Ed Johnson Memorial Invitational at Crystal

Twenty two girls and thirty five boys from class A- D middle schools competed tonight in the Ed Johnson Memorial Invitational at Crystal Mt. The race was held on Buck in Giant Slalom format. Ed Johnson was a teacher at Benzie High School and started the Benzie Ski Club in 1971. The next year, the club became an official school team , and in 1976, the state championship was won by one of his racers -Mimi Petritz. In the spring of 1977, Mr. Johnson died of a heart attack. He left many gifts to the community, and the ski team was at the top of the list. His sons and daughter continue with the love and dedication of the sport with this Invitational in memory of their father.

Racing for OHS in the girls competition was Bear Lake's Monica Higgley. Monica finished just 4 places out of the top 10, in 14th place with her times of 25.38 and 24.98 for a combined effort of 50.36. The next closest time was 3 seconds slower than Monica!. Congratulations Monica! Monica also won a Crystal Mt. Ski hat in a drawing for door prizes.

Jared Lutz of Onekama raced down with a first run of 23.41. Taking over a 1/2 second off his second run he clocked at 23.09 for a combined time of 46.50 placing him 22nd. There were some very tight races among the boys tonight! Jared also won a Crystal Mt. Tee Shirt in the door prize drawing. All racers received medals again this year, engraved with Ed Johnson Invitational on them with the top 10 medals also engraved with their respective placings. Monica and Jared are both going to be great assets to the OHS Ski Team next year, where they will be turning over the reins of managership to other 7th and 8th graders and become members of the race team.

Reporter/Photographer: Gwen Smith

Would'nt you know it! The two individuals we want to highlight in the photo are hiding behind people! Clockwise, Christopher Smith, Monica's Dad, Racer Monica Higley, Adam Putney (last years Asst. Coach), Coach Mathieu, Racer Jared Lutz, Julie Lutz (Jared's mom)

The racers and their guests were well fed with pizza ,sandwiches, desserts and beverages galore as we watched the evening's events on a large screen. They would replay anypart of the race that you wanted to see over. The racers that fell asked to see their crash's in slow motion, which added more drama to the viewing from a parents point of view, but received chuckles and giggles from the racers that fell as they watched it. They are a hardy bunch this age group and they are eager to race on the high school teams.

 

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