'Unknown' Brighton Serves Notice
February 24, 2014
By Chris Dobrowolski
Special to Second Half
BELLAIRE - Brighton may not have the pedigree of some other schools when it comes to Michigan girls high school downhill skiing.
That perception changed in a hurry on Monday at the MHSAA Division 1 Final at Schuss Mountain.
The Bulldogs finished first in slalom and giant slalom, slipping past Traverse City Central and Traverse City West in a tightly contested top three for their first MHSAA skiing title.
"It's just crazy. It's overwhelming," said Brighton coach Jeff Street. "We worked really hard. We've got a young team - one freshman, three sophomores, a senior and a junior. That's a young team, and we skied really well today. It's a really great group of girls."
Brighton ended the meet with 92 points, with Central scoring 101 and West 103. Marquette's score of 202 put it a distant fourth.
Morgan Myers led Brighton in the giant slalom with a fifth-place finish (50.54), and Veronica Ripper led the Bulldogs in slalom, placing fifth in 1:06.54.
Brighton's win was a bit of a surprise to the teams that were challenging the Bulldogs for the top spot, intra-city rivals that have battled back and forth for supremacy in the Big North Conference and in Regional competition.
"As far as we're concerned, they came out of nowhere because we don't know who they are," said West coach Ed Johnson. "We didn't know they were there, that they were that deep."
"We didn't know about Brighton," said Central coach Jerry Stanek, whose team was the defending champion. "We knew some of their girls from USSA racing, but their top four girls were very good, very consistent."
Lilia Staszel gave Brighton two top-10 finishers in slalom with an eighth-place finish in 1:06.8. Myers was 14th (1:08.27) and Jenna Sica was 16th (1:08.82). In giant slalom, Ripper was 13th (51.95), Sica took 15th (51.97) and Straszel was 16th (52.44).
"They didn't make any mistakes today," said Johnson. "We made some mistakes, Central had some mistakes. In a state final, when you've got three teams that are that close or that good, the team that doesn't make mistakes is going to come out on top."
Street was confident his team could hang with the two Traverse City schools, which regularly are in the hunt for the MHSAA title, with one or the other claiming first or second - or both - in each of the last 10 seasons.
"I thought we had a really good chance," he said. "Our motto is focus, balance and integrity. We stayed focused the whole time. As long as the girls know they can win, we're going to be OK. They've got to focus the whole time and not lose it. Don't suddenly turn into Lindsey Vonn and think they're better than they are. Keep the focus."
Brighton held a three-point lead over Central after the slalom (43-46) with West right behind with 52 points. West made up some of its difference by finishing two points behind the Bulldogs in giant slalom (49-51) with Central scoring 55.
Marquette's Gabrielle Gencheff was the top individual skier of the day, winning the titles in both slalom and giant slalom. Gencheff posted a time of 47.52 in giant slalom and a 1:00.51 in slalom.
Lili Lockwood led Central with a second-place finish in giant slalom (47.92) and a third-place finish in slalom (1:05.55). Morgan Culp was West's top skier on the day, taking second in the slalom (1:04.51) and third in the giant slalom (49.87).
Central's other counters in slalom were Devon Dotterrer (12th, 1:07.75), Molly Whiting (13th, 1:07.84) and Jenny Baker (18th, 1:09.51). In giant slalom, Maggie Dutmers was 12th (51.94), Whiting took 20th (52.84) and Dotterrer (21st, 52.92).
For West, Claire Podges was 10th in slalom (1:07.28) and 14th in giant slalom (51.96) and Ginevra Gabrielli finished 11th in giant slalom (51.85) and 15th in slalom (1:08.59). Kitt Hornbogen was 23rd in giant slalom (53.76), while Maya Breneman was 25th in slalom (1:11.77).
PHOTO: (Top) Brighton celebrates its MHSAA skiing championship Monday at Schuss Mountain. (Middle) Traverse City Central's Maggie Dutmers works down the hill during one of her runs. (Photos courtesy of Schuss Mountain.)
Sophomore-Paced Cadillac Arrives, Earns 1st Finals Title Since 1990
By
James Cook
Special for MHSAA.com
February 28, 2022
BELLAIRE — Thirty-two years.
Cadillac's girls skiing team made 1990 a distant memory Monday, capturing the school's first MHSAA Finals team championship in any sport since the Vikings girls skiers won in 1990.
They prevailed by a slim four-point margin, unleashing a storm of screams and hugs when East Grand Rapids was named runner-up at the Division 2 Finals at Schuss Mountain in Bellaire.
"It's amazing," said Vikings sophomore Onalee Wallis, who placed fourth in slalom and 11th in giant slalom. "It's so exciting to be able to do that. And we had such a young team."
Cadillac's top six skiers included only one senior, Emily Mason. Wallis and fellow sophomore Avery Meyer helped lead the team, with Meyer placing fifth in slalom and 10th in giant slalom to earn first-team all-state in both disciplines. Junior Georgette Sake took 15th in slalom to earn second-team all-state. Cadillac's other two skiers in the Finals were sophomore Mairyn Kinnie and junior Kinsey Cornwell.
"We've got a young team," Meyer said. "A lot ahead of us."
Cadillac won with 104 points, going into the afternoon GS session with a 14-point lead on Houghton. East Grand Rapids (110) and Harbor Springs (112) jumped past the Gremlins (121) in the slalom. Petoskey finished fifth with 128 and Pontiac Notre Dame Prep sixth at 129, with just 25 points separating first from sixth.
"We knew we had to all put down four solid runs," Meyer said. "We knew we had to ski well, but we thought that we could do it."
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood (233) placed seventh, Bloomfield Hills Marian (239) eighth and Grand Rapids Christian (260) ninth.
"It was on the radar, and we didn't know when it would happen or if it would happen," Cadillac head coach James Netzley said. "But we didn't make any big mistakes, and that's really what made that small separation between us and the other teams. We had almost no errors at all today."
Being such a young team, the Vikings knew they were talented but weren’t taking their championship potential for granted.
"We were hoping to," Wallis said. "We really tried our best and wanted to win this. We didn't really expect to, though."
Meyer said they hope to keep this going in future years, with almost all the team returning next season.
"Our team chemistry is great," Meyer said. "We just all get along so well. And it's so fun."
Petoskey sophomore Marley Spence won the giant slalom championship, finishing second in slalom behind Notre Dame's Sydney Schulte and posting the top second-run time at 32.68 seconds.
"Slalom was a little disappointing," Spence said. "I really wanted to come up with a first, but second is good, too."
Lake Charlevoix's Avery Kita placed 16th in GS and 19th in slalom. Petoskey's Cassidy Whitener added to a strong showing by that team, placing eighth in GS and sixth in slalom to earn first-team all-state in both.
Cadillac's boys team won state crowns in 1980 and 1978. The girls team also won in 1977, 1978 and 1983, with eight runner-up finishes from 1975-89.
"I thought Cadillac, all of them really skied really well," Spence said. "So proud of them. I thought Notre Dame Prep would come out on top, but two of them fell today. That's what cost them."
Petoskey was set back last week when Allison Goelz was injured in the Regional.
"We had one of our girls get hurt last week, so that kind of made us fall down a bit, but I feel like everyone skied how they needed to," Spence said. "We all came out and had a good positive attitude, and I feel like we all skied our best and that's all we could have really done."
PHOTOS (Top) Cadillac celebrates its Division 2 championship Monday at Schuss Mountain. (Middle) Petoskey’s Marley Spence passes a gate during a slalom run. (Click for more from Sports in Motion.)