Metro Detroit high school skiing notebook: Birmingham Marian rolls into postseason

Alex Faber, Special to the Detroit News

Birmingham Marian earned its third straight Catholic League title on Feb. 5, providing even more momentum for a ski team that went undefeated in the regular season. A year after finishing second in regionals and making it to states, the program is poised for another postseason run with a roster with depth and experience.  

"We're really seven deep," head coach Mark Weymouth said. "It's been incredibly important to us the last three years with this basic group of girls, because they have brought depth for several years."

Junior Emma Borgula tops the list of strong skiers, consistently posting some of Marian's fastest finishes since her freshman year. Susie Klein is another junior integral to the team, playing the role of the team's "bullet" racer as the first one on the slopes. 

"That's kind of a tough spot, because the snow has not always slipped off the course perfectly, and you're kind of the first one to see the course," Weymouth said. "She has just been remarkable and just puts in consistently fast runs day over day, race over race, year over year. She's just been as good as I've seen for a one-hole skier." 

There's also a trio of seniors injecting many collective years of varsity racing into the roster. Stella Lowman, Paige Rawlins and Agatha Valka were starters as freshmen and bolster Marian with both great race times and experience. 

"They did their thing for us when they came in as freshmen and have (continued) in their fourth year," Weymouth said. "The team is not what it is without those three coming up over the last four years. You can't overstate their importance through these four years, they all do things really well each individually and together."

Sophomore Mirabelle Dawson and freshman Ava Hierlihy round out a top seven that runs deep. With so many quality skiers on the team, Marian has its eyes on an excellent showing at regionals and another bid to the state finals. 

"It's always an expectation for us to make states and these girls know that. They take it to heart and they work hard to try and do that," Weymouth said. "They're prepared for it. We're skiing well and (the Catholic League championship) was a great primer for confidence."