West Iron County Takes Back Title Trophy
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
May 29, 2015
ISHPEMING — Riley Thompson was just 5 years old when the West Iron County boys were last crowned Upper Peninsula Division 2 golf champions.
Thompson, now a junior at West Iron, earned medalist honors Friday and helped the Wykons gain their first U.P. title in 12 years with 331 strokes.
“We’re very pleased,” said West Iron coach Mark Martini. “We took the team picture the same way as we did 12 years ago, with the trophy on my grandson’s head. As coaches we more or less talk about the team aspect of it. It’s kind of neat when both things happen. It’s kind of a two-way street. The medalist helps the team and the team helps the medalist.”
Iron Mountain was runner-up at 336, followed by Norway with 338 strokes, Hancock 348 and Ishpeming Westwood 361.
Thompson fired a 74 at Wawonowin Country Club on this cloudy and warm day, to finish four strokes better than Norway’s Austin Hansen.
Thompson shot 45 through the midway point and followed that with a 38 over his second nine.
“I just played well today,” said Thomson, who became West Iron’s first individual champion since 2005. “My goal was to keep the ball in play, and I was able to do that. I got pretty good distance on my tee shots, which set me up for the approach. I had good irons on the approach shots and gave myself a chance on the greens, then I made my putts. A four-stroke victory is not what I expected. I thought it was closer than that. I just wanted to par the last hole and I got a birdie putt, which was a big relief.
“This is the first U.P. title for our school in quite a while, which makes this all that much sweeter. One is icing on the cake for the other.”
Manistique sophomore Louie Berry and Iron Mountain’s Austin Blomquist shared third at 79, with Hancock’s Dylan Paavola fifth at 80.
“Louie has also been working real hard all year,” said Taylor. “We’re a young team. We’re looking for bigger things next year.”
Raymond Miron of L’Anse placed sixth at 82. Iron Mountain’s Matt Opolka and West Iron’s Kyle Maki and Max Maloney tied for seventh with 83 strokes. Westwood’s Connor and Cameron Mason, Manistique’s Zack Powers and Norway’s Justin Anderson finished in a four-way tie for 10th at 86.
PHOTOS: (Top) L’Anse’s Raymond Miron fires an approach shot during his round at Wawonwin Country Club. (Middle) Riley Thomson of West Iron County puts in some work on the putting green following his round Friday during the Division 2 Final. Thomson was medalist with a 74, including a 1-under 35 on the front nine. (Photos by Keith Shelton.)
NorthPointe Follows Ace to Team Title
June 9, 2018
By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian junior Erik Fahlen should consider playing in rain more often.
After all, it’s hard to imagine many better scores being turned in if there had been perfect weather on the second day of the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Boys Golf Finals at Forest Akers East.
Fahlen shot a great score during Friday’s first round, firing a 71, but did even better amid far more miserable conditions during the second and final day.
The steady rain was no hindrance to Fahlen, who shot a 5-under par score of 67 to win the medalist honor.
More importantly to Fahlen, it wasn’t the only first-place prize he got his hands on.
Thanks to four golfers breaking 80, NorthPointe Christian captured its first MHSAA team title trophy since 1996 with a sizzling score of 595. (NorthPointe's first two championships in boys golf came under its former name, Grand Rapids Baptist.)
It all started with Fahlen, who said he never had shot a score that low in rain before.
“Rain is always a battle keeping all your stuff dry,” he said. “It’s always hard to keep focus, and that was the important thing for today. In Florida weather I’ve shot this score, but not in Michigan rain.”
Fahlen had six birdies and one bogey on Saturday, finishing three strokes overall ahead of Thomas Hursey of Suttons Bay (67-74-141).
For NorthPointe Christian, it was a culmination of a year’s worth of anticipation after they left Forest Akers East with the runner-up trophy last year, but knowing every single golfer in its lineup was coming back.
“As soon as we left, we said we have to come back next year and tear it up,” Fahlen said. “All year long, that was on our team’s mind. That was our goal the whole season, to work hard for this exact day. We came out and accomplished it.”
NorthPointe Christian coach Erik Fahlen, Sr., said his squad shot its best 36-hole score at the tournament “by a lot.”
“It was a great day,” Fahlen, Sr. said. “The kids handled the rain well today. The kids came ready to play.”
Two-time reigning team champion Clarkston Everest Collegiate and Kalamazoo Christian tied for second with a 628.
Everest Collegiate entered the day just six shots behind NorthPointe Christian and saw Mitch Lowney shoot a 70 to finish with a two-day total of 145.
But NorthPointe Christian had too much depth for anyone else to compete with this time.
“You can’t win on the first day but you can lose on the first day, and we didn’t,” Everest Collegiate coach David Smith said. “We kept ourselves close. We thought that would send a little message, but it didn’t. They kept firing bullets, and we couldn’t do anything about it.”
Colin Sikkenga led the way for Kalamazoo Christian with a final total of 143 (72-71) to tie for third individually with Clinton’s Austin Fauser.
PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian poses for a photo after clinching the LP Division 4 title. (Middle) Everest Collegiate’s Mia Korns connects on a drive. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)