TC Central Finishes Final Runs Fastest to Clinch Title
By
James Cook
Special for MHSAA.com
February 22, 2021
HARBOR SPRINGS — Sarah Beattie's senior sendoff had style.
The only senior on Traverse City Central’s girls skiing roster helped the Trojans claim their first Division 1 championship in eight years Monday.
"We will miss her a lot," said junior Elle Craven, who earned all-state in both slalom and giant slalom, much like Beattie. "She's a lot of fun to be around, and she's a good skier."
Beattie placed fifth in each discipline, while Craven took runner-up honors in slalom and third in GS to help guide the Trojans to the girls program's 12th MHSAA Finals title, and fifth since Central and West split in 1997.
The title also brought things full circle for Trojans head coach Amy Kudary, who now has state crowns as both a skier and coach. Kudary won a Finals title as an athlete at Traverse City Central in 1989 under coaches Donald Dunsmore and Jerry Stanek.
"This is fan-tas-tic," Kudary said, drawing the word out as long as possible. "I have to say I think it's even more exciting winning as a coach than as an athlete, being able to share it with all these girls."
Central edged Marquette by four points, 56 to 60. Clarkston (117) took third, with Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern fourth (151).
Marquette certainly didn't make matters easy. The Trojans and Redettes were tied after the morning slalom. With Craven (second), Beattie (fifth) and Maddy Cox (11th) in the top dozen, Marquette countered with Anna Grzelak (third), Ada Bernard (sixth) and Ella Jones (10th).
"After the first round (of) the GS, we had a good feeling," Beattie said. "That was super cool, because we were ahead at that point, but we still had one more and all of our times were so close on the first run that the second one really did matter a lot, so that was super cool that we pulled it off."
TC Central hadn't won a Finals title since 2013, edging out Walled Lake Central that year. Marquette's girls had claimed the last five crowns and 13 since 1992.
The Finals featured many differences from previous years to combat spreading COVID-19, with team tents set up far away from the finish lines, teams not allowed to go into the lodge for more than using the restroom and ordering food from the cafeteria. No leader boards, which typically gather large crowds in close proximity, were present. The award ceremonies were held outside.
"It felt weird all day, didn't feel like states, but it was a fun day," Beattie said. "The weather was good, so that always makes it better. We knew that we were capable of it, so I'm glad to see it finally paid off. I think just the fact of not being able to be together as a team like the night before – that’s always super fun because we go to dinner and do a bunch of fun stuff. We didn't get to do that this year."
Lily Kuberski was Central's fourth skier in both events, taking 17th in slalom and 20th in GS.
"I knew that we were a strong team (in) GS and I knew that if anything, we'd be able to make up points there," Beattie said. "So, I think I mean, I just thought of it as good competition, honestly. And it pushed me harder for sure."
Sarra Guggemos of Okemos won the girls slalom by 19 hundredths of a second over Craven, whose second run was 0.20 faster.
"It's been such an achievement," Craven said. "We've been working forward for this for so long, it's been such a great time getting to achieve it with everyone. We knew we were capable of it. It's just a matter of executing it and Marquette's a great team, so we knew it was going to be tough. We just wanted to go out and show how we knew we can ski and support everyone."
Holly Grzelak of Forest Hills Northern/Eastern won the GS title by almost two seconds over Rochester Adams' Katie Fodale, with Craven third, followed by Birmingham United's Marie Morris, Beattie, TC West's Lila Warren, Cox, Guggemos and the Marquette pair of Anna Grzelak and Ella Jones to round out the top 10. Lexi Hammerstrom and Maddy Stern added 11th- and 12th-place finishes for the Redettes.
Anna Grzelak took third in slalom behind Guggemos and Craven, with Warren fourth, Beattie fifth and Bernard, Forest Hills' Jayce O'Neill, Milford's Maddie Melody, Clarkston's Courtney Bailey and Jones rounding out the top 10.
"These girls skied fantastic today," Kudary said of her team. "They deserve this, for sure. … Not to take anything away from Marquette. They put up a great fight and made us really work hard until the very end. It really made all six girls really count today.
"This year these girls really have worked hard as a team. They've cheered for each other as a team, they've trained as a team, they've competed as a team. In a sport where you perform individually, they really delivered as a team today. And that's why we're holding the trophy. That makes me so proud."
PHOTOS: (Top) Traverse City Central celebrates its first Finals championship since 2013 on Monday at Nub’s Nob. (Middle) Forest Hills Northern/Eastern’s Holly Grzelak won the giant slalom at the Division 1 Finals. (Click for more from Sports in Motion.)
Notre Dame Prep Finishes Title Climb
February 25, 2019
By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half
BOYNE FALLS – Christmas shopping wasn’t the motivation for Pontiac Notre Dame Prep ski coach Craig McLeod to go on Amazon back when the ski season got going in December.
Instead, he visited the popular internet shopping site to order some motivation for his team, in the form of plastic rings that glow different colors when you turn the top.
“Our cheerleading team has won the state championship five years in a row,” McLeod said. “They have these really cool Super Bowl type of rings. I said, ‘We’ve got to get a ring. The ring is the thing.’ That’s been our motto all season.”
Pretty soon, the Notre Dame Prep girls ski team will have to be fitted for much more expensive rings after what it accomplished at Boyne Mountain on Monday
For the first time since winning the 2006 Class B-C-D title, the Notre Dame Prep girls captured an MHSAA Finals ski title, topping the Division 2 field with a meet-best 64 points, well ahead of the 102 accumulated by runner-up Petoskey.
The favorite going in, Notre Dame Prep’s supreme depth was on display, with three girls finishing among the top 15 in both the slalom and giant slalom.
KC Kennedy led the way for Notre Dame Prep with a pair of top-five finishes, taking third in the slalom with a time of 1:07.70 and fifth in the giant slalom in 1:16.10.
Meghan Kozole was sixth in the slalom (1:09.52) and seventh in the giant slalom (1:16.46), Delaney Flavin was 15th in the slalom and Natalie Uhazie 15th in the giant slalom.
It was a vindicating day for the Fighting Irish, who finished as runners-up to Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central in 2017 and Houghton/Hancock in 2018.
This time, it was the championship trophy they took home.
“The harder you work, the luckier you get,” McLeod said. “I would say we worked pretty hard, and some luck fell in our favor. Everything came together.”
The individual star of the meet was Bloomfield Hills Marian senior Olivia Weymouth, who won both the giant slalom and slalom titles.
Weymouth started her day by overcoming what’s been a personal nemesis, the slalom, winning that event in a time of 1:04.88.
Crossing the finish line itself represented a major mental barrier that was overcome, given Weymouth fell at the last two Finals in the slalom, doing so last year on the same Boyne course when Marian competed at the 2018 Division 1 Finals.
“The slalom, I’ve been working on it because it’s been my weakest event in the past,” Weymouth said. “I had a lot of nerves coming into it. But I finished, and it was exciting. But I had to keep my nerves level even because I knew there was GS to come. I didn’t want to bring too much excitement there.”
Weymouth stayed steady and calm in the giant slalom, winning that event in a time of 1:13.84, barely ahead of Kaylee Richardson of Rochester Adams, who was second at 1:13.92.
Richardson also was fourth in the slalom with a time of 1:07.98.
Megan Pasche of Grand Rapids Northview finished second in the slalom with a time of 1:07.35.
PHOTOS: (Top) The Pontiac Notre Dame Prep girls ski team celebrates its first Finals title in the sport since 2006. (Middle) Marian's Olivia Weymouth races toward the championship in the giant slalom. (Top photo courtesy of Notre Dame Prep's athletic department; middle photo by James Cook. For more from Monday's Finals, see Sports in Motion.)