Team of the Month: Cadillac Girls Skiing
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 21, 2022
The Big North Conference, top to bottom, is the strongest skiing conference in Michigan.
On the girls side alone, Traverse City Central won its second-straight Division 1 championship this season, with Traverse City West the runner-up, and those two along with Division 2 power Petoskey have four Finals championships and seven runner-up finishes over the last decade.
It’s time to make way for Cadillac as well.
The Vikings – the MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for February, capped it off Feb. 28 by winning the Division 2 team championship at Schuss Mountain in Bellaire. The title was the school’s first in any sport since 1990 and first top-two Finals finish in girls skiing since 2001.
Cadillac had finished third in the Big North Conference behind the Traverse City schools and ahead of Petoskey this season, and then runner-up at its Regional to East Grand Rapids minus a top contributor out with an injury. But she returned at nearly full strength for the Final as the Vikings outpaced runner-up EGR by six points and third-place Harbor Springs by eight.
“Every week we’re facing the best teams in the state, and it’s hard to know how we’d do against teams outside of our league,” Cadillac coach James Netzley said. “Until Regionals, it’s hard to know how good we are, and even talking to the Traverse City coaches they were caught by surprise by how well we did at the state finals.
“We got third last year, and that opened up some eyes. We had several freshmen, and we skied well. Our goal was to improve one place – we were eying the big trophies, runner-up, or first place would be fantastic. Within reason, runner-up was right there, but again, we had to ski well.”
Here’s where it gets even more intriguing: Only one of the team’s top six was a senior.
Sophomores Onalee Wallis and Avery Meyer set the pace at Schuss. Wallis finished fourth in the slalom and 11th in the giant slalom, and Meyer was fifth in the slalom and 10th in GS.
The next placer’s performance will be recalled just as quickly. Junior Georgette Sake was the skier who had missed the Regional, and Netzley said she was about 80 percent for the Final. But that 80 percent was good enough to place 15th in the slalom and 24th in the GS.
Another sophomore, Mairyn Kinnie, rounded out the team’s scoring, placing 33rd in both events.
Netzley said his girls teams have always had the standouts to match up with the rest of the Big North Conference, but would end up in the middle of the standings with less depth – which makes sense as Central has twice as many students, West nearly the same and Petoskey an enrollment of roughly 130 more than Cadillac High.
But five of this season’s Vikings varsity should be back next year – junior Kinsey Cornwell and senior Emily Mason rounded out lineup.
Of course, Central, West and Petoskey will bring talented skiers back next season too, as will the other usual Division 2 Finals contenders. But the Vikings should enter next winter with an expectation of competing for the BNC title – which would be another first in a long time – and making another Finals championship run.
Past Teams of the Month, 2021-22
January: Hartland hockey - Read
December: Midland Dow girls basketball - Read
November: Reese girls volleyball - Read
October: Birmingham Groves boys tennis - Read
Stars Lead Redettes to 5th-Straight Finals Win
February 25, 2020
By James Cook
Special for Second Half
HARBOR SPRINGS — Marquette is chasing itself.
The Redettes' girls skiing team won its fifth straight Division 1 championship Monday at Boyne Highlands.
That leaves only one team ahead of the current Marquette squad — the 1999-2004 Redettes.
"I know a lot of teams don't really want us to win every year, and they don't like that we always take it," Marquette senior Jacey Johnson said, "but I'm just so happy that we are so good, and it's just really nice to see because we all work so hard."
Johnson claimed the slalom by over a second, finishing off a high school career that included earning all-state honors eight times.
Johnson finished in Michigan's top 10 in seven of eight Ski Finals races she's competed in. The eighth, which included a hike, still resulted in a 20th-place finish and second-team all-state honors two years ago.
Marquette's Ainsley Kirk extended her streak of winning an individual Finals title to three years, taking her first giant slalom championship after being crowned slalom champ the previous two seasons.
Kirk's first run was the best girls GS time of the day at 30:53. Forest Hills Northern-Eastern's Holly Grzelak, a cousin of Kirk's teammates Aaron and Anna Grzelak, finished second by 16 hundredths of a second, tied with Rochester Adams' Kaylee Richardson.
Marquette, which lost in its Regional to Traverse City Central, topped the Trojans this time around.
"It just shows how great Marquette is," said TC Central senior Elizabeth Saunders, who finished second behind Johnson in the slalom. "They're strong and deep, like we are, and next year they have to come out even harder. I won't be around next year, but those girls are going to be in good hands."
Central also topped Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern-Eastern in that Regional, but the Forest Hills squad also snuck ahead of the Trojans this time.
Marquette won with 67 points, 10 ahead of Forest Hills. TC Central was another five back, with Clarkston fourth at 114.
Marquette has lost to Central in Regionals each of the last two years, then came back to win the Finals championships.
"That seems to be the way the last few years," said TC Central sophomore Elle Craven, who placed seventh in slalom and sixth in giant slalom. "We want to break that pattern, though."
The rest of the slalom top 10 consisted of Forest Hills Northern-Eastern's Jenna Grzelak, Clarkston's Courtney Bayley, Northern-Eastern's Jaycee O'Neill, Anna Grzelak of Marquette, Craven, South Lyon's Kelsie O'Connor, Rochester Adams' Richardson and Milford's Maddie Melody.
In giant slalom, Jenna Grzelak took fourth, Johnson fifth, Craven sixth, Brighton's Maddie Carrico seventh, Traverse City West's Ava Warren eighth, O'Connor ninth and Anna Grzelak 10th.
"I'm just excited that the kids showed some grit today and stuck with it, because it wasn't an easy day," Marquette assistant coach Keenan Cooper said. "Look how long it was. It was hot out for skiing, which can take a lot out of you because that sun's beating down on you."
PHOTOS: (Top) Marquette’s Jacey Johnson skis to Monday’s slalom title. (Middle) The Redettes celebrate their fifth-straight Finals championship. (Click for more from Sports in Motion.)