Marquette Ski Teams Lead Chase Again
March 16, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
There are communities all over Michigan known for nurturing their athletes from the youngest levels through high school – football towns, basketball towns, volleyball towns, etc.
Marquette is a skiing town, with a decades-old infrastructure that would seem to guarantee no slowing down for the Marquette High boys team that has won six straight Division 1 championships and the girls team that last month clinched its third consecutive title.
Marquette’s boys and girls ski teams are the MHSAA/Applebee’s Teams of the Month for February after continuing those impressive streaks.
In Marquette, skiers who fill the high school teams came up on the local Marquette Mountain Race Team and Great Lakes Ski Academy. And every once in a while there’s an athlete with especially high aspirations who chooses to continue competing solely outside the high school.
But second-year coach Dan Menze – who has coached in both non-school programs and skied for the Redmen through graduation in 2009 – said over the last two seasons every student who ski races has raced with his high school teams.
“The amount of skiing that’s available to these kids to make them better athletes and come to high school as already accomplished skiers – this wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t have the programs that do bring those kids up,” Menze said.
“They teach skiing the right way. When they come to the high school, (athletes) already have a good foundation and good base. It’s just taking them to the next level for me, which I don’t usually have a ton of kids that I have to bring up to that level.”
The boys team won its title Feb. 26 at Boyne Mountain with 56 points, as Traverse City Central came in second for the fifth straight season this time with 80.5. The Redettes scored 48 points to finish ahead of Traverse City West’s 76.
Sophomore Ainsley Kirk and senior Sadah Scheidt took first and second in the girls slalom, and junior teammate Natalie Robinia was sixth. Kirk was then third in the giant slalom, and sophomore Jacey Johnson was seventh.
On the boys side, sophomore Aaron Grzelak, senior Andrew Thomas and freshman Haydn Kauppila took the first three places, respectively, in the slalom. They then finished second, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the giant slalom.
If the feeder programs are the key, Marquette Mountain’s participation is nearly as important. Menze said the hill “bends over backwards” to make it easier for the Redmen and Redettes to get in their training runs – and with the ability to set up courses comparable to any of the terrain the teams might see elsewhere.
Marquette High, the largest school in the Upper Peninsula, dominates in a number of sports throughout the school year. But also making the ski teams’ accomplishments impressive is the competition – skiing and hockey are two sports where Marquette regularly sees and succeeds against teams from both the Upper Peninsula and downstate.
The boys team has won 13 MHSAA Finals titles, dating to its first in 1997. The girls have won 11 going back to 1999.
“There’s not really a lot of other teams at the high school that get to compete with a lot of these teams from downstate,” Menze said. “It is nice to go down there; we’re in our element.
“The last 30 years we’ve been fairly consistent and competitive, and it’s awesome to bring that back to the school.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2017-18
January: Sterling Heights Stevenson competitive cheer - Report
December: Cadillac boys bowling - Report
November: Ottawa Lake Whiteford football - Report
October: Beaverton volleyball - Report
September: Shepherd girls golf - Report
PHOTO: Marquette’s girls and boys ski teams hold up their latest MHSAA championship trophies last month at Boyne Mountain. (Photo by Keith Dunlap.)
Performance of the Week: Cadillac's Onalee Wallis
February 8, 2024
Onalee Wallis ♦ Cadillac
Senior ♦ Skiing
Warm weather has made this season trickier than most lately, but Michigan high schools are skiing – and Wallis is again among the state’s elite as she enters the final month of her Cadillac career. On her team’s home hill at Caberfae Peaks, Wallis finished first in both the slalom (43.63) and giant slalom (41.58) at the Cadillac Invitational on Feb. 1, leading the Vikings to the team championship as well.
Wallis has helped Cadillac to outstanding Division 2 Finals finishes her first three seasons of high school; the Vikings won the championship in 2022 and finished third both last season and when she was a freshman. Her top individual finishes at Finals were second in the giant slalom as a freshman and fourth in slalom as a sophomore, and she was fifth in GS and 21st in slalom last season. She also played golf at Cadillac, finishing her career in the fall tying for 13th at her Regional and making the all-Big North Conference team, and plays soccer in the spring and earned an all-BNC honorable mention last season.
@mhsaasports ⛷️POW: Onalee Wallis #ski #slalom #giantslalom #cadillac #letsgo #part1 #highschoolsports #tiktalk #interview #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ original sound - MHSAA
@mhsaasports ⛷️POW: Onalee Wallis #tiktalk #questiontime #part2 #greysanatomy #tangled #nerdclusters #car #dog #bed #redheart #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ original sound - MHSAA
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Past 2023-24 Honorees
Feb. 1: Abbey DeGraw, Rochester Hills Stoney Creek competitive cheer - Report
Jan. 25: Ewan Todd, Riverview swimming - Report
Jan. 18: Ashley Weller, Jackson Northwest basketball - Report
Jan. 11: Michael Baldwin, Saginaw Arthur Hill wrestling - Report
Dec. 15: Jena Fijolek, Fenton bowling - Report
Dec. 8: Sophia Wagner, Escanaba gymnastics - Report
Dec. 1: Isaiah Marshall, Southfield Arts & Technology football - Report
Nov. 24: Sarah Bradley, Clarkston Everest Collegiate volleyball - Report
Nov. 17: Kalieb Osborne, Waterford Mott football - Report
Nov. 10: Tekalegn Vlasma, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian soccer - Report
Nov. 3: Colton Kinnie, Birmingham Seaholm football - Report
Oct. 27: Lauren Timpf, Macomb Lutheran North golf - Report
Oct. 20: Alena Li, Okemos golf - Report
Oct. 13: Seth Norder, Grand Haven cross country - Report
Oct. 5: Paige Anderson, Muskegon Reeths-Puffer golf - Report
Sept. 29: MacKenzie Bisballe, Lake City volleyball - Report
Sept. 22: Jhace Massey, Gladwin football - Report
Sept. 15: Kaylee Draper, Sturgis swimming - Report
Sept. 8: Owen Jackson, Traverse City St. Francis tennis - Report
Sept. 1: Rachel Forsyth, Ann Arbor Pioneer cross country - Report
(Photos courtesy of the Cadillac girls skiing program.)