Country Day Claims First Championship
October 19, 2013
By Dean Holzwarth
Special to Second Half
ALLENDALE – It was a case of mixed emotions for Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood's Cordelia Chan.
The junior standout was elated to become the individual champion at Saturday's MHSAA Division 3 Final, but also heartbroken by her team's runner-up finish.
Chan posted a two-day total of 157 at The Meadows at Grand Valley State University to win medalist honors.
She was three shots better than teammate Greer Clausen, who finished runner-up with a 160.
Chan was the only player in the field to break 80 in both rounds. She fired a 5-over 78 Friday and closed with a 6-over 79 Saturday.
“I'm feeling kind of upset because my team didn't win, and then I kind of feel regret because I tripled the last hole and there were some putts that I did leave out there,” Chan said. “But I do feel happy that I won. I wish I could've had both.”
In the closest team competition in recent Finals history, a fifth score tiebreaker was needed to decide the champion.
Top-ranked Detroit Country Day and second-ranked Cranbrook-Kingswood were knotted up with identical scores of 707 after 36 holes, but the Yellowjackets won based on the combined aggregate of the fifth score from both days.
It was the first MHSAA Finals title for Country Day in girls golf. The program has been in existence since 2002.
“Oh my gosh, it was too close for comfort,” said Yellowjackets coach Peggy Steffan, whose team placed third last year by three strokes to Ada Forest Hills Eastern.
“We've always been rivals with Cranbrook, a friendly rivalry, and we didn't play our best today and they played really well. It's just a good thing we had a good day yesterday (Friday), and it couldn't be any closer coming down to that fifth score.”
Senior Ellie Miller led Country Day with a 162 total and was third overall following rounds of 82 and 80.
Junior Nicole Junn finished at 179, while sophomore Simran Brar and senior Monika Hedni came in at 183 and 184, respectively.
“We're just so happy right now,” said Miller, who finished among the individual top 10 for the second straight season. “We didn't think this would be a reality and now it is. We really worked together this season and we're all really close friends.”
Hedni thought her team had won by a single stroke before she was corrected by her coach.
“We're in a little bit of shock, and thank God we all pulled through,” Hedni said. “We're really happy and excited, and we really wanted to improve this year and play well.”
Country Day opened with a 347 and took a commanding 13-stroke lead into Saturday's final round.
However, Cranbrook-Kingswood stormed back with its own 347 to even the score.
The Yellowjackets edged the Cranes by one stroke at Regionals.
“They told us coaches that with the possibility of bad weather, if they couldn't get 18 holes in the second day, then the first day scores would stand,” Steffan said. “We talked about having to come out strong in case we didn't play (Saturday), and I think the girls were nervous today because they knew they were ahead.
“When you're in second place, you have nothing to lose. When you're in first place, you just have to hold on. They scared me a little bit.”
It was the second consecutive runner-up finish at the Finals for Cranbrook-Kingswood, which finished two strokes back last season.
Cranes coach Mark Moyer commended his team for improving by 13 strokes from Friday, but he was disappointed by the final outcome.
“It's real tough,” he said. “I knew it would go to the fifth position, but I didn't know it was the aggregate of both days. The girls are obviously disappointed with the what if, what if, but everybody can do the what ifs, so you have to let it go.
“With the group that played today, there was only one senior, so we have a lot of girls coming back and we'll use this as a learning experience to move forward. I congratulate Country Day on the job they did.”
Moyer was thrilled by the play of Chan, who placed runner-up in last year's Finals.
“It's tremendous, and she has worked so hard, not only during the season, but starting back to early spring,” Moyer said. “It's really impressive to see a young lady that can pull it together, and she's only a junior. It's exciting to know we have her coming back next year.”
Chan said she wasn't motivated by coming close last year.
“It was more about the team,” she said. “I wanted to play well for my team because I know I'm one of the leaders, but winning first is kind of cool, too.
“I knew it was going to be close because the players before me were playing well, too. I just wanted to wait and not get too excited.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Country Day's Monika Hedni follows through on a putt during Saturday's Division 3 Final. (Middle) Eventual individual champion Cordelia Chan of Cranbrook-Kingswood fires a chip out of the rough at The Meadows. Click to see more from High School Sports Scene.)
Unexpected Star Helps TC West Shine
October 21, 2017
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
ALLENDALE – Traverse City West senior Megan Jenkinson had to set down her celebratory slice of Little Caesar’s pizza to do a media interview.
Jenkinson is used to the sister duo of junior Anika Dy and freshman Anci Dy getting most of the attention (and they were certainly outstanding, as usual). But it was back-to-back rounds of 78 from Jenkinson, the Titans’ No. 3 player, which powered TC West on Saturday to its second MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 girls golf championship in the past three years.
“How is that for a happy ending?” asked first-year Titans coach Karl Gagnon, back for his second stint leading the program, as he wiped away tears of joy moments after accepting the championship trophy.
“Meg played her best two rounds of the year in the state finals in her final high school tournament. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
Jenkinson’s outstanding play helped Traverse City West (626) to a surprisingly wide, 22-stroke victory over runner-up Brighton (648) in unseasonably warm and dry, but windy, conditions at The Meadows at Grand Valley State University.
TC West and Brighton shot out of the gate in Friday’s opening round, shooting rounds of 311 and 314, respectively, essentially turning the 18-school tournament into a two-horse race. The storyline going into Saturday was a variation of “Sister Act,” pitting the Dy sisters of Traverse City West against junior Annie Pietila and freshman Maggie Pietila of Brighton.
Anika Dy, the state’s reigning Miss Golf and already a verbal commit to play for the University of Michigan, was absolutely outstanding both days – shooting a 3-under par 69 on Friday and validating it with an even-par 72 on Saturday. Dy’s 141 total was eight strokes better than second place Savannah Haque of Rochester.
The 5-foot-1 Dy, who is certainly not a bomber off the tee, used her masterful course management skills and incredible putting to win Finals medalist honors at The Meadows for the second time. Dy chipped in on the final hole to take medalist honors when TC West won the first girls golf state title in school history on the GVSU course in 2015.
“I feel like this course is built for me,” said Dy, who is planning to take some time off from golf after a hectic summer and fall schedule. “I really didn’t hit it well at all, especially today, but I had some clutch putts, a lot of them for pars. My putting definitely pulled me through.”
Anci Dy, a 14-year-old who made it all the way to the quarterfinals of the Michigan Women’s Amateur in July (before losing to her sister, 2 and 1), finished sixth overall with rounds of 78-76-154. Jenkinson gave the Titans three players in the Top 10 with 78-78-156, good for ninth place.
It was ironic that the Division 1 Finals were held the farthest west of the four MHSAA championship tournaments, as nine of the top 10-ranked teams in the final Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association state poll hailed from the east side of the state. TC West, which entered the Finals ranked fifth, was the only ranked team from either western or northern Michigan.
“We had to represent,” Anika Dy said with a laugh. “There are so many good teams, but we knew that if we played smart that we had a good chance to win it.”
Gagnon, a longtime teacher at Lake City High School who actually started the boys and girls golf programs at Traverse City West before stepping down because of the distance and time commitments, is now retired from teaching and decided to get back into coaching. He thanked his son and assistant coach Greg Gagnon, along with Bay Meadows Golf Course professional Scott Wilson, the swing coach for many of the Titans’ players.
Senior Maddy McCall and junior Jillian Ellul also both figured into the scoring for TC West. The Titans used McCall’s 86 on Friday and Ellul’s 89 on Saturday to complete the total team effort.
Annie Pietila, following in the footsteps of her two older sisters, Emmie and Hannah, who both played Division I college golf at Tennessee, shot rounds of 75 and 80 to lead Brighton to second place. Saline (649) finished one shot behind Brighton for third, followed by Northville (664) and Plymouth (669).
Catherine Loftus shot consecutive rounds of 75 to finish third overall for Saline, which entered the Finals at No. 1 in the MIGCA rankings and was the only team at the Division 1 Finals that featured five seniors. Bloomfield Hills junior Mikaela Schulz (152) placed fourth, and Lapeer senior Brooke Gibbons (153) took fifth.
The Dy sisters, who gained much attention this summer with their outstanding play in the Michigan Woman’s Amateur that culminated with their epic match in the quarterfinals, were quick to deflect credit for this weekend’s championship to Jenkinson.
Jenkinson, who was the No. 6 player for the Titans as a sophomore in 2015, started off this year’s Finals tournament by topping her first drive “about 30 yards.” But she ended it by nailing a long par putt on her second-to-last hole on Saturday and then nearly jarred her final high school iron shot on her final hole, the par-3 17th.
In between, Jenkinson said she had her best putting tournament of the season, along with a chip-in for birdie and three straight birdies on holes 7, 8 and 9 on Friday.
“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs playing golf, like everyone does, so I really, really wanted to play good in my last tournament,” said Jenkinson, who is undecided about playing college golf. “I think that terrible first drive was a good thing. It kind of woke me up, and I knew it could only get better after that.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Traverse City West’s Anika Dy follows a shot on her way to winning a second MHSAA individual championship. (Middle) Brighton’s Annie Pietila led her team to a runner-up finish at The Meadows. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)