Harbor Springs Girls Retake D2 Title
February 23, 2015
By Chris Dobrowolski
Special for Second Half
HARBOR SPRINGS — For the past three years, Harbor Springs has been trying to get back to the top of the mountain.
On Monday, the Rams reached the pinnacle.
Harbor Springs captured its first girls MHSAA skiing title since 2012, edging Petoskey by just 3.5 points (81.5-85) in a dramatic battle for the Division 2 crown at Nub's Nob. Elk Rapids/Traverse City St. Francis was third with 94 points.
The Rams outscored Petoskey by 14 points in the slalom and used that to carry them to the win, even after they finished third overall in the giant slalom to the Northmen and Elk Rapids/Traverse City St. Francis.
"I'm really excited for the girls," said Harbor Springs coach Jane Ramer. "They've worked so hard all season. We have a lot of seniors, and they needed to get a state championship. They fell short the last few years, so it's a real positive thing."
Harbor fell short of repeating in 2013 as Petoskey took top honors, then watched as Bloomfield Hills Marian won the championship last year and Houghton/Hancock took second.
This year was the Rams' shot at redemption.
"Yes, (it was redemption) because we're meeting the teams we have in the past that we've lost to," said Harbor Springs senior Tia Esposito. "Our team really came together.
"We won it freshman year, and to come back and have this experience again is really incredible. I think we all walked out here feeling good about the day because of how we've been training on these hills for four years."
Maddy Fuhrman led the Rams with a pair of 10th-place finishes. She had a time of 56.7 in giant slalom and 1:08.72 in slalom. Esposito took 13th in GS (56.85) and 12th in slalom (1:09.27). Marin Hoffman (17th, 56.7) and Sadie Cwikiel (19th, 57.81) rounded out Harbor Spring's GS counters, while Demi Trabucchi (13th, 1:09.37) and Alexa Wespiser (14th, 1:09.78) were third and fourth in slalom.
Ramer felt her team had a chance to capture the title, but she wasn't going into the day overconfident.
"It's ski racing so you never know what's going to happen," she said. "We knew we wanted to come in and get ahead in the slalom, so when we went into the afternoon we had a little comfort zone. That's what happened. As you can see, Petoskey beat us in the GS, but we beat them in the slalom. It was a good formula and it worked."
Houghton's Jenna Stein was the individual winner of the giant slalom, recording a time of 53.04. She edged Carlee McCardel of Elk Rapids/St. Francis, the two-time reigning champion in the event, who skied a time of 53.31. McCardel had the top time after the first run of GS, but Stein overtook her in the second run and ended up with the title.
In the girls slalom, Sydney Reynolds of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central was the champion in a time of 1:05.52.
PHOTOS: (Top) Members of Harbor Springs' girls ski team hold up their championship trophy Monday. (Middle) Houghton's Jenna Stein was the individual champion in the giant slalom. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Title IX at 50: Maddy Stern's Story
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 2, 2022
Marquette has one of the most recognized girls skiing traditions in Michigan, with five Division 1 championships and a runner-up finish over the last seven seasons and 13 championships total since the sport added a Finals level in 1975. Stern carried that tradition through the finish line of her career this past winter, adding another memorable highlight in her final high school meet.
Competing as an individual qualifier, Stern became the 12th Marquette skier to win a Finals championship as she raced to first in the giant slalom in a two-run time of 1:06.55. She also finished eighth in slalom with a two-run 1:06.64. Stern graduated this spring and will continue at Northern Michigan University, where she’ll study nursing and compete on the alpine ski team.
"Competing as a female athlete means I can accomplish many things throughout my life, in my sport and through my upcoming career. It allows me to push myself on the ski hill to always be faster than the boys, as Mikaela Shiffrin says. When I finish a race run, and right as my time is announced, I feel proud of the skier I've shaped into as my skills are constantly challenged on each race run with the new courses and new obstacles to overcome.
“We can't forget about the times of struggle and pain when a run doesn't go as planned due to a fall or other circumstances, but learn to overcome these struggles and hardships to learn and fix our mistakes to become a better skier. Using the skills I learned as a skier with determination, grit and passion, I can apply them to my day-to-day life as I begin to navigate college. So to me, competing as a female athlete isn't just about being a ski racer, it's about learning life skills that will help me on and off the ski hill."
Second Half's weekly Title IX Celebration posts are sponsored by Michigan Army National Guard.
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