Undefeated ski team races to Catholic League title for third straight year

BRIGHTON, MI (February 5, 2024) – It wasn't perfect day of racing for Mark Weymouth's Mustangs, but it was close.

Even after a couple of falls in the slalom (SL) event, Marian placed five skiers in the top ten at Monday's Catholic League Ski Championship held at Mt. Brighton. The giant slalom (GS) was even better for Marian as seven skiers finished in the top 10 as the team scored 15.0 points in each event (30.0 overall score), easily outpacing Cranbrook, who claimed second place with 57.0 overall points.

Recap

• Emma Borgula was Marian's top finisher (41.17 combined time), winning one of the slalom runs and finishing second in another to just land her out of the top spot on the podium. Borgula made up for the slalom with a first-overall finish in the giant slalom with a combined time of 29.30. Emma has now claimed four CHSL titles in her career – 2 each in slalom and giant slalom.
• Mirabelle Dawson put together a great pair of runs to finish third overall in slalom (42.33). Dawson rounded out the Marian scoring in GS with a combined time of 32.20 and a ninth-place finish. "Best day of her short two-year career," commented Weymouth.
• Paige Rawlins finished 4^th in SL (43.42 combined time) and 8^th overall in GS (31.96). "Paige doubled up on top tens with likely her best SL skiing of the season and her best finishing position of the year with the 4th.  This is the right way to finish your senior year in CHSL," said the head coach.
• Susie Klein set the tone for the Mustangs, winning her flight in both the SL and GS and claiming a pair of 6^th place finishes in both events. Klein finished SL with a combined time of 43.61) and in GS, she recorded a 31.72 combined time. Weymouth stated: "This is exactly what you look for from bullet, put the team in a position for success, Susie does this like clockwork."
• Freshman Ava Hierlihy is already making an impact. She finished 10^th in SL (46.52 combined time) and also 10^th in GS (32.37). Her coach was impressed too. "This is likely Ava's best race yet.  She was consistent and got on the podium for both races as a freshman.  Three weeks into her high school ski racing career and she is already building into so very nice start to her high school career.  A great start to her championship season," Weymouth said.
• Summer Borromeo finished 13th in SL (49.52 combined time) and 16th in GS (34.03 combined) "You can already see her comfort levels build and the results will keep coming," Weymouth remarked.
• Stella Lowman claimed 25th in SL (1:00.54 two-run total) and 5th in GS (30.68 combined). Although a fall in her first SL run, her second run two halved that result.  The good news is Stella skied a great GS race. With a third-place finish in run one and a fourth place in run two, Lowman only missed fourth place overall by 0.01 seconds and missed staying in third overall by only 0.08 seconds.
• Agatha Valka finished  27th in SL (1:04:64 combined) and third in GS (30.60 combined). "Like Stella, Agatha didn't expect a run one hike in SL. It actually started with a really powerful turn on the pitch that got her timing a couple inches off and she tipped a ski on the gate, and it knocked her down," Weymouth said. Agatha's second run in SL was the fifth fastest overall. The GS race turned Agatha's night around with a third-place overall and a great finish to her last CHSL race.

After a slight change to the schedule, the varsity skiers will be right back on the slopes Tuesday, February 6 for a makeup race and again at Alpine Valley for Southeastern Michigan Ski League (SEMSL) Divisional Championships February 7.