Glen Lake's Champ Sets Sights Higher
September 9, 2015
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
TRAVERSE CITY – The ball landed on the green a few feet past and left of the hole.
One hundred and eleven yards away, at the tee box on the 11th hole at the Katke Golf Course in Big Rapids, Glen Lake's Nichole Cox squinted through the bright sunshine on this late August day to see where she would putt for birdie.
Turns out, there would be no birdie putt. The backspin Cox put on the ball with her pitching wedge, coupled with the slope of the green, drew the ball right to the cup. Just like that, the defending Lower Peninsula Division 4 champion had her first career hole-in-one en route to a personal-best 3-under 69 in winning the Cardinal Invitational.
That shot typifies Cox's torrid pre-Labor Day start to the 2015 season. Four matches, four impressive victories, including the two-day, 36-hole Lober Classic at Grand Traverse Resort and Spa. Cox shot rounds of 71 and 76 on the Spruce Run and Wolverine courses to take the title by two strokes over Brighton's Annie Pietila, who had led by three shots after opening with a 68.
"It was crazy," Cox said. "I was proud of myself. That was my goal (to win the tournament)."
Glen Lake was the smallest school in the 26-team field.
"I think that might be the best competition we'll see until the state tournament," Lakers coach Paul Christiansen said.
The 17-year-old Cox also won two matches at Mistwood. She fired an even-par 71 to claim the Traverse City West Titan Invitational by nine strokes and then came back a few days later with a 1-under 70 to capture a triangular match by 13 strokes.
Of her five 18-hole rounds, she's played four at par or under par.
"She's pretty motivated," Christiansen said. "She is her own toughest critic. She has high expectations. She'll say her goal is to win every match this year."
To do that, Cox said she's had to sharpen her focus. She said she no longer worries about her score during a match. Instead, she is more intent on the "simple things," like making sure she hits the fairways and greens. The rest, she said, will take care of itself.
"I've been making a lot more up and downs," the junior said. "I feel good about it right now."
Always known as a long ball hitter off the tee, Cox has steadily improved as a putter.
"I can basically two-putt from anywhere (on the green)," she said. "I don't three-putt much. That's a big step from last year."
She's also had her share of one-putts, knocking down a number of long birdie attempts.
Her putting has been aided by a stronger approach game, thanks to a new set of Callaway Apex irons she put in her bag before the season.
"(The switch) was mostly to control her iron play, trajectory and distance," Scott Wilson, her swing coach in the Junior Elite program at Crystal Mountain, said. "She dialed in almost immediately. Certainly that's a concern when you make an equipment change like that (before the season), but it was the right fit for her. I wish we would have done it sooner."
Cox, who was third in LP Division 4 as a freshman, enjoyed a solid summer on the links, competing in the Michigan Women's Open and Michigan Amateur, where she reached the Sweet 16.
"Every year she just gets better," her father, Duane, said. "She's playing with more confidence. It's not just one thing that's getting better, everything is getting better. Her numbers this year are so much better – and they were good last year."
Christiansen said it's fun to watch her play.
"Really good players have their own swing coaches, and I don't want to mess that up," he said. "I think you can have too many voices. My job is to keep her relaxed, keep her in the moment, keep her level-headed so she's not too hard on herself. You have to be able to let a bad shot go."
Christiansen maneuvers around the course to watch all of his golfers during a match, so he's not with Cox constantly.
"That's one cool thing about golf, unlike some other sports where the coach is with you 100 percent of the time," he said. "You've got to adjust to situations yourself and learn course management. She's played so much golf, she's really good at figuring out what she's doing right and wrong."
Cox has been around the game for years. When she and her twin brother Brandon were in kindergarten, their parents bought a home with a driving range. The family has operated the Dune Valley Driving Range the last 10 years. It's across the road from the Dunes Golf Club, which the family plays regularly.
"I thought it would be a great place for kids to grow up," Duane said.
Cox edged Farwell's Bria Colosky by one stroke to win last season’s MHSAA Final with a 36-hole score of 159. They and two others entered the second round tied for first at 83, but Cox shot a 76, to Colosky’s 77, to finish the competition.
"I thought I lost it because I double-bogeyed my last hole," Cox said. "I was pretty convinced I blew it for myself. I was surprised that I won."
Cox would like to take that surprise element out of the equation this year.
"The goal is to get better every match so that next month she's ready to roll (in the MHSAA tournament)," Christiansen said.
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) Maple City Glen Lake's Nichole Cox watches a shot during last season's Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final. (Middle) Cox unloads a tee shot during another 2014 event. (Middle photo courtesy of Glen Lake High School.)
Spring Lake Can't Be Caught in 3-Peat
October 15, 2016
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
BATTLE CREEK – Only one team could beat Spring Lake at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 girls golf tournament Saturday at Bedford Valley Golf Course.
That team was Spring Lake.
The Lakers fired a 343 on the first day to take a 13-stroke lead into the final round Saturday. In that final round, four of Spring Lake’s five players bettered their first-day score and another tied her Friday round as the Lakers sliced 24 strokes off their first-day score with a 319 to finish with a two-day total of 662.
Spring Lake’s winning margin was 35 strokes fewer than Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (697) but not nearly the rout of a year ago when the Lakers edged the runner-up team by 70 strokes.
It was the third consecutive title for Spring Lake, which became the first Division 3 team in MHSAA history to win three straight championships. The MHSAA Lower Peninsula tournament moved to four divisions from two classes in 1999, and prior to that, Grosse Ile won three in a row from 1996-98 in the Class B-C-D meet.
“Spring Lake has had only one other team win a state championship, and that was girls cross country, so to be a part of a team that won three consecutive state titles is something special,” said Spring Lake senior Anna Kramer, who tied for medalist honors but lost in a playoff to Pontiac Notre Dame Prep sophomore Danielle Staskowski.
Kramer, the reigning Division 3 individual champion, led Spring Lake with rounds of 78 and 75 for a two-day total of 153. Junior Madelyn Nelson was next with rounds of 89 and 79 for a 168 total. Her 10-shot improvement from the first day was the largest for Spring Lake.
“I think it was just first-day nerves,” Nelson said, “and my putting was a lot better (Saturday).”
Sophomore Hannah Klein, who had an eight-stroke improvement over the first round and finished 89-81 for a 170, echoed the feeling about first-day nerves.
“There were a lot of people watching, and I had to get used to it,” said Klein, the only sophomore on the team. “We were really focused on winning, and every shot counted. I felt like every shot had to be amazing to be able to pull out the win.”
Two other seniors rounded out the five players who took the course for Spring Lake. Jackie Olszewski duplicated rounds of 87 but did it in a strange fashion. She had 39 on the first nine and 48 on the second nine the first day and then flipped them on the second day with 48 on the front and 39 on the back.
“I went through a bad streak both days,” Olszewski said. “I had five or six terrible holes, and then I had to make it up. I just told myself to forget about it and do my best because I couldn’t change what had happened.”
While Olszewski’s 87 counted the first day, it wasn’t needed the second day as fellow senior Jaedyn Shelton went from 93 on Friday to 84 on Saturday.
“I’ve worked really hard over the years to get to this point, and it feels really good,” she said. “We all didn’t have great rounds on Friday, but we all improved, and that is what we were looking to do.
“For me, there were a lot of nerves, because it was my first time at states, so I was worked up, and I think that’s how everybody felt.”
Everybody, including coach George Bitner, whose extensive background brings plenty of experience while his grandfatherly nature brings comfort and confidence.
“This is like having six daughters,” said Bitner, who has coached girls golf at Spring Lake since 1980 and also coaches boys golf. He also has coached junior high football, track & field and wrestling, and he said it all adds up to 87 seasons.
“To win a state title, you have to have the talent,” Bitner said. “The results are what I like. It shows that I am getting through to them. The girls listen better than the boys, they drink more water than the boys, and they stick together and do things together. They are an unbelievable group of girls.”
Bitner calls Kramer “The Franchise” for obvious reasons.
“Anna is a practice-aholic,” he said. “She will come out of the clubhouse and go to the putting green for 30 minutes, go to the chipping area and sand for 20, go up for an hour on the driving range and then go back to the clubhouse, but first she spends another 30 or 40 minutes on the putting green. That’s her routine every day, and the other girls follow it.”
Although the Lakers won their third MHSAA Finals title, the day finished on a disappointing ending for Kramer. On the first playoff hole, Kramer ran a long putt well past the hole and three-putted as Staskowski parred the hole for the individual title.
“It’s tough to three-putt in a playoff,” Kramer said. “I read the putt fine. One of my friends came up to me after and said she had that putt Friday and you can’t tell how fast it is, and it just flew by the hole.”
Staskowski, who opened with an 80 on Friday, improved to 73 on Saturday to force the playoff. She was in the same pairing as Kramer, and they were tied after 12 holes and matched each other the rest of the way to set up the playoff on the par-5 No. 16.
“I love playoffs,” Staskowski said. “All my life when I have practice putting I will say to myself, ‘This is for the state championship,’ and then, there I was, standing over a putt that was for the state championship.”
Staskowski, who finished fourth last year, drilled the 4-foot putt right into the hole, and she said she knew she had it the moment she hit it. She chipped just short of the green with her third shot, while Kramer was on the green but was facing a very long putt.
“I felt like I could get the chip up there and then get it to the hole so I would have an easy putt,” Staskowski said. “I hit that putt maybe 50 times on the putting green, so when I stood over it, I was like, ‘You made 50 of these. You’ve got it,’ and then I hit the putt.”
Staskowski had parred the hole Friday and birdied it Saturday prior to the playoff.
“I started my round off with four bogeys (Saturday), and then I didn’t have a single bogey coming in,” she said. “I made three birdies, and once I got to the place where I felt like I was playing well, it just didn’t go away.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Spring Lake's golfers and coach hold up their third straight MHSAA championship trophy. (Middle) Plainwell's Madison Tran watches one of her approach shots. (Below) Pontiac Notre Dame Prep's Danielle Staskowski. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)