Clare Sweeps Central Alpine Conference

By ANGELA KELLOGG-HENRY

Cleaver Managing Editor

The Central Alpine Ski Conference held their last meet at Snow Snake Ski & Golf on Monday, Feb. 16. Three boys’ teams: Clare, Harrison and Mt. Pleasant, and two girls’ teams: Clare and Mt. Pleasant, all raced to see who would claim the tops spots.

It was also Senior Night, a chance to honor racers graduating this year and their parents.

Final conference standings put the Clare girls in first place with Mt. Pleasant in second, and for the boys Clare took first place, Harrison second, and Mt. Pleasant third.

Additional awards included all conference awards in slalom and giant slalom and honorable mentions in both, as follows:

All conference award in girls’ slalom: Ivy Russell, Ella Pettersch, Grace Russell, Heidy Schunk and  Brooklyn Zemko, all of Clare, and Morgan Hausbeck of Mt. Pleasant.

All conference honorable mention in girls’ slalom: Kendall Parsons of Clare, and Alana Piatek-Jimenez and Isabella Lobsinger of Mt. Pleasant.

All conference award in boys’ slalom: Jordan Gariglio, Nick Malson, Mitch Randle and Gabe Pettersh, all of Clare,  Blaine Allsop of Harrison, and Nolan Moore of Mt. Pleasant.

All conference honorable mention in boys’ slalom: Eric Popa of Mt. Pleasant, Tristan Strouse of Clare, and Myles Henry and Liam Henry of Harrison.

All conference award in girls’ giant slalom: Ivy Russell, Ella Pettersch, Kendall Parsons, Grace Russell and Heidy Schunk of Clare, and Morgan Hausbeck of Mt. Pleasant.

All conference honorable mention in girls’ giant slalom: Ellie Blystone of Clare, Alana Piatek-Jimenez and Isabella Lobsinger of Mt. Pleasant.

All conference award in boys’ giant slalom: Nolan Moore of Mt. Pleasant: Elijah Wentworth, Nick Malson, Mitch Randall and Gabe Petteresch, all of Clare, and Myles Henry of Harrison.

All conference honorable mention in boys’ giant slalom: Eric Popa of Mt. Pleasant, Tristan Strouse and Preston Bailey of Clare, and Blaine Allsop of Harrison.

Conference standings aside, the big news took place at Division 2 regional competition on Feb. 11 at Pine Knob. The Clare girls team came in 3^rd place which will take them to state competition as a team held on Feb. 23 at Boyne Mountain. Clare boys placed 4^th, Mt. Pleasant boys placed 10^th, and Harrison boys placed 11^th at that regional competition.

“The girls worked really hard this year to get to State competition,” said Tim Gariglio, Clare ski coach. “They didn’t miss any practices, the Schuss practices, every single one of them went. They had a goal set. This is the first time they are going [to state competition] since 2006; it’s been 20 years. Their goal was to win regionals, and we were close but didn’t pull it off in the afternoon.”

Returning to compete at state competition is Ivy Russell, a junior who was all-state last year and had a top 10 finish this year.

Not only is Gariglio a proud coach, but he is also a proud dad. His son, Jordan Gariglio, qualified to compete at state competition as an individual.

“Jordan is the only freshman individual that has ever qualified as a freshman for the state finals,” Gariglio said. “It’s a pretty big accomplishment.” Jordan has been skiing for eleven years, and his promising high school ski career has just begun. Good luck to Jordan and the Clare Varsity Girls Ski Team at state competition!

Michael Henry finished his first year as Harrison ski coach.

“We had a successful first year together, the boys had lots of fun, looking forward to building on the foundations we set this year,” Henry said.

Harrison competed with one senior, two juniors, and three freshman and hopes to build its team next year.