Cedarville's Trojans Make Another Championship Memory

By Todd Rose
Special for Second Half

June 4, 2021

GLADSTONE – The Cedarville Trojans went out with a bang for their school and the 2021 season Thursday afternoon in Gladstone, taking the overall team championship and placing first and second individually at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 3 Finals at the Oaks Caddyshack Club in Gladstone.

The Trojans, beginning this fall, will merge athletic programs with nearby DeTour and become the Islanders.

Cedarville carded a 403 to finish ahead of Engadine at 475 and Cooks Big Bay de Noc at 484.

Trojans teammates Zoe Autore (92) and Lauren Miller (97) finished first and second, respectively, in the individual standings.

“I knew we had a good shot with our girls team because all five of our girls are pretty solid players,” Cedarville coach Rob Freel said. “I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but I knew we would have a good shot at it, and I think they all played really well today.”

Cedarville's girls golf program won three Finals championships and finished runner-up three times, including in 2019. 

For both Autore and Miller, it was their best outing ever.

“It’s pretty decent because that’s never happened before,” said Autore. “I did a lot of firsts today, so that was good. (The 92) was my best. Even on nine, I’ve never shot that low before.”

Cedarville golf“My last nine could have been a little better, but it’s better than I’ve ever shot before,” Miller added.

Freel said both Autore and Miller stepped up to the occasion for the U.P. Finals.

“Zoe puts in a lot of extra work. She takes some private lessons ... and she’s always putting in extra time on the course,” Freel said. “Lauren plays a lot, too. They’re pretty solid players.”

Carney-Nadeau's Heidi Kirschner finished third individually with a score of 99.

“This is the best round of golf I’ve had in my entire life,” Kirschner said.

When the tournament began, Kirschner said she did not think third place was even a possibility.

“I haven’t been driving well the whole season, and today my drives were just on point and so were my irons, so it just kind of worked out,” she said.

Sarah Snyder of Powers North Central shot 100 and Cedarville’s Hayley Kohlmann 106 to round out the top five.

Also making the top 10 were Taylor Williams (Cedarville) and Madyson Permit (Ontonagon), tied for sixth at 108; Grace VanWormer (Cooks Big Bay de Noc) in eighth at 110, Emmy Bobula (Ontonagon) in ninth at 112 and Rayven Jacobsen (Crystal Falls Forest Park) 10th at 113.

Click for full results.

PHOTOS: (Top) Cedarville’s Zoe Autore tees off on No. 4 during Thursday’s Upper Peninsula Division 3 Final. (Middle) Teammate Lauren Miller sends an approach on the way to her individual runner-up finish. (Photos by Todd Rose.)

Portage Northern's Leinwand Driving to Contend Again, Lead Huskies' Rise

By Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com

August 23, 2022

PORTAGE — When she was 4 years old, KT Leinwand’s parents joined the Kalamazoo Country Club, she said, to give their children something to do during the summer months.

Southwest CorridorSpecial events for children included “fun things around the (golf) course with little kids and little putt-putt matches,” Leinwand recalled this week. “They just wanted to keep me busy.”

Little did she realize that those “fun things” would lead to a passion for golf that has catapulted Leinwand into becoming one of the top high school golfers in the state.

Last fall, as a Portage Northern sophomore, she finished second at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final.

What is more unusual is that no one in her family — her parents, three siblings or grandparents — plays golf.

By age 8, she was learning the finer points of the sport by attending clinics.

“I would come and play with my friends,” Leinwand said. “We met (KCC assistant pro at the time, now head pro) Kyle Horton, and I decided I wanted private lessons with him when I was 9.

“Kyle gave me the love of golf, and then I kept going. Then I went with another coach, Abby Pearson, and she made me love it even more. I just kept getting out there every day and playing. Been with her ever since.”

Northern girls golf coach Chris Andrews also led the school’s baseball team to a Division 1 title in 2019. Leinwand, who turned 16 two weeks ago, is the top golfer for the Huskies.

“We have obviously a really good No. 1 golfer in KT, which offsets a lot of scoring because she’s consistently in the low- to mid-70s,” Portage Northern coach Chris Andrews said. “So that gives us a little bit of a buffer for our fourth and fifth golfers.

“This year, we really have a good No. 2 and 3 golfer. We have a handful of girls trying to get us that fourth score we need. I’m looking at if we can get 100 or less out of that fourth scorer, we could be a state qualifier.”

The No. 2 golfer is senior Zoey Quinn.

“She’s gotten to the point where she’s actually a really, really good softball player, but she’s switching her passion to golf and wants to play in college,” Andrews said. “She shoots in the 80s consistently.”

No. 3 is freshman Brooke Randall.

“She has had two good rounds so far,” Andrews said. “I see her scoring in the 80s consistently this year.

“If she gets out here the next couple weeks and plays more with KT and Zoey and just picks up some of the course management, she’s going to be a really, really good golfer as well.”

Others on the young varsity team are sophomores Lizzy Rzepka, Jenna Vliestra, Lauren Shaman and Addison Munn plus freshman Lilly Ray.

If the team does qualify for the MHSAA Finals, that would be a bonus for Leinwand, who was an individual qualifier the last two years.

Last fall, her two-day total of 148 at Bedford Valley in Battle Creek was just four strokes behind champ Gabriella Tapp of South Lyon.

If Leinwand qualifies again this year, “Gabriella will be a senior, and she’ll still be around so I’ll see her,” she laughed.

As a freshman, Leinwand finished 23rd individually in LPD2 at Michigan State’s Forest Akers West, the site of this year’s LPD2 Final.

Leinwand awaits her turn to putt during practice.Jumping from 23rd to second in a year took a lot of work and practice, she said.

“I worked in the winter a bunch at the Dome Sports Center in Schoolcraft. I was out there all the time working on my swing,” Leinwand said. “In the summer and spring when it was finally nice out with no snow, I was playing every day.”

With no others golfers in her family, Leinwand relies on her coach and friends to hit the links.

Sometimes she will go out by herself or join up with another group, which can cause some surprises.

“You don’t see a lot of young girls that good,” Andrews said, adding that Leinwand’s drives average 260 yards.

Andrews makes his point.

“I had a friend here and we played golf with my son,” he said. “KT joined us for one hole before she had to leave.

“My friend’s a scratch golfer. He was disappointed she left because he enjoyed watching her play. That’s a common reaction when people see her play.”

Leinwand credits her coach with helping her keep focus on the course.

Andrews teaches health, personal finance and International Baccalaureate sports exercise health science at Northern, and also is a mental performance trainer.

As the Huskies baseball coach, he credits mental performance as part of the success that propelled his 2019 team to the Division 1 championship.

He also works with other teams and individual athletes in the area.

“I use a lot of mental strategies from my coach,” Leinwand said. “After a bad shot, I have to erase it and go to the next shot and totally clean slate and totally forget about that bad shot.”

However, her strength is her power off the tee, she said.

“I can hit it a good amount farther than a lot of the girls. When we’re playing short courses, I don’t always need to hit my driver off the tee, so I hit something like an iron or a wood that can be more consistent and straighter.”

Andrews looks to his junior as a role model for others on the team.

“KT brings a quiet confidence that I think the other girls can look at her and not just admire her physical ability, but her presence on the course and her presence around the course,” he said.

“She’s always in good spirits, and she doesn’t have too highs or too lows. She’s steady. Her mental game is probably her strength. She’s a good role model to the other girls to work hard and stay steady with the mental side.”

Pam ShebestPam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Portage Northern’s KT Leinwand is aiming to take the next step after finishing runner-up in Lower Peninsula Division 2 last season. (Middle) Northern girls golf coach Chris Andrews also led the school’s baseball team to a Division 1 title in 2019. (Below) Leinwand awaits her turn to putt during practice. (Photos by Pam Shebest.)