BRIGHTON — Grant Weymouth started going downhill at a young age.
But when you come from a skiing family, that’s perfectly acceptable.
“I’ve been skiing since I was 2, and racing since I was 5 or 6,” the Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Prep senior said. “My dad had me on a harness and was getting me down the hill. I’ve been skiing since then, and I think it’s helped me a lot.”
It was simply a matter of following in the bootsteps of two older sisters who also started skiing just as early — Paige, at age 2, and Olivia, at age 3 (because her birthday falls in winter).
Really, how much skiing does a child do at that age?
“Quite a bit, believe it or not,” said the trio’s father, Mark. “We’d be on the slopes several hours a day on weekends. They would go at the base of the hill, and we’d leave a radio at the base of the hill with the day care. When they wanted to come back out they would radio us, and then we skied down and dressed them up and go back out.”
Paige, Olivia and Grant shared their parents’ love of skiing to the point that each were Catholic League skiing champions several times over. Paige won two titles until Olivia picked up the string and won four more while each competing for Bloomfield Hills Marian during the last decade.
“Then she passed it off to Grant, and he’s won four times in a row,” Mark said.
Grant made it look easy at Mt. Brighton on Feb. 7. His pair of runs down the slopes of Mt. Brighton took a combined 35.78 seconds, nearly two seconds better than the runner-up, teammate Cooper Eaton.
“I think it was a really good set this year for the slalom,” Grant said. “I was really able to get my skis out there and rip it. Compared to the other years it’s been good sets, but I feel this was really good snow conditions; everything was perfect today, and it was pretty exciting.”
Along with St. Mary’s 1-2 finish in slalom, the Eaglets got another first place as senior Cameron Morley won giant slalom with 28.72 seconds for two runs, just five-hundredths of a second better than University of Detroit Jesuit’s Porter Miller-Wright. Weymouth was third in the event.
That up-front strength, along with several other St. Mary’s athletes reaching the medal stand, made it possible for the Eaglets to win their third consecutive Catholic League title. St. Mary’s totaled a low score of 47 points, ahead of University of Detroit Jesuit (79) and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook (82.5) in the top three.
“We came into this expecting we were going to win, and pull off three wins in a row,” Morley said. “Individual sweeps, I think we definitely expected that as well; and we definitely expected to have several people in the top 10. I believe our team’s been doing exceptionally well this year, and in the past three years we’ve also swept the top 10. I believed this year was just going to be a continuation.”
“St. Mary’s is skiing well,” the elder Weymouth said. “Cameron Morley and my son have been together since kindergarten, and Cameron’s hit a new gear. He won his first giant slalom ever a couple of weeks ago, and he won tonight in (giant slalom) by a couple of hundredths (of seconds) and came from behind. Grant had won the first run; Cameron’s just really on the money right now. I think St. Mary’s should be able to make states; hopefully they’ll have some impact when they get up there.”
Not only does Mark Weymouth have a keen eye for ski racing, but he gets to celebrate an additional championship. Weymouth coaches the girls at Marian, and they won their first Catholic League title in five years — the Mustangs’ first since Weymouth’s daughters helped them collect seven in a row between 2009 and 2016.
Marian totaled 43 points at Mt. Brighton, narrowly ahead of Farmington Hills Mercy (48). Four-time defending champion Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood was third (71). The Mustangs won despite having a young roster, with two freshmen, three sophomores and one senior.
One of those freshmen, Emma Borgula, finished first in the giant slalom with a combined time of 29.31, leading four Mustangs in the event’s top 10. Borgula was also second in the slalom (41.28), just ahead of teammate Agatha Valka, who was third (42.39). Miki Williams of Farmington Hills Mercy won the slalom event (41.10).
“Emma’s a freshman, and she’s just kind of still in awe, but she comes from a ski family too,” coach Weymouth said. “Her sister, Bella, skied with my daughters going back, so she was around a lot of those team titles. Her twin brother, Luke, is skiing for Brother Rice, and he’s doing well. I’ve got the better (twin) right now but we’ll see how it goes from here — boys mature later.”
“So far, I’m beating him right now, but he really wants to beat me soon,” Emma said. “I think I’m pushing him to be better.”
Now that the Weymouths have finished their championship runs, Mark wouldn’t be surprised if the Borgulas might be the next family to slalom into the spotlight.
“The Catholic League teams are tight-knit,” he said. “We know the skiers very well, and a lot of them are skiing together. Because of the Borgulas being at Brother Rice and Marian, I’ve been blessed to ski with Emma ever since she was a 4- or 5-year-old girl. That’s why she’s going so fast.”
Next, ski teams turn their attention toward the Michigan High School Athletic Association regional competitions, which will be held across the state from Feb. 14-17. The top three squads at each regional advance to the state final meets, which take place Feb. 28 at Boyne Mountain in Boyne Falls (Division 1) and Schuss Mountain in Bellaire (Division 2).
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