … Let’s have our bad races now,” Duffing said. “Let’s get them out now, and then we don’t have to worry about having another one.”
Slocum, whose favorite sport is golf, considered focusing exclusively on golf this fall. The pressures of two sports at one time with homework demands and school absences were weighing on her as the fall season began.
Duffing was prepared as the possibility was contemplated, having known Slocum for some time through her daughter’s close friendship and all the years they played hockey together. At the top of Duffing’s mind was – and is – Slocum’s happiness.
Duffing came up with a convenient plan for Slocum to follow and participate in cross country. The running Glads were thrilled with it. As a smaller school, the coach knew the importance of flexibility for student-athletes.
“I just looked at her and said, ‘You have a spot on the team no matter what,’” Duffing said. “‘You come when you can – we’ll work with you.’
“‘You don’t golf on Saturdays,’” Duffing recalled telling Slocum. “‘So race on Saturdays, and when you can get some runs in (during) the week, great.”
Knowing Slocum would be in the Glads’ top five whether she practiced regularly or not, the team set its sights on repeating as conference champs and moving through the Regional to the Final.
“I think our job with Grace was to keep the pressure off her and keep her happy,” Duffing noted. “I want her smiling, and I want her to have fun.
“It’s a team sport with a lot of really high goals, and she is part of those,” Duffing continued. “I just want her to be a part of it.”
The two worked out a schedule for training that focused on Sunday running as all the other pieces fell in place. They lost a few Saturdays so Slocum could golf on the courses where the Regional and Final were scheduled.
Slocum will wrap up her golf season next Friday and Saturday in Allendale. She’ll then run Oct. 22 in the Northern Michigan Cross Country Championship at Gaylord – on a golf course at the Otsego Club – and then is expected to help the Glads at the Regional on Oct. 29 before going after the Finals championship.
As she moves through her high school career, Slocum likely will shatter every single golf record at her school — if she hasn’t already. She’s been the team’s top golfer since joining the program a year ago. Before her victory Tuesday, only one other St. Francis golfer had won a girls golf Regional title.
“She’s the number one golfer in my history of girls golf,” Ardery said. “She’s hitting a bar that will be difficult for other golfers to meet.
“The girls before her know about her, and they are very pleased to have their records broken,” he continued. “It’s pretty impressive what she’s been able to do.”
Slocum is nearing the mid-point of her high school career. It would be difficult to bet against her possibly winning golf and cross country races on the same course – or team and individual Finals championships during the same season.
“She has the lowest scoring average of any golfer I’ve coached, and she’s only a sophomore,” Ardery said. “It’s real early in the story.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Grace Slocum (908) and Traverse City St. Francis teammate Grace Skendzel round a corner during a race this fall. (Middle) Slocum stands next to a flag during last season’s MHSAA Girls Golf Finals. (Below) Slocum and twin bother Josh, left, are both golfing and running cross country for the Gladiators this fall. (Top two photos courtesy of Jessica Slocum; bottom photo by Tom Spencer.)