Anne Somerville Besanceney
Images courtesy of Anne (Somerville) BesanceneyAnne (Somerville) Besanceney was an all-around great athlete, but she excelled in running. She graduated from Luther L. Wright High School in Ironwood with 12 varsity letters total, including letters from basketball, volleyball, track, and cross country. She was part of seven Upper Peninsula Champion Red Devils’ teams—four in track, two in cross country and one in volleyball. Her senior year (1998) was the fifth consecutive year that the Red Devils Girls track team won the Class C U.P. title. During this competition, Besanceney won the 800-meter run, 1600-meter run and helped win two relays. She still holds the Class C record for the 800 meter run, 2:21.27. At one time, Besanceney held six Red Devil Girls Track records. In both 1997 and 1998, Besanceney was named both Runner of the Year at the Dennis Simpson Track and Field Meet in Superior, Wisconsin, and Most Valuable Player for track by the West Pac Conference.
Becky (Drake) Cecconi was a very successful athlete in two sports while she attended Kingsford High School, gymnastics and track and field. In high school, she was named one of the area’s best track and field athletes among other competitors from Kingsford, Florence, West Iron County, Niagara, Norway, Iron Mountain and Forest Park High Schools. She was named best athlete in the 100 yard dash (11.65 seconds), 440 yard dash (61.3 seconds), and the high jump (5 feet 3 inches). In 1977, the Mining Journal questioned whether she was “untouchable” when she made an 18 foot, three inch long jump at the U.P Finals (still a U.P record). During her senior year at the 1979 U.P. Finals in Marquette, under Coach Marilyn Phillips, the Kingsford Girls Track and Field Team took first place with 59 points, beating out seven other teams. In total, the Kingsford girls won six firsts and Cecconi won three of those: the 100 meter dash (12.7 seconds), the 400 meter dash (1:00.3) and the long jump (5.31 meters). She also placed second in the high jump (149 meters). Cecconi finished her high school track career at the Great Northern Conference Track Championships in Escanaba. The Kingsford Girls took second place overall, but Cecconi won four events and broke three Great Northern Conference records.
You could say she was a natural. Growing up on the slopes of Ski Brule, Christy (Salonen) Provost was picked out by a local ski instructor for free private lessons. That early training helped her develop into the greatest champion in Michigan high school skiing. Skiing for West Iron County High School, Provost won the State Championship in Giant Slalom all four years, the slalom her senior year, and she qualified for the U.S. Nationals in her junior and senior years. Provost was a member of the Central Division (USSA) Junior Olympic Ski team from 1992-96 (she also continued to be a member through her first three years of college at NMU).
Still the holder of the U.P. record for career points in boys basketball (2,140 ), Dominic Jacobetti Jr. was a four-year standout at Negaunee St. Paul.