TRAVERSE CITY -- Winter, spring or fall ... Traverse City St. Francis won through it all.
Starting with an individual state wrestling championship and continuing through three team state titles, it's safe to say that 2008 was great for the Gladiators. St. Francis' success this calendar year makes it the Record-Eagle story of the year.
"That's an outstanding year," St. Francis athletic director Tom hardy said. "It's a lot of hard work by a lot of kids to achieve goals as individuals and as a team. It's a testament not only to where our kids are at, but kids in general and the amount of work they put in.
"We've been blessed to have a lot of good kids in a lot of different sports. To have a wide variety of sports represented is really neat."
The year of the Gladiator was capped this fall by a pair of state titles.
Senior Marley Martin and junior Chelsea Deisler started the championship parade this fall when the two rode off with the school's first Division D state equestrian title.
"That takes a lot of dedication," Hardy said. "People don't realize that even though they perform in the fall, it's a year-round thing."
Two days after Thanksgiving, St. Francis added to its title haul with a Division 7 football title in coach Greg Vaughan's first season. St. Francis, which lost in the state final the year before, fulfilled a prophecy of sorts with a 41-13 victory over Ubly at Ford Field.
Vaughan became the third straight St. Francis coach to win a football title in his first season. Josh Sellers won it all in his first turn at the helm of his alma mater in 2003, following the mythical state championship of his father, Larry, in 1974.
Hardy said Vaughan -- who became the third in state history to win a football title as a player and a coach -- made the transition a smooth one.
"We've had three first-year coaches win state football titles in 30-plus years, so Greg was destined to win that," Hardy said. "He certainly had a lot of talent, but a lot of coaches have talent and don't get all of it out.
"Greg blended a lot of things nicely, from working with a coaching staff that had been there for a long time to the kids."
"The season was a season of high expectations," Vaughan said. "But it was also a season where our kids grew a lot. They figured out how the push themselves further, that there's another level that can play at and that they can come together as team."
Vaughan said the seeds for a championship run began at halftime in the second week when the Glads trailed Saginaw Nouvel 17-0. Even though St. Francis wound up losing that game 17-14
"Nouvel made us realize that we had to get after things at a much higher level, that it wasn't going to just come to us," Vaughan said. "It motivated us in a way that the seniors stepped up and took ownership."
That game against Nouvel was the last loss for St. Francis, which finished the regular season with an 8-1 record and followed it up with five playoff victories.
Even though St. Francis never lost after that day on Sept. 5, Vaughan said the Gladiators never stopped trying to get better -- whether it was in a game or practicing in the snow at Thirlby Field the week prior to the semifinals.
"That's pretty rare for a high school team," Vaughan said.
Also losing just once en route to a state title was senior wrestler Andy Anderson. In just the fifth season of wrestling at St. Francis, Anderson posted a 43-1 record, winning the state championship at 160 pounds.
Anderson was also at his best when it counted most. After opening with a 19-2 technical fall in the first round, Anderson won three matches by major decision in cruising to the crown.
St. Francis, coming off back-to-back Division 4 runner-up finishes, was the favorite to win the boys golf title in the spring of 2008.
After the first day of the two-day state final, the Gladiators trailed Saugatuck by two shots. St. Francis won by 32.
"They played the way they should have that second day," Gladiators' coach Jim Hornyak said. "What they shot the second day -- I wouldn't put it in the phenomenal category -- was the way those boys can play."
In addition to the team title, St. Francis had three golfers finish in the top 10. Patrick Colburn was third overall, while Mike Dendrinos was fourth and Andrew Walukonis sixth.
"I was very proud of them," Hornyak said. "They went out and played smart. They didn't let little mistakes get to them, they just kept going.
"When you have three guys in the top six, that's usually a good sign."
While St. Francis has already won two state titles this fall, there doesn't seem to be a layoff to the winter sports season.
Both the girls and boys basketball teams are off to strong starts. The boys team is 4-0 and ranked third in the latest Associated Press Class C poll.
"That's not too bad of a year," Hornyak said.
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