Falcons Finish 1st Title with a Flourish
October 18, 2014
By Chip Mundy
Special to Second Half
BATTLE CREEK – East Kentwood High School senior Sarah White could never have expected to finish her high school golf career the way she did Saturday afternoon.
Winning the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 team championship was not a huge surprise for East Kentwood, which returned its top four players from the team that finished sixth last year.
In the process, White, who finished second as a freshman three years ago and sixth the past two years, captured the individual honors with back-to-back rounds of 73. Again, it was not a huge surprise.
However, facing a 51-foot putt on the 18th hole – the final hole of her high school career – White did not think about sinking it, but she did, wrapping up her career and both the team and individual championships at Bedford Valley Golf Course.
White also could not have known that she needed to make the putt to win the individual title and avoid a playoff with Jaclyn Facola of Monroe, who finished one stroke back. White’s two-day total of 146 also was two strokes ahead of Elayna Bowser of Dearborn and Lauren Ingle of Rochester Hills Stoney Creek.
“I was like, ‘Just put it close, two-putt par, easy 74,’ ” White said. “And then it’s halfway and starts turning toward the hole, and I think, ‘Just go in,’ and it goes in. I threw a fist-pump, and I didn’t even know what was going on. I just kind of celebrated because it went in. I wasn’t expecting it.
“It was awesome because the past couple of holes I was burning the edge or it stopped on the lip, so to get one to fall on the last hole was awesome.”
While the race for the individual title was close, East Kentwood made sure the competition for the team title wasn’t close. The Falcons held a 10-stroke lead after a team score of 324 on Friday, and Saturday it dropped to 319 for a two-day total of 643 – well ahead of runner-up Lake Orion at 665 and third-place Dearborn at 671.
“It’s really nice to see them deal with a 10-shot lead as well as they did,” first-year East Kentwood coach Andy Giarmo said. “They approached the day as being just another 18-hole tournament where everybody was starting at zero, and they really did a great job of staying patient and staying mature through the whole round.”
Nine of the 10 rounds played by the five East Kentwood girls were below 90, and each of the five had their score count at least once, something White said has been a trademark of the team all season.
“If someone is having a bad day, someone steps up,” White said. “That’s what I love about this team. We’re invincible as a team, but individually we’re ineffective.
“As a team, we’re just so much stronger.”
On Friday, it was Emma Millard and Janelle Quinn who stepped up for East Kentwood. Millard shot 80 on Friday and followed it with 83 for a 163 total.
“It feels pretty good,” Millard said. “I was just thinking of my team the whole time, and I wanted to come through for them and finish strong.”
Quinn, a sophomore who just took up the game of golf two years ago and was the team’s No. 5 player, had rounds of 86 and 89 for 175. Her 86 was one of the top four scores turned in Friday by the Falcons.
“Janelle has come through for us all year,” Giarmo said. “The great thing about this team is we’ve had people step up when we need to. For Janelle to show that level of maturity and confidence as a sophomore has been so impressive all year long.”
Junior co-captain Mackenzie Keenoy followed a disappointing first-round 85 with a 75 on Saturday, and credited her putting for the improvement.
“I did not play well Friday, and Emma stepped up,” Keenoy said. “I finally made some putts (Saturday). I needed it. Friday I went out and did not play to my game; I struggled all day, so I went in thinking I need to make some putts.
“My shots were not perfect – I was not hitting the ball great – and I needed to make some putts. It was great.”
Isabel Meier, another senior, had rounds of 93 and 88 for the Falcons, and her 88 counted toward the team total Saturday.
“We all worked really hard, and it was a team effort,” she said. “I’m not very pleased with how I played, but we all put a lot of effort into it. It’s great.
“I don’t think it will sink in for a couple of days. It’s really crazy. A lot of us have been on the same team for four years, and it’s weird to think that we really finally did it.”
Possibly the most interested spectator at Bedford Valley was Lindsey Boyle, who coached the team the previous three years before resigning, although she helped out the team at times this year.
“I worked with the girls since they were freshmen, and Sarah White especially,” Boyle said. “It’s a proud moment to see them come out on top.”
White is a long-hitter who plans to continue her golf career at Western Michigan University.
“She does everything well,” Giarmo said. “She hits the ball a long way off the tee and very straight, and she can make the big putt when she needs to, and that’s special – not a lot of people can do that.”
White was a little more colorful in describing the way she played Friday and Saturday.
“I just was killing my driver these past two days,” she said. “I’ve been outdriving everybody and putting myself in great opportunities to get birdies.”
White also said that winning the team title was a greater thrill than the individual championship.
“To win a golf tournament as a team is awesome,” White said. “It’s better than individually. I’d take it over individually any day. To win as a team, we all get to share it, and we’re all so excited.”
Sharing in success is probably one reason why White wanted to give credit to both her current and former coaches.
“The great thing is that Coach Boyle showed up; she’s the one who kind of brought us together as a team,” White said. “We definitely want to give it to her as well as Coach Giarmo.
“She’s the kind of coach who can make you laugh when you’re crying after a bad hole, but Coach Giarmo has his perks, too. He’s a great guy and a great coach. We wouldn’t have been here without both of them.”
The Falcons also recognized another coach, but not one of their own. Each East Kentwood player wore a ribbon in their hair to honor Grand Rapids South Christian girls golf coach Rob VanDyke, who was killed earlier this month when he was struck by a motorist while bicycling in Hudsonville.
“Our whole team made ribbons for him in his memory because he was a great guy,” White said. “His team went out and won regionals lights out, and that was awesome.”
“Awesome” might have been the word of the day for East Kentwood, which picked up its first MHSAA championship in girls golf.
“I’ve never wanted anything more in my entire life than to be where I am right now,” White said. “This exceeds anything. My mind is blown right now.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud to be a Falcon than today. It’s awesome.”
While White and East Kentwood stole the show and the titles, junior Lucy Buzolitz of Grosse Pointe South provided a memorable moment on Friday when she scored a hole-in-one on the par-3 12th hole.
PHOTOS: (Top) East Kentwood’s Sara White celebrates a 51-foot putt on the 18th hole that secured for her the LP Division 1 individual title. (Middle) Grosse Pointe South’s Lucy Buzolitz fires a shot from the sand Saturday; on Friday, she scored a hole-in-one. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com).
Work Begins Again for Reigning Champ West
August 18, 2016
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
TRAVERSE CITY – Kristen Nolan is trying to avoid putting undue pressure on her Traverse City West golf team.
So talk about defending an MHSAA Division 1 championship has been kept to a minimum during the preseason.
“I don’t want my girls going into (the season) too confident because that can also be a negative,” the seventh-year coach said. “I want them focusing on individual goals instead of that full team goal of winning states again. As long as each player is working on their personal goals, the rest (will take care of itself).”
The unranked Titans pulled a surprise a year ago, edging first-day leader and tournament favorite Rochester in a tiebreaker to claim the Lower Peninsula D1 title.
Ironically, neither team had a senior in the lineup.
West returns its core group of Anika Dy, Hunter Kehoe, Grace Ellul, Madison McCall and Grace Warren. Dy, now a sophomore, finished runner-up for the individual title. She was one stroke back of medalist Julia Dean of Brighton.
Dy competed in an American Junior Golf Association tournament at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club this week and missed the Titans’ season-opening tournament, the Bob Lober Classic at Grand Traverse Resort and Spa.
Dy missed a couple early tournaments last year as well, but when she returned to the lineup the Titans went on a roll, cruising to Big North Conference and Regional crowns en route to the MHSAA Finals championship.
“We got into a groove,” Ellul, a senior co-captain, said. “Hopefully, we can do the same this year.”
Most of the Titans spent considerable time on the links this summer, taking lessons and playing in several tournaments, notably in the Traverse City Junior Golf Association program.
“I highly encourage it,” Nolan said. “The girls love playing in it. It’s a little more low-key, not as competitive as high school golf, but it prepares them.”
Kehoe, also a senior co-captain, agreed.
“It allows us to focus and work on our games,” she said. “It’s a huge advantage coming into the fall.”
That focus has not shifted now that the high school campaign has arrived.
“We all have personal goals” Kehoe said. “Kristen does not want us to worry about going back to states and repeating what we did. She just wants us to work on our own games each and every tournament throughout the season.”
For Kehoe, who shot the Titans’ second-lowest score at the Finals last season, that means improving her approach to the game.
“I’m working on course management, really dialing in on target control,” the 17-year-old said. “I consistently shot 80 or low 80s last year. My goal is to be consistently in the 70s this year.”
Ellul, the Titans’ third-lowest scorer at the Finals, is stressing her mental outlook on the course.
“I get down on myself, get nervous, and it can ruin my game,” she said. “I need to learn to stay positive when I’m playing, not put myself down.”
Nobody was putting the Titans down last October when they rallied to win at The Meadows at Grand Valley State University.
West was in fourth place, five shots behind Rochester, after the opening day. But all five Titans golfers came back with lower rounds on the second day to give the school its first MHSAA girls golf title.
“Going into states our goal was top five,” Kehoe said. “We obviously knew there were a lot of good teams there. We did not expect to win it all. That was a huge surprise. It was amazing.”
After finishing their rounds, the Titans gathered in the clubhouse, away from the hubbub outside.
“We knew it was close,” Kehoe said. “All the parents were outside watching the scoreboard. We sat inside, too excited, too scared, to go outside and look.”
“It was nerve-wracking,” Ellul added. “We were trying to not get our hopes up, but we had to. When we found out we had won, it was crazy.”
Kehoe’s younger brother, Murphy, is the one who informed the team of its triumph.
“We walked out and immediately started crying and hugging our parents,” Kehoe recalled. “It was super surreal.”
How close was it? West and Rochester tied at 685, forcing officials to go to each team’s fifth golfer’s score over the tournament. Warren’s two-day 193 beat her rival’s to give West the title.
It kicked off a celebration that spilled over into the weekend and the following Monday at school when all of West’s sports teams held a reception for the champs in the school’s common area.
The team later custom-designed their own championship rings, which were presented at halftime of a boys basketball game.
“Thinking back on it, you forget how crazy it is to win the Division 1 state finals,” Ellul said. “Our school, and town, were so proud and supportive of us. They made it such a big deal. That was really nice.”
The Titans know they will not be able to take any team by surprise this season.
“Obviously, all eyes are on us,” Kehoe said. “We’ve been working hard this summer trying to improve our games. Our confidence is through the roof, but we’re all trying to maintain a calm, steady mindset so we don’t get too excited.”
Nolan likes what she has seen thus far.
“They definitely have that drive to try and win back-to back-state championships,” she said. “They’re definitely more eager. They’ve been putting in quite a bit of effort to get there.”
First things first, however.
“We can’t worry about an end-of-the-season result right now,” Kehoe said.
There’s work to be done.
Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Traverse City West hoists for the first time Oct. 17 its first MHSAA girls golf championship trophy. (Middle) Anika Dy lines up a putt during last season's Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)