D2 Champs Follow 1st-Place Friday with Celebration Saturday
By
Tim Robinson
Special for MHSAA.com
June 12, 2021
BATTLE CREEK — Brockton English had dreamed for more than a year about winning the individual Lower Peninsula Division 2 golf championship, but he was far from confident going into this weekend’s tournament at Bedford Valley Golf Club.
“I played in a big invitational in Indiana earlier in the week, and I played really bad. Just really bad,” said the Pontiac Notre Dame Prep senior. “I knew the (Bedford Valley) course was going to be easier than what I played in Indiana, but, still, I was a little nervous.”
A fast start Friday, with five birdies in the first 10 holes, cured the nerves, and he carded identical rounds of five-under 67 to win the individual title by five strokes over Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice’s Lorenzo Pinili, who shot 68 on Saturday to finish at 139.
Pinili’s Brother Rice team won the team title, however, recording identical rounds of 290 to finish 18 strokes ahead of Flint Powers Catholic.
Warriors coaches Leon Braisted and David Sass, who co-coached the Bloomfield Hills Marian girls to the Division 3 title in the fall, became the first coaches to win Finals with boys and girls golf teams in the same school year.
“It’s a very good feeling,” Braisted said. “We’re tickled pink, and we’re going to let it soak in. It’s been a very productive school year.”
Brother Rice got off to a rough start on Saturday as the pressure of being the leader at the halfway point took its toll early.
“Part of that was nerves,” said senior Colin O’Rourke, who finished with a 74-70—144 score. “Around hole 4 or 5 our five guy settled in, and we started playing.”
The Warriors led by eight strokes over Flint Powers going into Saturday and added 10 strokes to that lead.
“That was pretty special,” O’Rourke said. “We caught a groove and never looked back.”
Pinili shot a 68 on Saturday after teammate Matt Baer had done so the day before.
“I was patient the whole day,” Pinili said. “I was giving myself chances by sticking it to 10 feet or less (from the cup). A couple (putts) didn’t fall, but I stayed patient and most of them did. I got lucky on some shots and I got some breaks and put a good round together.”
While Pinili was staying patient, English had some nervous moments down the stretch.
“On 16 I was trying to go for the green in two to get another birdie and two-putt, but I pulled my 2-iron way left of the green, next to a tree, and I had to take an unplayable lie,” he said. “That really put me on edge. I took a bogey there, and I knew Lorenzo was really close.
“On 17, I was really nervous because I had to sink a 4-footer to save par," he added, "and then I was able to roll in a birdie on 18, and that’s when I knew I had my momentum back.”
That last putt, English said, was bliss.
“It’s a weird feeling. You can’t think about it too much because you don’t want to make a mistake,” he said. “But the last putt is a great feeling. There’s no pressure any more. You make it, or you two-putt. It doesn’t matter.”
For O’Rourke, his last putt was bittersweet.
“It was a sad and happy moment at the same time,” he said. “It was my last high school tournament, but I’m fortunate to take (golf) to the next level and play in college.”
While O’Rourke will play at the University of Dayton next year, the Warriors will have both Pinili and Baer, who was a junior this year, back in 2022.
But this year’s Brother Rice team was talented, deep — and unselfish.
“We have nine guys who averaged 78 or better for 18 holes,” Braisted said. “We were blessed with talent, and we were in a lot of pressure situations. We’re in a strong league, and that experience rubbed off for us today.”
English, who will play golf on scholarship at Drexel University, credited his personal swing coach for keeping him ready through the winter, and his coaches at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep for preparing him mentally during the season.
“Mike Erskine, Kevin Ogg and John Briceland were always pushing me,” he said. “Every practice, they pushed me, giving me the hardest shots to hit against my teammates, and we had some putting contests to put some pressure on me. They didn’t let me stay satisfied. They kept me hungry for more.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice celebrates its Division 2 team championship Saturday at Bedford Valley. (Middle) Flint Powers Catholic’s Robert Burns chips during his second round. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)
Mona Shores Packs a Powerful Swing
May 2, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The chances are good Muskegon Mona Shores will continue facing more senior-laden opponents this spring.
But just because the Sailors are made up of all juniors and freshmen, it doesn’t mean they don’t carry significant experience onto the course.
Juniors Reed Hrynewich, Andrew Van Aels, Joel Maire and Eric Kastelic all were among the team’s top five scorers at last season’s Division 1 Final at Oakland University. And although none placed among the individual top 10, the team finished fifth overall.
“We’re more poised,” Mona Shores coach Tom Wilson said. “We were fifth at the state finals last year, and I think there was a little bit of intimidation there. It was the first time the whole team had been there – Reed had been there as an individual – and I think they’ve picked up a lot from that.”
Mona Shores’ golf team gets Second Half’s team High 5 this week after winning, by a stroke, the always-competitive Traverse City Central Invitational this weekend at Spruce Run and The Wolverine.
The Sailors didn’t finish first in either round over the two-day event. But they finished second in both, shooting 309 on Friday at Spruce Run and 297 on Saturday at The Wolverine for a combined score of 606 strokes – one fewer than Division 1 top-ranked Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central and two fewer than then-No. 5 Traverse City West.
Mona Shores is ranked No. 2 in Division 1. And as evidence of the respect given to the Traverse City tournament, three more teams from the weekend’s field have since been added to that state poll’s top 10.
Hrynewich shot a 69 to finish second at the Wolverine and a 75 to finish fifth at Spruce Run, and Van Aels finished eighth individually in both weekend rounds. Maire and Kastelic also both shot at least 82 in both rounds, and together the four have been making significant contributions since the start of high school.
“They were kind of leading the pack when they were freshmen,” said Wilson – who has led four teams to MHSAA championships, including two over the last 11 seasons.
But the juniors represent part of a line-up loaded with potential. Freshmen Glen Kastelic and Mitchell White fill the remaining starting spots. At Monday’s O-K Black Jamboree at Watermark Golf Course, also a win, both freshmen shot 36, with Hrynewich 37 and Van Aelt a 38.
Hrynewich is a significant presence at the top of the lineup. He’s been an all-stater his first two seasons – he tied for sixth in at the Division 1 Final as a freshman – and also was a hockey all-stater this winter.
A skillful swing runs in the family. His father Tim played two seasons in the NHL for the Pittsburgh Penguins. And Reed’s twin sister also is among the state’s golfing elite – a three-time top-five Finals placer as Mona Shores’ girls golf team has won the last three Division 2 championships.
The Kastelic brothers also are strong hockey players, and Wilson said there’s certainly a connection between the two sports and their reliance on strong hand-eye coordination.
He’s had strong hockey players lead some of his other top Mona Shores teams – and this one is beginning to show a championship look as well.
PHOTO: Mona Shores junior Reed Hrynewich lines up a putt during last season's Division 1 Final, where the Sailors finished fifth.