Finals week or Florida

The 2004 Posen High School Senior Trip Club had spent nearly four years raising money for their spring break excursion to Florida?s Disney World. Trip club members raised money by selling candy, flipping hamburgers during the Posen Potato Festival weekend, and selling raffle tickets.

It usually takes the entire four years for seniors to raise the money, with the cost of this year?s trip at $1,162 per student. In some cases, graduating seniors wanting to join the club midway through their four years of high school won?t be accepted because there isn?t enough time to come up with the money.

FOUR SENIORS from the 2003-04 Viking basketball team, Luke Hentkowski, Russ Kamyszek, Ron Kroll, and Tom Woloszyk, all had raised their money but were prepared to not go. The boys would have turned their back on Florida to continue their playoff march into the Michigan High School Athletic Association finals week. The situation, which gives yet another meaning to March madness, came about as the Posen basketball team won a district championship, advanced to regionals in Newberry, and was one win away from the school?s first regional title in 37 years. A regional title would have meant a berth in the Class D elite eight and a quarterfinal game at Sault Ste. Marie, about the time they should have been in sunny Florida for spring break.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON before they were to board a charter bus to Newberry for their regional title game against Harbor Light Christian, the players said they wanted to win, but the predicament offered a wide range of emotions for the ball players. ?If we lose tonight, I?m happy because we go on to Florida,? said Woloszyk, five hours before the opening tipoff of Friday?s game. ?If we win tonight, I?m happy because it?s the first time in 37 years, so that?s awesome.?

?Whatever we do is cool,? said Kamyszek. Hentkowski said planning ahead wasn?t easy. As difficult as it was to think of possibly losing, the seniors had to pack two bags prior to Friday?s game, one for basketball and another for Florida. The players would need the suitcases to Florida after dropping the title game to Harbor Light, 51-44.

IN ADDITION to the pain of having their season and careers come to an end, the seniors weren?t able to drive back with the rest of the team. Arrangements had been made for the four to tra

vel back to Posen immediately, so they wouldn?t miss their flight. If the basketball team had advanced to quarterfinals and lost, arrangements had been made by Lou Ciarkowski, Trip Club advisor, for the boys to catch a flight out of Flint Wednesday morning, and at least take part in half of the vacation they had worked so hard for. Ciarkowski realized there could be a dilemma when Posen went on its 16-game winning streak.

?I think when they got to 11 — after they beat Mio — then I realized they had one heckuva team and it could cause a problem for the trip club going to Florida,? said Ciarkowski.

INITIAL ARRANGEMENTS for plane fare, hotel rooms, and admission to Disney World were made through an Alpena travel agent beginning last summer. It was about a month ago Ciarkowski told the travel agent of the potential situation. ?She was just beside herself because she knew she would have to be calling all of these places and trying to set things up,? he said. Ciarkowski, a member of the 1967 regional title team, wanted desperately to be at last Friday?s game, but had to wait by the phone for the results to see if he needed to change the accommodations.