TC Central Takes Back Top Spot
February 26, 2013
By John Raffel
Special for Second Half
BOYNE FALLS – Traverse City Central coach Jerry Stanek just smiled when he was congratulated after his girls ski team won the MHSAA Division 1 championship Monday at Boyne Mountain.
“I didn't do anything,” he grinned. “I just watched.”
After five straight second-place finishes at Finals, the Trojans hoisted the championship trophy for the first time since 2005.
“I think the girls got the monkey off their backs for a while, and hopefully we can keep it going,” Stanek said.
“The key was belief from the girls that they could do what they did. After you finish second for so many years, and that happened to us in the 1990s, it takes a while. But when you win, it takes the monkey off your back and makes it easier. We try to prepare them the best we can, and hopefully they perform the way they should.”
Senior Monica Hessler of Traverse City West, last winter's team champ, won the girls slalom race while Mallory Slicker of Walled Lake Central prevailed in the giant slalom.
TC Central had scores of 38 in the slalom and 43 in the giant slalom for an 81 total. Walled Lake Central was second at 56 and 36 for 92 while Marquette was third at 69 and 44 for 113, Birmingham Marian fourth at 54 and 62 for 116 and Traverse City West fifth at 67 and 61 for 128.
Rochester Adams finished sixth at 170, Fenton/Linden seventh at 203, Walled Lake Northern eighth at 273 and Brighton ninth at 283.
“I would think that we were probably favored coming in,” Stanek said “We had some problems in the slalom, and it wasn't our best performance of the year. But I think the state championship reflects that when teams get together and have to compete. I was proud of our girls, the way they came back and stayed with it even though after our first run in slalom, we could have been out of the race for the day.”
Hessler competed on last year's team champion for TC West. Her previous best individual finish was a sixth in the slalom.
“I knew I had a shot at it,” Hessler said. “There's probably eight girls who also had the same chance. We've all been back and forth all season.”
Shannon Weaver led the TCC effort with seconds in both the slalom and giant slalom.
In the girls GS, Cassidy Klein of TCC was 11th, Paige Phannenstiel was 14th, Molly Whiting 21st, and Devon Dotterrer 26th.
In the girls slalom, TCC' netted an 11th place from Madison Ostergren, while Molly Whiting was 13th, Dotterrer 15th, Phannenstiel 18th and Cassidy Klein 38th.
Hessler knew what was at stake, but said she still simply wanted to have fun. She also saved her best for last.
“I knew it was my last race, so I wanted to give everything possible,” she said. “I knew it was going to be a close race, which it was.
“We're a young team this year,” Hessler added. “Our other girls are young, and they're great skiers, but they're young and definitely are going to be a team to watch for the next couple years.”
Shannon Weaver of TC Central was second in the slalom at 1:05.77 followed by defending champ Kelsey Griffin of White Lake Lakeland at 1:06.84, Slicker fourth at 1:09.03, Hanna Johnson of Marquette at 1:09.89, Haley Goeckel of Marian at 1:10.57, Hannah Brassell at 1:10.65, Kathryn Streng of Marina at 1:12.59, Lauren Rhoads of Fenton at 1:13.43 and Lauren Henry of Adams at 1:13.56 to round out the top 10.
Hessler will look back at the 2012-13 as having exceeded her expectations. “This is unreal,” she smiled.
Those sentiments were shared by GS champ Slicker, a senior. She was third last year in giant slalom.
Slicker was coming off a torn meniscus in her right knee. It was her first time on skis in a few weeks
“I really didn't think I was going to be able to,” she said. “I had been on crutches.”
Weaver also was runner-up in the giant slalom at 1:03.31, followed by Abigail Ellis of Kenowa Hills/Lowell/Comstock Park at 1:03.88, Whitney Stilwell of Marquette at 1:04.4, Morgan Culp of TC West in 1:04.51, Hanna Johnson of Marquette in 1:04.60, Haley Goeckel and Kathryn Streng of Birmingham Marian in 1:04.65 and 1:04.67, Hessler in 1:04.75 and Taylor Krumm of Walled Lake Central in 1:05.01.
PHOTOS: (Top) Traverse City Central celebrates its first MHSAA team championship since 2005. (Middle) Marquette's Sam Zeigler races during Monday's Finals. (Click to see more at 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.)