Emeralds' Nagy a Hidden Gem No Longer
May 10, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
An opposing golf coach joked this spring that he'll always be able to say he beat Manistique's Michael Nagy – when Nagy was 12.
Other opposing coaches consider it a privilege to grant their players the opportunity to walk a match with the reigning Upper Peninsula champion.
What does Nagy mean to U.P. golf? His signing with the University of Tennessee last fall might be considered on par with a basketball player going to a power league like the Atlantic Coast Conference, or a football player heading to the Big 12.
All happen – but rarely, especially to U.P. athletes playing warm-weather sports. Plus, when Nagy signed in November, he guaranteed he’ll become only the second Division I athlete in any sport from Manistique High since Ron Rubick finished his football career at Michigan State in 1963.
“I thought it was a remarkable stat,” Nagy said. “It makes me want to do good and keep getting better.”
Nagy received a Second Half High 5 this week as he puts the finishing touches on a career that has included Upper Peninsula individual championships in 2009 and 2011 and a runner-up finish in 2010 when he fell in a two-hole tie-breaker.
Though the story of a star golfer emerging from the cold-weather north gets told on occasion, a feat like Nagy’s is rather uncommon.
Although high school season starts in mid-March, in Manistique it takes until the start of May for the weather to come around completely.
And while some bigger towns have indoor domes or other facilities where players can hit balls during the winter, Nagy’s indoor practice facility is a net in his garage, plus another smaller net he uses for chipping.
But this fall, he'll begin his college career with the Volunteers, who play in the Southeastern Conference and like many schools in the south fill most of the roster with players from states in warmer climates that allow for more play throughout the year.
“Mike is very hard-working, very humble. That would be the word for it,” Emeralds coach Deb Taylor said. “He has just blown everybody away when he plays. But he’s not the one to go bragging about it.”
Each Peninsula has its own MHSAA Finals for golf, meaning Nagy gets to see the best from the rest of the state only during summer events – the closest of which is a three-hour drive from home, with most more than six. He made trips about twice a month last summer, spending most of July playing in Wisconsin, and still had the kind of success that ranked him among the best in this state for his age group.
Golf isn’t the most popular sport among his Manistique friends. Nagy also played basketball – he set a school record this season with six 3-pointers in a game – but most of his course time spent with friends is low-key.
With golf teammates, he won’t give suggestions unless asked. But players on his and opposing teams no doubt benefit from his presence.
“A lot of coaches now say they are putting so and so with Mike today, (or) they want someone to golf with Mike,” Taylor said. “It makes them better players too. They want that competition.”
Although Nagy also has a job at his home course, Indian Lake in Manistique, he didn’t grow up in a golfing family by the traditional definition. His older brother was friends with Steve Larson, a Manistique grad who went on to become the 2006 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year at Grand Valley State. At 11 or 12, following his brother and Larson, Nagy started giving the game a try.
“I just kinda got hooked on it,” he said.
A year later, Nagy began taking lessons from former Rock Mid-Peninsula standout Casey VanDamme – who also played collegiately, rose up the teaching ladder and became Tennessee’s assistant coach in 2009.
VanDamme told Volunteers’ head coach Jim Kelson about Nagy, and Kelson came to watch him play – and was sold.
Par at Indian Lakes is 36, and Nagy’s average the last four seasons usually has hovered around that mark. He’s at 35 for nine holes currently, and set a school record as a sophomore with a 31. Although he wasn’t sure if it is an 18-hole school record, Nagy shot a 66 in last year’s Mid-Peninsula Athletic Conference championship tournament at Gwinn’s Red Fox Run. He shot a 60 at last summer's Indian Lake's club championship to set that course's record.
He shot a 74 to win Wednesday’s Negaunee Kiwanis Invitational by five shots – the fourth time he’s won that tournament. He’ll go for his third MHSAA championship the first weekend in June – and then leave a legacy that could go unmatched for years to come. Click to read more about Nagy's dream playing partners and future plans.
PHOTO: Manistique's Michael Nagy has signed with the University of Tennessee and is set to become his high school's first Division I college athlete since 1961. (Photo courtesy of the Manistique Pioneer Tribune.)
Coldwater Sends 7 Shot Putters to Finals
May 26, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Individually, Coldwater’s shot putters might not be the most sizable guys muscling up to the pit at this weekend’s MHSAA Track & Field Finals.
But as a group, the Cardinals might be the largest ever to advance to championship weekend – and perhaps the most athletic as well.
Coldwater has qualified an incredible seven shot putters for the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals at Zeeland.
They’ve been produced by throws coach Mike McConnell, one of the state’s more reputable in those events. But the magnificent seven also are a product of all-around athleticism – six are three-sport athletes, and the seventh plays two sports.
It’s difficult to track if seven qualifying shot putters from the same school was a first-time accomplishment at an MHSAA Regional. But it’s more than fair to call it rare.
“We have three seniors that are the cornerstone of our throwing team, but through the course of this year we have had three juniors and a freshman that have stepped up with them to make us, what I like to believe, one of the best throwing teams in the state,” Coldwater head boys track & field coach Jeff Schorfhaar said. “A lot of this has to do with the athleticism of our throwers … (and) I believe, and of course I am biased, that (McConnell) is one of the best throwing coaches in the state of Michigan.
“This will be something that we will remember for a long time, no matter what happens Saturday at Zeeland.”
McConnell’s work speaks for itself over two decades of Finals placers. He’s had at least one thrower score at an MHSAA Finals in 22 of the last 24 seasons at Coldwater and formerly Camden-Frontier. Highlighting some of the most recent successes, Coldwater’s Logan Targgart won shot put in Division 2 in 2015 and discus in 2014.
Senior Connor Covert, who finished fifth in both shot put and discus at the 2016 LP Division 2 Finals, led a group of Cardinals that took the top seven places in shot put at the Regional two weeks ago in Mason. Four throwers tossed personal records – third-place freshman Dylan Targgart, fifth-place junior Nathan Spray, sixth-place junior Cole Targgart and seventh-place senior Colin Klein.
Covert and senior runner-up Sam DeMeester advanced to the Finals by finishing among the top two in the event. The other five Coldwater throwers cleared the automatic qualifying standard of 48 feet, 5 inches. Fourth-place junior Zach Gipple joined the personal record-setters with his third-farthest toss of this season.
DeMeester and Gipple also competed at the Finals in shot put last season, DeMeester just missing the medal stand with a ninth place finish. Covert’s 54-7 at this year’s Regional was half an inch farther than last year’s Finals throw. He, Dylan Targgart and Cole Targgart also made the Finals in discus, Covert and Dylan Targgart finishing first and second, respectively, at the Regional with Cole Targgart coming in fourth but clearing the automatic qualifying standard of 142-0.
The Coldwater boys track & field team is enjoying another memorable season as a whole and will be seeking a fourth straight top-10 Finals finish and winning its league and that Regional earlier this month.
Last season, they Cardinals finished eighth as a team at the LP Division 2 Finals, but only 3.5 points out of fifth. Theys were ranked fifth in the final Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association LP Division 2 poll two weeks ago before finishing ahead of No. 3 Battle Creek Harper Creek at both the Regional and league meets.
Block, Pilgrims Power to 1st League Title
We told the story at the start of this month of Lansing Christian junior Dawson Block, a multi-sport athlete contributing to three teams this spring – golf, baseball and track & field.
He’s now also a champion.
Block helped the Pilgrims to their first-ever league title in boys golf, as Lansing Christian finished one point ahead of Olivet in the Greater Lansing Activities Conference standings based on league jamborees and the end-of-season tournament.
Lansing Christian topped the standings heading into that final tournament, at Michigan State’s Forest Akers East, needing to finish no lower than second to clinch the title. Furthermore, they had to play without two seniors who were on a class trip to Washington, D.C.
With only five players available, the Pilgrims did finish second, just three strokes behind the Eagles. Parker Jamieson and Andrew Preiskorn were co-medalists with 83s, and Block shot a fourth-place 86 – in doing so, he earned the seventh and final spot on the all-league first team.
Block and his golf team continue their season Thursday with a Division 4 Regional at Hastings Country Club, seeking to make the MHSAA Finals for the first time. His baseball team will play in a Division 4 District on Saturday at Potterville. And while Block didn’t advance to the Division 4 Track & Field Finals, he did run a personal record and fifth-place 10:44.62 in the 3,200 meters at his Regional after finishing fourth in the 1,600 in 4:51.84.
PHOTOS: (Top) Coldwater’s throwers and throws coach, from left: Cole Targgart, Dylan Targgart, Zach Gipple, Colin Klein, coach Mike McConnell, Connor Covert, Sam DeMeester and Nathan Spray. (Middle) Lansing Christian’s boys golf team celebrates its first league title. (Photos courtesy of Mason and Lansing Christian’s athletic departments, respectively.)