| Boy's
Team Places 4th in Slalom and 8th in GS for a final
placing of 7th overall in the State! All this in a very
tight race for 5th overall. Boys State 2004 B/C/D Finals
Girls State 2004 B/C/D Finals
Boys Giant Slalom: The OHS/FHS boys placed 8th as a team with 114 points, just 2 points behind Grayling who had 112 for 7th and 3 points behind Kingsford who had 111 points for 6th. Very close match! The team knew that GS has not been their strongest event as a team for most of the season, however, they were good enough in it to beat many other schools in the region to qualify for state! All the teams here today were part of an elite group of racers who had placed in the top 3 of their regions. Our Boys placed 2nd at regionals to qualify for state and they were the first ski team in the history of OHS to qualify for State as a team! When a team reaches this level, the times and scores get even tighter as they battle it out for the state title. Harbor Spring's John Ramer won the medal race in GS today. OHS/FHS Boys GS State Individual Placings:
Boy's Slalom: The boy's went on to place 4th in slalom as a team with 76 points, just 4 points behind 3rd place Kingsford who had 72 points!. The course conditions rapidly deteriorated and it would be the strongest skiers who would stay up. The course groomers did their best to keep up with the heavy wet snowfall and the ruts, grooming between each seed group, but Mother Nature seemed to want to win this battle. From the third seeds on, all teams were really battling the courses and times slowed by a couple of seconds. ALL of the OHS/FHS members stayed up and did not allow the team to have to absorb the costly points of a DQ. They fought the course and they won...i suppose you could say! :) Glen Lake's Kevin Fisher won the Slalom medal race. Individual Boy's Slalom State Individual Placings:
Qualifying for State in both Girls GS and Slalom for Onekama/FHS/BLHS as an Individual was Kaylie Mathieu. Individual OHS Girls State GS Placings:
Qualifying for State in Slalom as Individuals were Kaylie Mathieu and Stephanie Griffin. Individual OHS/FHS Girls State Slalom Placings:
Kaylie comes flying through the gates on one of her Giant Slalom runs!
Travis, Danielle and Joe chat for a few minutes in between runs. Warren Miller, a famed ski movie producer was at Boyne filming and was looking for stand-ins. Maybe you guys should go and sign up!
Coach Miller accepts the cake and thanks her. ohhhh's and ahhhh's over it could be heard coming from other teams.
"Can we cut it yet?", the team chimed in. We made them eat their meal first!
After racing all day in the heavy wet soaking snow, they were eager to sit down and eat! A huge sub was served as well as side dishes from every variety one could dream up.
Jennifer finally gave into the team and served up the cake. We saw 2nd and 3rd pieces being eaten and the highlight seemed to be when they actually got a piece with their own picture on it! She managed to rescue one piece for the trolley driver who kindly kept it dry for her as he gave her a ride from the parking lot to the resort.
Snowmen started popping up near both the race courses in the afternoon. A young spectator from either Kingston or Kingsford was the engineer behind them. Mr. Carter suggested to him that a bench would be nice and before the race was over, he had built one!
When first arriving at Boyne Mt. one gets the feeling they are being transported to Bavaria..Ok, i have never been to Bavaria! But, the small village at the base of the mountain was cozy and quaint.
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This year, we get to pay tribute to our exiting seniors at the State Meet! Left to right, Joe Dontz...this was his first year on ski team and he was joy to have on the team. He caught on fast to racing and we only wish we could have had him earlier in his career. Kaylie Mathieu...you can't ask for any better career totals. She was a valuable asset to the girls team and will be missed! Travis Berklund...Skied most of his life and was a member of the team through high school. It was a rare event if he fell and was a stable force on the team. What a way to close out your high school race careers! State Finals! WOW! I would like to thank the Onekama Township Fire Dept. for escorting the Ski team out of town as they headed to the State Finals with full sirens and lights! You truly made it a Hero's send off! The OHS/BLHS/FHS Ski Team is now part of that elite group of teams that are the best in the State! Gwen Smith
Coach talks with Wiley right after his GS run. Wiley wished he hadn't been so late on one of the gates, adding 10th of seconds to his time he didn't want.
Wiley glances back at the next racer who just crossed the finish line. The competition was close today.
Christopher's father helps him fix something on his gear before he heads back up for his next run. A support system was well in place to aid the team members as needed.
Coach Miller rides the lift up with Monika and Danielle. The girls were a very important part of that support system today! Skiing coats down for the racers, running messages, or even a calming smile. They did it all! Job well-done girls!
Joe's Mom presents Coach with a beautiful and delicious cake for the team that she had made and brought all the way up to Boyne Mt. Everything on it was edible!
That support system came into play once again after lunch. Seems Monika and Joe had some sort of "collision" and Joe's pole got bent. Mr. Smith took it into Boyne's ski shop where they straightened it. (Never attempt to straighten your pole by hand. It will break!)
Chris and Wiley ride the lift up to do course inspection for Slalom.
Travis stopped by to see what was going on. We explained Joe's pole situation and he waited with him.
Within minutes Mr. Smith was back with the pole straightened! and Travis and Joe hop on the lift for the ride to the top.
Before I could turn around, Jackson was going up also! The slalom race would be starting soon!
The clock on the tower showed 10:20 am and we were already done with the first runs on the boy's GS race, giving us a few minutes to explore while they did course inspection for the second course. The GS races were held on the hill directly to the right of the clock tower while the Slalom races were held directly to the left of the spruce at the end of the building with only a narrow ski trail and grove of trees separating the two.
As we walked down through the center of the "village" to our left, there were more small shops, including a tiny general store on the top deck and a Fur resale shop below. |
