Five proves key for Cougars in D3
June 15, 2013
By Greg Chrapek
Special to Second Half
Five was the key number during the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Boys Golf Final at the Bedford Valley Golf Course in Battle Creek.
Division 3 powerhouse Jackson Lumen Christi was aiming for its fifth straight championship, while Lansing Catholic was looking to snap Lumen’s string and win the fifth golf title in Cougars history.
For two days the two powers battled it out. And in the end it was Lansing Catholic that came out ahead.
Thanks to a strong Saturday, the Cougars finished with a team score of 613 to defeat Lumen Christi by five strokes.
The seeds for Lansing’s Catholic’s title actually were sewn last season when the Cougars recorded a five of another kind – finishing fifth at last year’s Final.
That team, however, had no seniors in the lineup and all five starters were back this spring.
“We had high expectations going into the season,” Lansing Catholic coach Charlie Furney said. “We pretty much had our entire team coming back. We set a goal of improving on that fifth-place finish, and we figured we had enough talent to finish on top. And that is what we did.”
Balance was key to the victory as all five Cougars finished within 15 strokes of each other.
Junior Brent Marshall led the way as he carded rounds of 73 on the first day and 74 on the second to finish with a 147. That score was good enough for second place as an individual – but the team title was more on Marshall’s mind.
“It felt great,” Marshall said. “That was our goal going into the season, and it felt great to fulfill it.”
Marshall was not the only Lansing Catholic golfer to finish among the top 10 individually, as senior Jacob Johnson put together rounds of 79 and 73 to finish with a 152 total and in a tie for ninth.
The Cougars also received a 156 from Adam Elias, a 160 from Joey Jurkovic and a 162 from Niko Voutsaras.
“The key was our number five guy Adam Elias,” Marshall said. “He shot a 75 on the second day. He really came through and helped us push ahead of Lumen Christi.”
That 75 came in handy for the Cougars, who trailed Lumen Christi by seven strokes, 304-311, heading into the final day.
“We have two very good players in Johnson and Marshall,” Furney said. “We knew that in every tournament we would have a couple of low scores. The key to our success is our depth, and the number three and four players. In the District and Regional our fourth score was 89. The key for us was to get that fourth score in the low 80s, and that’s what we did.”
Lansing Catholic’s fourth score on Friday was an 81 from Elias, while on Saturday the fourth score was an 80 from Voutsaras.
While the title was the fifth for the Cougars, it was the fourth under the watch of Furney. Furney also coached the Cougars to titles in 2001, 2004 and 2005.
“Every one is special,” Furney said. “This year’s team was a little different in that we had two returning all-state players.”
With all but Johnson returning next season, the Cougars will be looking to add back-to-back titles for the second time in 10 years.
“We graduate our best player, and it will be a big loss,” Marshall said, “but we have all our other players returning, and we hope that we can make up for it.”
For runner-up Jackson Lumen Christi, a fifth straight title was not something that was expected heading into the season.
“We lost five of our top six players from last year’s team,” Lumen Christi coach Dave Swartout said. “It was really a rebuilding year for us. We didn’t start out very well this season, but the kids really worked hard at their game.”
That hard work was evident on the first day of the tournament as the Titans totaled a 305. The Titans then finished with a 314 on Saturday.
Connor Maddalena led the way for the Titans as he finished third individually with a two-day total of 148. Dean Hitt finished in a tie for fifth place as he totaled 150 for the tournament. Jacob Anuszkiewicz and Henry Hitt both totaled 160 for the tournament.
“They played very well,” Swartout said. “They played well enough to win.”
Individually, senior Sam Weatherhead of Grand Rapids West Catholic defended his title as he claimed medalist honors for a second straight season. Playing on his future home course, the Michigan State University recruit won the title going away by seven strokes.
After shooting a 72 on Friday, Weatherhead turned his game up a notch and carded a 68 on Saturday to finish with a 140 total.
“It was a good way to go out my senior year,” Weatherhead said. “I was down a couple of strokes after the first round. I came back on Saturday and shot my first round in the 60s all season. It felt good especially after I was in the 60s a couple of times last year.”
Weatherhead credited his work on the green as being the key for his second-day charge.
“I had a lot of putts fall for me on Saturday,” Weatherhead said. “I was coming close and burning the edges on Friday, and on Saturday they were falling. I probably hit about the same amount of greens and fairways on Friday, but the 15-footers were falling for me and that was the difference on Saturday.”
Weatherhead built momentum early Saturday and kept it going throughout the day.
“I think I made six birdies and two bogeys,” Weatherhead said. “I had a couple of key up-and-downs coming into the last five holes. I thought the course set up well for me. It was a nice way to cap off the year.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Lansing Catholic's Brent Marshall watches a putt roll toward the cup on the way to his individual runner-up finish at Bedford Valley. (Middle) Grand Rapids West Catholic senior Sam Weatherhead won the individual championship for the second straight season. (Click to see more at HighSchoolsSportsScene.com.)
Close Call Falls B.C. Lakeview's Way
June 15, 2013
By Tom Kendra
Special to Second Half
EAST LANSING – As the scores were being posted at Saturday’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Boys Golf Final, a familiar, painful and sinking feeling came over senior Matt Garland and his Battle Creek Lakeview teammates.
"We can’t lose by one stroke again – that’s what I was thinking,” said Garland, who was individual medalist one year ago as a junior when his team finished one stroke behind Birmingham Brother Rice. “For a little bit, it looked like that was going to happen.”
Instead, Battle Creek Lakeview and Plymouth tied with identical two-day totals of 601, then Lakeview was awarded the championship based on the first tiebreaker – combined No. 5 player scores over the Friday and Saturday rounds at the Finals at Forest Akers West.
Muskegon Mona Shores and Detroit Catholic Central tied for third at 610 and Traverse City West and Saline tied for fifth at 617.
Losing the team championship on a tiebreaker was a tough end to a fantastic day for Plymouth, which was ranked No. 7 coming into the weekend but nearly stunned the field by rallying Saturday with a four-person team score of 299 – best in the field by three strokes.
That heartbreaking team defeat was tempered somewhat a bit later, when Plymouth senior Kyle Rodes closed out his prep career by winning a three-hole playoff over White Lake Lakeland junior Alex Kleckner to capture individual medalist honors.
Rodes thought he had won medalist honors after backing up an even-par round of 72 on Friday with a 1-under par 71 on Saturday, for a 143 total. But midway through a post-round interview, tournament officials posted the day’s best score – a 69 from Kleckner, giving him a 143 total as well and setting the stage for more golf.
The duo then played Hole 18, then Hole 10, before Rodes won it in dramatic fashion by snaking in a 19-foot birdie putt in front of a big gallery.
“It was fun making a putt like that in front of all those people,” said Rodes, who will play golf at Eastern Michigan University. “It’s exciting that I won, but bittersweet because we didn’t win as a team.
“We are very bitter that it was determined by a tie-breaker and not on the course, but that’s the way it goes.”
The great putt by Rodes was just a continuation of his hot putting throughout the two-day Finals. Rodes made a 30-foot, breaking eagle putt on the par-five 13th hole and backed that up by draining a 40-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole. That two-hole, three-under par stretch helped Rodes win medalist honors and nearly helped the Wildcats pull off a shocking and improbable team championship.
Plymouth made its move on Saturday as a trio of other teams expected to battle for the team title – Muskegon Mona Shores, Detroit Catholic Central and White Lake Lakeland – were unable to generate any kind of momentum.
That turned Saturday’s round on a warm and unusually calm Forest Akers West course into a two-team race between No. 1-ranked Battle Creek Lakeview and unheralded Plymouth.
In the end, while Plymouth had the best individual player in Rodes, Lakeview had the best team from No. 1 to No. 5.
“Nobody knows the value of one stroke better than we do,” said Lakeview coach Anthony Evans. “Our experience of coming so close last year really helped us this year, no question. It took every single one of our guys to win this thing today.”
He’s not kidding.
Garland, the defending Division 1 medalist, actually finished third on his team this year at 74-77-151. Senior Landon Osborne (75-73-148) led the Spartans, followed by sophomore Matt Alderink (73-77-150). Others figuring in the scoring for Lakeview were freshman-to-watch-out-for Andrew Walker (77-76-153) and sophomore Gabe Penegor (80-76-156).
Lakeview needed each and every one of those strokes as the tie with Plymouth was broken by taking the score of the No. 5 player each day. Lakeview had an 80 and a 77 from its fifth-best shooter each day for a 157, compared to 161 for Plymouth.
“This whole season has been about our depth,” said Garland, who led the Spartans to a Regional championship last weekend on their home course. “We know how to grind it out when we have to. I didn’t play well at all this weekend, but I tried to get the best that I could out of my round.”
Coach Evans singled out his two sophomores, Alderink and Penegor, for never giving up and making the dream of the school’s first championship since 2008 a reality.
Alderink bogeyed his first four holes on Saturday and appeared headed for a big number. Instead, he righted the ship and played the remaining 14 holes in 1-over par, including an eagle 3 on No. 13.
Penegor came through in an even bigger way. When it appeared that Lakeview might once again lose by one shot, it was Penegor’s 76 as the No. 5 player that created the tie and then the Spartans’ championship via the tie-breaker.
“Those two kids came through for us, and I couldn’t be more proud,” said Evans.
Rockford’s AJ Varekois (147) placed third and Detroit Catholic Central’s Phil Ritchie and Lakeview’s Osborne tied for fourth individually at 148.
Rounding out the Top 10 were Canton’s Donnie Trosper, Plymouth’s John Tatti and Saline’s Ian Martin tied for sixth at 149, and Grosse Pointe South’s Joe Becker, Traverse City Central’s Winton Munch and Lakeview’s Alderink tied for ninth at 150.
PHOTOS: (Top) Battle Creek Lakeview’s boys golf team poses with its Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship trophy. (Middle) Plymouth’s Kyle Rodes fires a shot on his way to becoming the individual champion at Forest Akers West. (Click to see more at HighSchoolsSportsScene.com.)