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.)
Injury, Late Start Can't Slow Speedy Schulte's Finals 3-Peat Pursuit
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
February 9, 2023
Sydney Schulte has been one of the state’s speediest skiers over the past two years, but the start to this season has been anything but fast due to a couple of obstacles.
The first came around Thanksgiving, when Schulte, a senior at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, suffered a knee injury during camp that slowed down her start to the season.
But that didn’t turn out to be as big of a deal due to the second obstacle: Weather.
With one of the warmest Januarys on record and little snowfall, pretty much the entire skiing community got off to a slow start.
However, with colder and snowier weather in the final days of January and early February, along with more healing for her knee, Schulte is now ready to rock with the biggest events of the season looming in the coming weeks.
“It’s definitely taken me a little bit longer this season to get into the swing of things,” Schulte said. “But I’m getting there. The injury has sucked. Knees are pretty vital. But I’m excited, and I feel like this is the best time to be firing up.”
Schulte rounding into peak form can’t be comforting to opponents.
Notre Dame Prep head coach Craig McLeod said Schulte has finished first or second in every dual meet during her career competing in the Pine Knob Divisional against bigger schools such as Clarkston, Bloomfield Hills and Rochester Adams.
On a statewide level, Schulte has shown she is a “flatlander” from Metro Detroit who can compete with the best from schools up north.
Schulte is the two-time reigning Division 2 Finals champion in the slalom, and was first after the opening run of the giant slalom last year before failing to finish her second run.
Two years ago as a sophomore, Schulte was fourth in the giant slalom.
Having such success against up-north skiers is obviously a great source of pride.
“I feel like people from the Metro Detroit area definitely have to put in way more work to be successful,” Schulte said. “The travel time and traveling up (north) on weekends. There’s so much work, effort and time that goes into training on snow. All the state meets are up there, and they can ski on (those courses).”
Schulte said she got into ski racing when she was young, taught in large part by her parents, Allison and Eric, who skied in high school while attending Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes.
Because she’s done it for so long, Schulte obviously has a big edge on other skiers in terms of technical ability.
“She has a really good sense of angulation in terms of rolling the ski up on edge with knees and ankles,” McLeod said. “That’s really the magic of what she has got going on, is that she has great angulation, which pays dividends every race.”
Schulte is unsure of her college plans at the moment, but she did say it’s unlikely she will ski competitively at the next level. She said she’ll still ski for fun or on an intramural team.
Before that though, there is the business of finishing out her high school career and going for not only a three-peat in slalom, but a title in the giant slalom.
Notre Dame Prep will compete in a Division 2 Regional next at Alpine Valley, where it will be a big favorite to advance to the Final on Feb. 27 at Boyne Mountain.
Notre Dame Prep saw a streak of three straight team championships end last year, but with Schulte rounding into form, don’t rule out a return to the top for the Fighting Irish.
“The motivation really comes from being on the team,” Schulte said. “It’s fun being around people that you like. It’s way easier to go to practices and to races if you know your friends are going to be there. It’s really great. Friends are the biggest motivation for me. They want to do (well), and I want to do good. The positive competitiveness helps each person.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties
PHOTOS (Top) Pontiac Notre Dame Prep’s Sydney Schulte races down Schuss Mountain during the slalom at last season’s Division 2 Finals. (Middle) Schulte, far left and next to Petoskey’s Marley Spence and Lowell’s Kaylee Byrne, celebrates winning her second-straight slalom championship. (Click for more from Sports in Motion.)