East Jackson Off to Record-Setting Start
By
Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
August 25, 2017
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
JACKSON –The East Jackson girls golf team is riding an impressive three-tournament streak. And the Trojans have yet to win a title.
In each of East Jackson’s three tournaments this season, it has broken the 18-hole school record, which was 397 coming into the season. Then, the Trojans sliced it to 376, and earlier this week, they shot 364 – a full 33 strokes better than the all-time best coming into the season.
Coach Ray Hill doesn’t pretend to say he knew this was going to happen.
“I really am stunned at what they have accomplished this year,” he said. “All of them worked really hard this summer and played in youth tournaments, and frankly, they didn’t play well. All summer I’ve been trying to calm them down and tell them not to worry if they are shooting 115 in June or 108 in July. That’s not important. We’re focused on the fall.
“I wasn’t sure I was buying it, but I had to convince them, and once the season started, the light turned on and they’ve been getting great scores. All the work they did in the summer paid off.”
Along the way, East Jackson had four girls each break 100 in the same event for the first time in school history. Coach Hill, in his 12th season, already has tabbed this as his best team, but he didn’t expect this much improvement this quickly.
“Before the first tournament, the Northwest coach texted all the coaches coming to the tournament and said all the teams were going to be grouped together and wanted to know what score we anticipated shooting. I said 400, and we shot 392,” Hill said. “The other coaches were giving me a little bit of grief, calling me a sandbagger.”
Tootsie Pops and cookies
At East Jackson, finding girls to play on the golf team takes a little work. There is no feeder program, unless you count Coach Hill handing out Tootsie Pops and cookies to any middle schooler willing to hear about the wonders of playing golf.
“I make a point to talk to every middle school girl in our building at some point,” Hill said. “When I’m asked during a school day to sub for the French teacher, I will spend a few minutes talking about golf.
“I have a meeting every year, and I bring Tootsie Pops and cookies to get them to come to the meeting, and it’s kind of hit and miss. I will hand out Tootsie Pops in the hallways if someone will consider golf. “
Hill gets a lot of disinterested or confused responses. Most of them have never played golf in their lives and plan to try out for the volleyball team. Hill has a ready answer for them.
“They say, ‘I’ve never played before,’ and I say, ‘You’ve never been taught before, and once you’re taught, it comes along,’” Hill said. “The first year you just learn how to hold the golf club and hit a shot here and there, and the second year you’re ready to take off.”
This season, East Jackson has four freshmen on the team, one season after having three freshmen – so the Tootsie Pops and cookies must be hits. But in the end, the game of golf is the selling point.
“If I can get them out to the golf course a time or two, I can usually keep them,” said Hill, who also tells the girls and their parents what they can expect from being an East Jackson golfer.
“One, it has to be fun, and I try to keep things loose,” Hill said. “I buy a lot of ice cream, we have snacks, and we make it fun and keep things light and loose. Number two, they are going to improve. They’re going to get better throughout the season. Every time they come to the golf course, they’re going to be better than they were the day before. It’s not fun to do a sport or anything in life if you’re not getting better.
“Three, I want them to be competitive. It’s a lot more fun if you have a chance to win events, if you have a chance to compete for a league championship, so I want them to get to a point where they are competitive. They are going to work harder if they have a chance to win. And four, as a parent, a teacher and a coach, I think it is important that a kid achieves excellence in something, and for each kid it’s going to be a little bit different.”
Learning the game
While Hill likely would like to bring more experienced girls into his program, he sees a positive side to their relative inexperience.
“I don’t have to unteach everything that Uncle Larry taught them, and as beginners, they are open to instruction,” he said. “They want to get better. I look for athletic kids who are smart.”
Sophomore Alexis Brzezinski has been the No. 1 player so far. She is averaging 88.6 for 18 holes and earlier this week she broke the school record with an 84. She had virtually no experience as an eighth-grader – just two years ago.
“I started playing right before my freshman year,” said Brzezinski, who earned honorable mention on the all-conference team last year. “I got into a lot of junior clinics with Mr. Hill before that and then I took a lesson. I started getting into it when I started getting better.
“I realized that golf is a really hard sport. I didn’t know what I was getting into. I had played volleyball before. It’s a really challenging game, and you are always batting yourself and you’re never satisfied with your score. There is always something you can do better. I love that about it.”
Zoe Swiatlowski, a two-time all-Cascades Conference selection, is one of three seniors on the team, and she is averaging 94.0 for 18 holes. She joined the golf team as a freshman basically because her older sister Savannah was a senior on the team.
“I really wanted to play volleyball instead,” she said. “I got talked into it, and then I ended up loving it. I thought golf was so boring and dumb. I realized there was a lot more to it. I thought that it was probably just really easy, and it was something you do when you’re bored, but it’s really competitive. It’s a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be.”
One of the things she likes best is the ability to get to know opposing golfers.
“You get to meet a lot of new people,” she said. “It’s not like basketball where you just see them for a half a second and they are running away. You can talk to them for like five hours at a time.”
And then there is senior Alessandra Mireles, a senior who was all-conference as a sophomore but missed half of last season after being in a serious car accident. She is playing with a metal rod in her leg. She is averaging 102, and Hill said “her swing is regaining form” as she continues to recover.
Mireles went out for golf, not so much because of the Tootsie Pops, but because she had a good friend who was on the team.
“She really wanted me to play golf,” Mireles said. “I was like, ‘I might as well try something new.’ It was an acquired taste. Not a lot of girls our age play golf, so I didn’t know if it was for me, and I was trying to play volleyball at the same time, so I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.
“Now, I just love my teammates; that’s what makes me want to play. And wherever you go, any golf course, they’re so nice. It’s the environment that I like to be in. I would like to play in college, too, but either way, I’m still going to play golf.”
While those three girls have the top averages on the team this season, East Jackson’s depth is helped by Sami Andrus, Reagan Rudd and Jordan Goostrey.
Future goals
Hill is a realist. He knows the Trojans are not going to break the school record every time out this season, but the girls aren’t as convinced.
“I told them we have to be content with having a blip here or there, and the girls wouldn’t hear of it,” he said. “They all talked about leaving four or five shots on the course, and they felt like they could do better. I see it, I absolutely see it, but I don’t expect it to happen every time.”
While confidence is soaring, a major obstacle keeps the Trojans grounded. It is perennial power Jackson Lumen Christi – the team that finished first in each of the three tournaments this season in which East Jackson set a school record.
The Trojans are very aware of Lumen Christi and that program’s success.
“Lumen Christi has an excellent team and has an excellent program, and they establish a standard in the area and everybody aims for them,” Hill said. “Over the years, our kids have been intimidated by the Lumen Christi aura, and this year, all of my girls have played in summer tournaments with them and they know the Lumen girls.
“They don’t have that intimidation factor, and the Lumen girls are a nice group of girls. Still, we’re gunning for them. I don’t think we have the scores yet to get them, but we’re getting closer.”
The Trojans do not shy away from the topic of Lumen Christi. It is obvious the respect is there.
“It doesn’t make us cocky,” Swiatlowski said of having Lumen Christi in the same area. “It might be overwhelming that we are doing so good, but they kind of knock us down. Even when they have a bad round, someone else steps up, just like we do as a team, but they’re just a little bit better. It helps us work harder.”
East Jackson understands it is all a process.
“We’re used to fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth-place finishes, so second place to one of the top programs in the state is quite an accomplishment,” Hill said. “We’re very proud of that.
“The girls look at all the schools they have beaten and some of them are two or three times larger than we are. They are real excited and proud of that, and we’re trying to maintain it throughout the years.”
Hill concedes that his realistic team goals for this year already have been rewritten because of the excellent start.
“We finished fifth in the Regional, and the top three go to the state meet,” he said. “We’ve never really come close to going to the state meet as a team. I’ve been able to take five girls individually to the state meet over the years. These girls want to go, and if they can sustain the scores they are shooting right now, we’ll be in good shape.
“Qualifying for the state meet as a team would be huge, but Lumen Christi is at our region and Napoleon is in our region, but three teams go, and we feel like we’re in position to do it.”
Along the way, Hill takes pride in seeing the girls learn to play the game of golf and learn to love it.
“I’ve had five girls who had never played golf before their freshman year at East Jackson go on and play in college,” he said. “That’s huge. One of them is an assistant coach now at Siena Heights University, and the opportunity started here. That’s the most rewarding part for me.”
Chip Mundy served as sports editor at the Brooklyn Exponent and Albion Recorder from 1980-86, and then as a reporter and later copy editor at the Jackson Citizen-Patriot from 1986-2011. He also co-authored Michigan Sports Trivia. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) East Jackson's Zoe Swiatlowski watches a drive during an event this fall. (Middle top) The East Jackson team poses with one of its two tournament runner-up plaques earned this month. (Middle below) Alexis Brzezinski fires from a sand trap during one of her rounds. (Below) Alessandra Mireles watches her approach from the fairway (Photos courtesy of Ray Hill.)
Preview: Among Championship Drives, Spotlight to Shine on Historic Pursuit
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 17, 2024
Four seasons of excellence have put Ann Arbor Greenhills senior Mia Melendez in position to make MHSAA girls golf history this weekend.
By capping her high school career with one more Finals individual championship, she would become the first in Lower Peninsula history to finish with four titles – and the fourth statewide to accomplish the feat, joining Marquette’s Kendra Palmer (1996-99) and Carley Saint-Onge (2008-11) and Escanaba’s Paxton Johnson (2016-19).
Of course, she’s only one of several standouts playing across four sites this weekend, as all four 2023 team champions are back and ranked among the favorites in their respective divisions.
Play begins both Friday and Saturday at 10 a.m., and live scoring is available through iWanamaker. See the Girls Golf page for programs for all four divisions. Below is a glance at several team and individual contenders:
LP Division 1 at Katke at Ferris State
Top-ranked: 1. Northville, 2. Okemos, 3. Rochester Adams.
Rochester Adams has won the last two Division 1 championships, with Brighton (ranked No. 6 entering this Final) runner-up both years. Northville claimed four straight titles from 2018-21 and is expected back in the mix after finishing sixth a year ago, and Okemos is seeking its first championship coming off an eighth-place finish in 2023.
Northville: The Mustangs carded a 319 at Polo Fields in Ann Arbor last week to win their Regional by 39 strokes. They graduated three of last year’s lineup but have only one senior this time and added standout freshmen Cam Baker and McKenzie Stevens, who finished first and second, respectively, at the Regional. Senior Sanya Singhal and sophomore Naaz Gill are the two returning golfers from last year’s Final, and they tied for fifth at the Regional.
Okemos: The Wolves are coming off a runner-up Regional finish to league rival Grand Ledge, but carded a solid 329 at Michigan State’s Forest Akers East while led by senior medalist Alena Li and freshman co-runner-up Anika Srivastava. Li posted a 64 and has put up similarly eye-popping scores all season, and she enters having finished seventh at last year’s Final, tied for sixth in 2022 and tied for ninth in 2021. Li is the only senior but is joined by sophomore Emma O’Shea from last year’s lineup.
Rochester Adams: Led by junior medalist Hannah Wang, Adams also was a Regional runner-up last week, trailing No. 4 Clarkston at Prestwick Village in Highland Township. She is joined by senior Peyton Sage as returning golfers from last year’s championship lineup, and senior Alexa Camargo also has championship experience as she and Wang split rounds during the 2022 Final. Junior Brianna Park carded the Highlanders’ next-lowest score at the Regional, tying for eighth.
Individuals: Last season’s top five finishers graduated, but five of the next six from the top 10 (including a tie) will be back this weekend. Plymouth junior Annie Flavin is the highest returning placer after coming in sixth a year ago, when she was followed by Li, and Caledonia senior Coplin O’Krangley and Grand Ledge senior Isabel Kelly, who tied each other for 10th. Li, Northville’s Baker and Wang from Adams were joined last week among Regional champions by O’Krangley, Brownstown Woodhaven senior Adilynn Rushlow and Rochester senior Madison Yang. Kelly was co-runner-up behind Li at Forest Akers East.
LP Division 2 at The Meadows at Grand Valley State
Top-ranked: 1. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 2. Farmington Hills Mercy, 3. Dexter.
Mercy is coming off two straight championships and finished 17 strokes better than runner-up Cranbrook a year ago. The Cranes most recently were Division 3 champions in 2021, and they also finished Division 3 runners-up in 2022. Dexter’s three Finals championships all came within four seasons from 2004-Spring 2007, and the Dreadnaughts are coming of a seventh-place finish from last season.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood: Despite graduating three starters from last year’s Finals top five, Cranbrook has risen to the challenge and won last week’s Regional at Farmington Hills Golf Club by three strokes ahead of Mercy – jumping the Cranes from No. 6 in the rankings to No. 1. Junior Sydney Behnke was Cranbrook’s low scorer at last year’s Final, tying for ninth, and she was the medalist at Farmington Hills GC. Junior Harriet Cortez also was part of last year’s Finals lineup and finished 15th at last week’s Regional.
Farmington Hills Mercy: The Marlins have been ranked as high as No. 2 this season with a lineup including four seniors and three who were part of last year’s championship five – Maeve Casey, Lila Polakowski and Macy Morphew. Casey and Polakowski were also part of the 2022 Finals lineup as Casey finished fourth individually for the team champ. Polakowski was fifth and Casey seventh to lead the Regional runner-up finish last week.
Dexter: The Dreadnaughts reached No. 1 in the Sept. 30 Division 2 rankings and then won their Regional at Coldwater Golf Course by 12 strokes ahead of No. 6 Mason. Junior Avery Manning led that effort finishing as medalist, with freshman Maddy Manning seventh and junior Millie Truesdell tied for eighth. Avery Manning was the Finals runner-up last season, four strokes back, and she and Truesdell also are joined by seniors Eleni Michos and Sophia Dettling from last year’s lineup.
Individuals: Only three from last season’s top 10 are back this weekend – Manning, Behnke and Richland Gull Lake junior Charlotte Boudeman, who tied for seventh in 2023. But also joining the field is Spring Lake senior Zoe Dull, who finished co-runner-up in Division 3 a year ago. Several more upperclassmen appear ready to contend as well. Joining Manning and Behnke as Regional champs were Cadillac senior Samantha VanBrocklin, Mattawan senior Charlotte Stenger (one stroke ahead of Boudeman), Dearborn Divine Child senior Erin McCormick and Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern junior Chaille Payne.
LP Division 3 at Battle Creek’s Bedford Valley
Top-ranked: 1. Grand Rapids Catholic Central, 2. Goodrich, 3. Grand Rapids Christian.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central won its first Finals championship in this sport last season, and now the Cougars are expected to extend their streak to two – or at least be the start of a trend. Goodrich is expected to be in the mix for what would be a first championship in this sport; its best Finals finish was second place in Division 3 in 2015. Those two teams have held down the top two spots in the rankings all season. Grand Rapids Christian missed qualifying for the Final by placing fourth at its Regional, but No. 4 Williamston did advance and also is seeking its first championship in this sport – and finished runner-up a year ago.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central: The Cougars carded a 317 at Pigeon Creek in West Olive to win their Regional by 34 strokes. They graduated only one golfer from last season’s Finals lineup, and the four returnees were joined by senior Claire Sullivan at the Regional as all five finished among the top seven – Sullivan and juniors Kelsey Preston and Margaret Deimel all tied for second, junior Sofia Piccione tied for fifth and senior Ava Wisinski finished seventh. Wisinski tied for sixth and Preston tied for eighth at last season’s Final
Goodrich: The Martians are hoping to take a jump from eighth place last season and return their top four golfers from last year’s Finals lineup. They won their Regional at Heather Hills in Romeo by 10 strokes with those four from last season the low scorers – senior Sanora Kochan placed second, junior Madilyn Sheerin third, sophomore Brooklyn Webb seventh and junior Hailey Madill 11th. Kochan missed the top 10 at last year’s Final by one stroke.
Williamston: The Hornets actually carded the low score of the second round at last year’s Final to pull within 12 strokes of catching Catholic Central, cutting 19 from their Friday total. They made it back to championship weekend thanks to four top-20 Regional performances and three among the top 14 by golfers from last season’s lineup – sophomore Paige Radebach was the medalist at Wolf Creek in Adrian, while senior Nicole Schafer was co-runner-up and senior Athena Hart tied for 14th. Schafer was fourth individually at last year’s Final.
Individuals: Six of last season’s top 10 are back, led by Grand Rapids Christian junior Lillian O’Grady, who tied for second in 2023 and won the Regional at Pigeon Creek last week with a 72. In addition to her, Schafer, Wisinski and Preston, Dowagiac senior Rebecca Guernsey tied for eighth and Macomb Lutheran North senior Saige Rothey placed 10th last season. Guernsey and Rothey also won their Regionals last week, as did Ada Forest Hills Eastern junior Stella Bernhardt and Freeland sophomore Alexis Heinz.
LP Division 4 at Michigan State’s Forest Akers West
Top-ranked: 1. Kalamazoo Christian, 2. Lansing Catholic, 3. Ann Arbor Greenhills.
Kalamazoo Christian and Lansing Catholic decided last season’s championship, with Lansing Catholic taking its first Finals title since 2012. The runner-up finish was Christian’s highest, and if rankings hold true they’ll take the next step this weekend. Greenhills finished fourth last season and also is seeking its first team championship. The Gryphons’ best Finals finish in girls golf was runner-up in Division 3 in 2006.
Kalamazoo Christian: The Comets cut 17 strokes between Rounds 1 and 2 last season to finish 26 behind Lansing Catholic but one ahead of third-place Brooklyn Columbia Central. Now-senior Jordyn Bonnema finished sixth individually as one of four juniors who posted scores for K-Christian that weekend, and those four were the team’s scorers again at last week’s Regional at Heritage Glen in Paw Paw as the Comets outpaced Lansing Catholic by 14 strokes. Senior Scarlett Hindbaugh was the medalist, Bonnema was one stroke back, senior Kennedy Gernaat was two strokes back in third, and senior Ella Adams placed 14th.
Lansing Catholic: As noted just above, Lansing Catholic finished second last week to Kalamazoo Christian at their Regional, with senior Brynn Anderson fourth, senior Julia Sambaer seventh and junior Addi Rule eighth and all five golfers among the top 15. Those three all carded scores at last year’s Final as well, led by Anderson finishing 12th individually.
Ann Arbor Greenhills: Most eyes will be on Melendez and her pursuit of individual and team history. But she will hardly be alone in that latter effort. The Gryphons also return senior Hannah Lee and sophomore Kayla Young from last season’s fourth-place Finals lineup, and those two finished 11th and tied for 16th, respectively, at the Regional at Links of Novi as Melendez was medalist with a 64. Lee was 11th at the Final last year as well.
Individuals: If Melendez is to win a fourth championship, she’ll have to overcome the strongest returning field of this weekend’s tournaments as six of last year’s top eight in this division are back. Brooklyn Columbia Central senior Logan Bentley finished runner-up and only two strokes off the lead last year and is coming off a Regional title at Cascades in Jackson, and Traverse City St. Francis’ Grace Slocum was fourth last season and won her Regional last week by 14 strokes. Bath senior Anna Schaibly was second at Links of Novi to Melendez and placed eighth at last year’s Final, and Wixom St. Catherine senior Rachel Fay was third at the same Regional and fifth at last year’s Final. Saginaw Valley Lutheran senior Murphy Linehan and Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian senior Ava McConnon both were Regional champions as well.
PHOTO Ann Arbor Greenhills' Mia Melendez follows an approach shot during last season's Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)