The Second Annual Benzie Invitational
was held 2-6-04 at Crystal Mt. Once again Benzie's ski team and boosters put on a very nice event with lots of hardware to go around. Under an overcast sky there was nothing to be gloomy about for the teams or racers this year. Medals were given to the top 10 finishers in each event, including the combined ,and medals also went to each member of the top 3 finishing teams.

Left to right,Eric Baumeler, Jackson Carter, Wiley Heller and Christopher Smith accept the team medals for their team finishing 2nd at the Benzie Invitational. Missing from photo are Travis Berklund and Joe Dontz who had to leave before the awards ceremony started.

There will no mistaking Monika now as she races down the courses. Monika quickly modeled for me and then hurried to her next event.

Senior Travis Berklund starts to slide to stop as he came through the finish line. I found yet another area to stand in so he can't get me with a spray of snow!

Some people just don't feel that ski meets can be a spectator sport. Kaylie Mathieu's entire family begs to differ with them. Just bring a chair, some hot chocolate, warm clothes and you are off to the races! Pictured are Kaylie's Mom and Dad with her Grandparents, the Thiemans.

Something sounded wrong with the time they gave Kaylie for her run, Coach Miller and Kaylie went to check it out on the scoreboard as Coach Mathieu watch's KaYoung come down the course for Onekama.

Wiley and Coach Miller introduce me to KaYoung Lee. She is a Korean exchange student at Benzie. The Onekama girl's team "adopted" her for today's race and she raced as part of our team. KaYoung is bubbly and lots of fun to be around. She kept apologizing to the team for her DQ. Awwww...even Picabo Street had her bad days KaYoung Lee! You were a joy to have on the team for the day!

Ski Index Page for 03-04 Season

Thank you,
Gwen Smith
Coach Dale Miller
Coach Curt Mathieu

After having a rough time at the Conference finals at Schuss DQ'ing in both events and then Dq'ing in GS at todays race, Jackson pulled himself together and placed 5th in Slalom with times of :27.54 and :25.56.

http://www.onekama.k12.mi.us

Our Onekama/Frankfort boy's team place 2nd overall to bring home individual 2nd place team medals!

Boys Final team standings:

  • 1st MAP 67
  • 2nd Onekama 95
  • 3rd Benzie 117
  • 4th Manistee 118
  • 5th Elk Rapids 142
  • 6th Clare 145
  • 7th Bellaire No Score
  • 8th Mt. Pleasoan No Score

Girls Final Team Standings:

  • 1st Bellaire 58
  • 2nd Manistee 75
  • 3rd Benzie 110
  • 4th Clare 139
  • 5th Onekama 169
  • Elk Rapids No Score
  • MAP No Score
  • Mt. Pleasant No Score

Boys GS:

Onekama/Frankfort boys placed 6th in GS with 65 points. MAP's Terry McGovern won the race, with Eric Baumeler finishing 3rd for the Portagers. Wiley Heller also medaled in this event with a 5th place finish for Onekama/Frankfort. Travis Berklund placed 25th and Joe Dontz 32nd. Carter and Smith both DQ'ld.

Boys Slalom:

Onekama/Frankfort had 3 boys in the top 10 in Slalom giving the team a placing of 2nd with 30 points and securing their team final placing of 2nd overall for the day and team medals. Wiley Heller placed 3rd, Jackson Carter 5th, Eric Baumeler 6th, Travis Berklund 16th, Joe Dontz 27, and Chris Smith 30th after a hike on his second run. In the boys combined, Wiley Heller placed 3rd, Eric Baumeler 5th.

Girls Slalom:

OHS/BLHS/FHS girls placed 5th as a team in slalom with 80 points. Kaylie Mathieu paced the girls with her 8th place finish. Dani Olson finished 19th, Monika Higley 24th. The girls "adopted" foreign exchange student KaYoung Lee for the day. KaYoung finished 29th in slalom today after a hike on her second run.

Girls GS:

The girls went on to place 5th in giant slalom with 89 points, giving them an overall standing of 5th for the day. Kaylie Mathieu's 7th place finish led the portagers again. Dani Olson placed 22nd, Monika Higley 28th, while KaYoung Lee from Korea dq'ld her run. In the girls combined, Kaylie Mathieu placed 6th.

Kaylie ( third from the left),accepts her 8th place medal in girls slalom. She finished with times of :28.58 and :30.76 . Kaylie wasn't done collecting hardware yet. GS was soon to be announced!

"Gee, You are supposed to get the 7th place medal Kaylie! , he said as he looks over the medals. He then looked back and asked the girls up there if they had the right medals.

Well, they found the medal and Kaylie was awarded her 7th place medal for the Girls Giant Slalom. Kaylie still wasn't done there!

After a 3 way tie in the points placings was broken by adding their times, Kaylie was awarded the 6th place medal in the combined.

Second from the right next to the one wearing the red hat, Eric Baumeler accepts his 3rd place medal in GS. Wiley Heller on the other side of the kid with the red hat, accepted his 5th place medal.

Standing second from the right, Wiley Heller places 3rd in Slalom. Jackson Carter placed 5th and Eric Baumeler 6th in the medal race.

Standing second from the right, Wiley Heller placed 3rd in the combined and Eric Baumeler placed 5th.