Dexter's Manning Takes Next Step, Walker Steps In to Key Mercy 3-Peat
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
October 19, 2024
ALLENDALE – Farmington Hills Mercy brought a senior-laden team with extensive experience to this weekend’s Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final.
However, one senior in particular made the biggest difference during Saturday’s closing round at The Meadows at Grand Valley State.
Senior Emily Walker provided a major contribution in helping Mercy complete a three-peat as the Marlins fended off a late comeback from runner-up Dexter to win by five strokes with a two-day total of 677.
Seniors Maeve Casey and Lila Polakowski led the Marlins as a consistent tandem at the top of the lineup, placing fourth and 20th, respectively, on the individual leaderboard. But Watson, who didn’t play on Friday, proved to be the unsung hero with a second-round 83, the team’s second-best score of the final round and her career-low.
“We have a mix of players, so today we inserted Emily Walker and she had the score of her life,” Mercy coach Vicky Kowalski said. “And that’s why we’re standing here with the three-peat.”
“If she didn’t shoot the round of her life today, then we wouldn't be standing here with a win,” Polakowski added. “We are so thankful that she pulled through here today and continued to support everyone else.”
Casey’s fourth place individual finish came from rounds of 73 and 79. She and Polakowski concluded their careers with a fourth-place team finish as freshmen and three straight wins at the Finals.
“It feels amazing to three-peat, but I’m really proud of the team for battling through the adversity that we had to experience on the course today,” Casey said. “But we got it done, and I’ve had some great experiences the last four years with this team. We’ve meshed really well on and off the course.”
Polakowski finished with a two-day 169, while senior Macy Morphew shot 179 and sophomore Megan Guerrera had a 186.
“It was a crazy day today,” Kowalski said. “The scores were bouncing up and down, and girls were having their good holes and bad holes and at one point we were down by one.
“And then Lowell kinda faded, but then Dexter shot lights out today. We are very fortunate to be able to do this three-peat, and it’s a great team. I've enjoyed coaching these young ladies.”
Mercy led by eight strokes over Lowell after the first round.
“I was feeling pretty good because we still had a lead early, and it got iffy, but I had all the confidence in the world in them and I knew they could do this,” Kowalski said. “They really wanted it, and they came through in the end.”
Polakowski said the team was confident despite the slew of others chasing them.
“We were a little worried because there were a lot of good teams here, but we knew we had the potential,” she said. “We felt like we had the opportunity to win it again, and we had positive vibes coming in.”
Dexter junior Avery Manning claimed the medalist honor with a 1-under-par 141. She finished ahead of Spring Lake’s Zoe Dull, who shot 146.
Manning fired a 3-under-par 69 on Friday and followed with an even-par 72. She placed runner-up at last year’s Final.
“If I came in second last year, then I can’t drop, right?,” Manning said with a small grin. “As a team we knew we had a chance to win, but individually I knew I had to have it. I just tried my best, I didn’t look at the leaderboard at all and I just went with the flow.
“It was just two great rounds overall. I think being able to do well on the same holes as the first day and to be able to tie my score or do better on those holes was important.”
Manning led by four strokes after the opening round.
“I told myself that if I maintained where I was then everything would work out, and it did,” Manning said. “My short game, especially my putting, and my approach shots were key for me.”
Dexter, which entered the final round in third place and 14 strokes back, posted its best finish since winning back-to-back Finals titles in the spring and fall of 2007.
“I think the girls did an amazing job,” said Dreadnaughts coach Greg Palkowksi, whose team placed seventh last year. “They stayed focused the entire 36 holes, and to play like they did today and come back from (Friday) and make up that difference was amazing. I just wanted them to go out and play and have fun and shoot the best they can. It was fun to watch.”
In addition to Manning, Dexter was led by junior Millie Triesdell (174) and freshman Maddy Manning (175).
PHOTOS (Top) Dexter’s Avery Manning sends an approach shot during Saturday’s second round at The Meadows. (Middle) Farmington Hills Mercy’s Macy Morphew watches one of her putts roll toward the hole. (Below) A competitor launches a shot from the sand. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)
3-Time Finals Champ Cherishes Memories, Considering Golf Future
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
August 3, 2022
Golf has been a major part of Katy Nightwine’s past – and it could be a big part of her future.
But at the present time, there’s something more important to tend to that’s putting golf on the backburner.
Close to three decades after making history as a golfer at Ann Arbor Pioneer, much of Nightwine’s time and energy these days is as a stay-at-home mom raising her 2-year-old son Henry with her husband Bryan.
But even while doing that, it’s hard to get golf completely out of her mind, as she’s already trying to plant a seed with her son.
“He enjoys putting the ball on the tee,” Nightwine said. “We’re happy with that progress.”
If the little guy starts fully getting into the game, he’ll be hard-pressed to find a better mentor than his mother.
Nearly 30 years ago Nightwine, then Katy Loy, made history by becoming the first to win three straight MHSAA Girls Golf Finals individual titles in the highest classification/division when she claimed three consecutive crowns in Lower Peninsula Class A.
Nightwine said she grew up on a golf course in Dexter (now closed), which is where she learned the game and grew a passion for it.
“I liked going to golf more than I liked going to swim practice,” she said. “It became that thing I did with my dad after work. The weekends would be spent golfing, and that became my favorite place to be.”
Nightwine won the Class A title in 1993 as a sophomore, and then repeated as a junior in 1994.
She remembers going into her senior year with a lot of people talking about whether she could make it three in a row, but it didn’t put any more pressure on her than she’d already put on herself.
“If I didn’t get it then, that was going to be the blemish,” Nightwine said. “It had so much more meaning than it being the third time, but let’s cap it off and really give me something to remember.”
In her words, it “wasn’t looking so good,” for Nightwine on the front nine during the last round of the Final in 1995, but she turned it around on the back nine at Michigan State’s Forest Akers West to claim her third-straight title.
From there, Nightwine went on to the University of Michigan and was named Freshman of the Year in the Big Ten in 1996.
Due to a desire to play in warmer weather and more prestigious tournaments, Nightwine transferred after her freshman year to the University of Kentucky, where she finished out her collegiate career.
Nightwine turned professional after college and played in a futures tour, but a back injury ultimately led her to quit playing professionally.
She worked as a golf instructor here and there. But in 2008, Nightwine started focusing on what she said was her other passion: Baking.
She opened up a pastry shop in Ann Arbor and continued in that business for 10 years before her family decided in 2018 to sell the property where the bakery was located to a company that repurposed it.
Now, Nightwine is fully entrenched in the business of being a mom and raising her son, but is hoping for a golfing revival in the future.
When her son gets older, she’s thinking about getting back into golf instruction or doing something else in the industry.
If nothing else, she wants to at least get back to playing consistently again.
“To see where my swing is at and go from there,” she said.
Regardless of what the future holds in the sport, Nightwine will always own a piece of state golf history, something she cherishes to this day.
“I will always be involved with golf, especially if (my son) takes a liking to it,” she said. “I have such fond memories of people I met.”
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Katy Loy watches a drive during the 1994 Lower Peninsula Girls Golf Final. At right, Loy, now Nightwine, with her husband Bryan. (Middle) Katy Nightwine takes a swing at the driving range. (Below) Katy and Bryan Nightwine. (1994 Finals photo courtesy of Ann Arbor News/MLive; current photos courtesy of Katy Nightwine.)