Grand Rapids Christian took the hill at Boyne Mountain Ski resort for the MHSAA Division II Downhill Skiing State Championship.  It was a great weekend, with an awesome training session on Saturday and an awesome race on Monday!  Although the courses were challenging, conditions were prime for ski racing!  This marks the 3rd consecutive year that Grand Rapids Christian has been represented at the State Championship with both the boys and girls teams!  The Eagles competed against 8 other schools and a variety of individuals from as far North at Houghton (U.P.) and as far South as Detroit (Bloomfield Hills).

The Eagle boys finishing 7th in Giant Slalom and 5th in Slalom, for an overall finish of 7th.  The Eagle girls finished 6th in Giant Slalom and 6th in Slalom, for an overall finish of 7th.  

Highlights from yesterday’s State Finals are listed below:

(Please note: In the state finals, individual qualifiers get pulled out when it comes to team scoring.  Both scores for individuals are listed below with their team score in parenthesis). 

• Anna Angell finished 26th (22nd) in Giant Slalom and 18th (13th) in Slalom
• Kiera Bishop finished 28th (23rd) in Giant Slalom and 28th (22nd) in Slalom
• Dylan Kuiken finished 30th (23rd) in Giant Slalom and 26th (19th) in Slalom
• Mark VanHekken finished 35th (28th) in Giant Slalom
• Willem Gronsman finished 16th (11th) in Slalom

A couple of things / highlights to note for the girls team:

• Team completed their best team performance in a State Final in history!
• Team beat Harbor Springs in Giant Slalom and East Grand Rapids in Slalom!  Both those teams were expected to win or compete for a state title (Harbor Springs won their respective Regional and EGR was the State final runner up last year)!
• Team had three girls score in the top 25 (as it relates to team scoring) for each event – another first / best!

A couple of things / highlights to note for the boys team:

• Team also completed their best team performance in a State Final in history!
• Team provided the first ever top 5 finish in a State Championship for our program by finishing 5th as a team in Slalom!
• Team also took down a regional champion (East Grand Rapids) in Slalom!

Additionally, congratulations to Anna Angell and Willem Gronsman for being selected MHSAA Division II Second Team All-State!  This was another first for our Program!

From Coach Mencarelli to the ski team:
It’s very exciting for us to see results like this!  Although there were some challenges yesterday for some, never forget that it took all of you as members of this team to get us to another state finals!  The achievements of the team yesterday belong to all of you, and you should be very proud of yourselves and your teammates!  Know that your coaches are extremely proud of all of you and its clear our program is heading in a great direction!