Notre Dame Prep's Studt Sweeps, 'All Play Part' as Harbor Springs Ends Title Wait
By
Brian Freiberger
Special for MHSAA.com
February 24, 2025
HARBOR SPRINGS — Pontiac Notre Dame Prep junior Maren Studt had to watch last year's MHSAA Division 2 Girls Skiing Final from the sideline with a broken collarbone she suffered two days before the big race.
This time around, she competed and took advantage of the opportunity.
After contributing to a team championship as a freshman, Studt was especially determined to reach the pinnacle again, this time as an individual.
"I've been nervous about it for the race this whole season. Today, I decided I was going to go out and do my best and see what happens," she said. "This season, I had no expectations because I don't know how I would have ended up, and so I just went out and did my best this season."
After her first run in slalom Monday at Boyne Highlands, Studt knew she had to rip her second – which led to the first-place finish with a two-run combined time of 1:16.10. She was in high spirits heading into her favorite event, giant slalom.
"GS is my favorite discipline, so I was just ready to go to and had to put the morning aside and just try to go do it again. Then the second run, the snow was a little rough, but I willed through and I was happy with the finish," Studt said.
Studt won the giant slalom with a two-run time of 66.79 seconds.
The junior cherished the accomplishment but now has a crown to defend.
"I hope to do it again, two-peat, and the (2025-26) season starts tomorrow," she said.
Meanwhile, Harbor Springs earned its first girls Finals championship in 10 years behind a complete team performance.
"They believed they could, and they did it," Harbor Springs coach Ellen Beatty said. "They all played their part and stepped it up, and it was an awesome day."
Harbor Springs claimed first place with 68 points, and East Grand Rapids finished runner-up with 91. Bloomfield Hills Marian finished third, followed by Cadillac, Detroit Country Day, Grand Rapids Christian, Rochester Adams, Great North Alpine and Norway.
The Rams skied smart and fast despite the slushy conditions. All six skiers finished all 24 runs without any falls or disqualifications.
"I think they were fired up and ready to go and proved they could do it," Beatty said. "They're an extraordinary group of girls, and it was amazing to watch them grow over the season. Their competition was themselves. So they pushed each other to this level and won a state championship because of it."
Throughout the entire season, different Rams took first places, and even Monday, the whole roster was primed to run their best races.
The last time Harbor Springs won a Finals championship was 2015.
Harbor Springs senior Tara Shouldice took second in GS with a two-run time of 1:07. Keeler Brainard finished 11th, while Drew and Mackenzie Bowman finished 15th and 16th, respectively. Teammate Quinn Myers finished 17th overall to round out a stellar team GS section.
"I know a lot of people were watching us because we were the team to beat, and I think everybody skied well, and we stepped up to the competition," Shouldice said.
Mckenzie Bowman finished seventh overall in the slalom race, and Shouldice finished 16th, while Quinn Myers, Elliott Baetens, and Drew Bowman finished 25th, 29th, and 30th, respectively.
"I feel like we have pretty high expectations of ourselves, and we fulfilled those," Mckenzie Bowman said.
Baetens added: "I'm just really proud of our team. We did a good job, even with the sticky snow, and we all finished our runs. We just did a great job coming together as a team."
East Grand Rapids put on a stellar show to place second.
"The girls stuck together, even having those little problems, and gave Harbor Springs a battle. We'll be back with the ladies," East Grand Rapids girls and boys coach KC McGovern said.
EGR freshman Sophie Hicks led the Pioneers with a second-place finish in slalom (1:16). The top five spots in slalom were decided by 1.5 seconds.
"I'm really happy with slalom, but not so much GS. … I'd love to win states in the future," she said.
Hannah Darooge finished fifth in GS to round out her senior season and high school career.
"It's always good to end your season on a good note, but to end it all on a good note, just like, makes you happy. makes you feel like you did something good," Darooge said.
Brayden Winkel finished fourth overall in slalom and ninth in GS to conclude a stellar sophomore year.
"The experience helps because hopefully we're back here for the next two years until I'm a senior,” Winkel said. “Hopefully next time we bring it home all the way.”
Click for full results. Click to watch NFHS Network broadcasts: Slalom | Giant Slalom
PHOTOS (Top) Eventual champion Notre Dame Prep's Maren Studt approaches a gate during a giant slalom run Monday at Boyne Highlands. (Middle) Harbor Springs' Tara Shouldice races in GS on the way to finishing second to lead the team champion. (Below) East Grand Rapids' Sophie Hicks cuts into a turn in slalom; she finished runner-up. (Click for more photos by Sarah Shepherd - more will be added throughout this week.)
Petoskey's Spence Caps Ski Career Among State's All-Time Racing Greats
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
March 6, 2024
Let’s be clear. Marley Spence is the most decorated racer in Petoskey High School girls skiing history.
But her favorite memory from the sport is not winning one of her five MHSAA Finals individual championships.
It is helping the Northmen earn Division 2 runners-up honor her junior year when Petoskey had just the minimum – four skiers — in the competition won by Pontiac Notre Dame Prep.
Spence has to admit the odds were stacked against the Northman that day on Boyne Mountain And to top it off, it is a memory that is connected to her middle school days with senior classmate and all-stater Sydney Hoffman.
“It was me and Sydney and two other seniors, and that was our entire team,” Spence recalled this week. “We had to do everything right to place second, and we did that that day and we were super thrilled. That was the highlight of my career.”
Quite a statement for the perennial Big North, Regional and Finals champion in the slalom and giant slalom. She has been a top-10 finisher at the Finals going back to her freshman year.
“Marley has sort of come along in an era when we have not had as many female athletes in the program,” said Ben Crockett, who with sister Jennifer Crockett coaches the Petoskey ski teams. “She should be proud of the fact that a pretty small team was able to have collective success at the state meet.”
All of the time spent on those powdery white hills since the age of 2 has certainly paid off.
She was the runner-up in slalom and 10th in giant slalom as a freshman. As a sophomore, her accomplishments ranged from Big North Conference and Regional titles in both the slalom and giant slalom to a Finals championship in the GS. She also captured runner-up in the slalom race to finish that winter.
As a junior, she won both the giant slalom and slalom at the Finals while leading Petoskey to the second-place team finish.
And this year, she did it again. Petoskey did not qualify as a team, but she and Hoffman did. Spence and Hoffman have been teammates since middle school, and they both picked up all-state honors this year. Hoffman placed in the top 10 of both the slalom and giant slalom Feb. 26 at Nub’s Nob.
“It helps to train with my teammate because we’re all on one team and we compete against each other and (are) pushing each other,” Spence said. “We watch each other and can all learn from our mistakes and watch we do well.”
This year, Spence put together a time of 51.17 in the giant slalom, then 1:12.19 in the slalom, holding off some tough competition from Cadillac's Onalee Wallace in both races.
Spence’s performance at Nub’s Nob allowed her to tie Eric Behan for the most titles by a Petoskey skier and set the girls record at the school. Behan collected his fifth in 2005.
Spence also tied the MHSAA record for career Finals titles in Division 2, Class B or the previous open class, matching the mark of Christy Salonen of West Iron County from 1993-96.
"From her freshman year on the team, Marley has been serious and committed to high school competition. At times, she has dominated high school racing, yet she is always respectful of her competitors. I’m very proud of her for exhibiting that character trait," said Jennifer Crockett, who similarly graduated from Petoskey in 1995 as one of the program's most accomplished skiers. "This season she had teammates who were not as experienced as Marley, and she really stepped up and took on a leadership role, helping them with course inspections and race day timeline management."
Spence had the luxury, and challenge, throughout her career of skiing against what many would consider the toughest high school competition in Michigan with Petoskey part of the BNC.
This year, Traverse City West’s girls repeated as Division 1 champions. Cadillac won the Division 2 girls team title for the second time in three seasons.
Spence intends to compete this spring in sprints for the Petoskey track team. She is thinking of attending Montana State University next fall and ski for the Bobcats.
Recently labeled one of the best places for college skiers by POWDER magazine, MSU is recognized nationally and internationally for its snow science research.
“I might be going out to Montana State, and if I do then I’ll definitely ski,” she said. “It is very hard to ski in college – more than any other sport – because they bring in all the Europeans and they take the spots, but I am going to strive for that.”
As she wraps up her high school career, Spence reflected on the challenges of being a high school skier and noted slalom is her favorite race.
“I would say slalom because it is high tempo, and you have to think more about it,” she said. “It is more strategic.
“Sometimes it is hard to stay focused when you have so much going on with friends and other things like parents there, coaches there,” she continued. “Trying to keep a routine every race is what has helped me succeed.”
Part of that routine, as Jennifer Crockett noted, is inspecting the course as a team – something Spence will miss as it allowed her to mentor her younger teammates. But her impact on Petoskey's program, and high school skiing statewide, will not be forgotten.
“Marley has five individual state championships and there are only two other individuals in the history of skiing in Michigan to make that accomplishment,” Ben Crockett said. “Any review of the history would have to include her as one of the best to ever ski at the high school level.”
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 tomspencer@chartermi.net 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) Petoskey's Marley Spence skis a slalom run during the Feb. 26 Division 2 Finals at Nub's Nob. (Middle) Spence stands atop the medal stand after sweeping the slalom and giant slalom this season. (Photo by Sarah Shepherd.)