GR Catholic Central Dominates in Repeat, O'Grady Pulls Away for Medalist Honor

By Tom Lang
Special for MHSAA.com

October 19, 2024

BATTLE CREEK – It was tough enough for the competition to gain ground on defending champion Grand Rapids Catholic Central with its massive lead after shooting a first-round 331 on Friday.

Then the Cougars did even better in Saturday’s final round with a 321 to blitz the field in the Lower Peninsula Division 3 girls golf championship, played at Bedford Valley Golf Club.

Catholic Central finished with a two-day total of 652, well ahead of runner up Detroit Country Day, which had 717 strokes. Williamston, the team runner-up last year, recorded a 722 for third place, and Goodrich, which came in ranked No. 2, took fourth place at 727 ahead of Grand Rapids South Christian at 730.

GRCC coach Kim Napieralski, who also coaches the successful boys’ team in the spring, said winning by such wide margins – like the team’s 34-stroke win at its Regional (in a single round) – does not get boring.

“Truly, it doesn’t matter how much you win by, it’s how well the girls played,” she said. “The score is going to be there if the girls all play well. Every shot has to be played well.”

Both Napieralski and junior Kelsey Preston admitted there was some serious focus needed to complete the repeat.

“We knew we had a job to do,” Napieralski said. “Winning last year was the first in school history for our girls golf team. Winning this year for back-to-back is really something else. It was awesome to be able to do that, but we went into it very humble. We knew we had a good team, but we don’t have anyone that goes super low, so we all have a good solid score. That’s what was important. Every shot. Day one we did well. Day two, we have to do the same thing. It’s not ‘sit back and relax.’ It’s go all the way.

Grand Rapids Christian’s Lillian O’Grady lines up a putt.“The coaches make sure they stay humble,” she added with a laugh. “Since we have no individuals who go super low, they all know we have a job to do, and all have to perform on the same day.”

Preston – if that name is familiar, she’s the younger sister of the reigning 2024 Mr. Golf, Will – led the team with an 81-76-157, good for third place individually.

“I think it’s great we were able to put this together and go back-to-back,” Preston said. “We’ve been working for this even since last season – and I’m very proud of our team and everything we’ve accomplished.”

Preston said it was hard to avoid the conversation of successfully repeating after the program’s first championship.

“It was definitely hard – we mentioned it quite a few times and some people were saying don’t jinx us,” she said. “But I just think the confidence really helped us get to where we are today.”

She agreed the team was able to react humbly in practice and in spirit, giving credit to parents, the school culture and, “Our coaches kept us in check, from over-celebrating and that being overly-confident could get us into bad situations.

“This was definitely a team effort, and everyone contributed,” Preston said. “It wasn’t just one person. It’s really huge for our school winning the title last year and making it here for back-to-back.”

Also scoring for the Cougars were senior Ava Wisinski and junior Sofia Piccione tying for seventh overall at 164 (84-80), and junior Margaret Deimel tying for 12th with 167 (82-85).

The Cougars take a team photo as champions for the second-straight season.Medalist Lillian O’Grady was the only golfer under par (-2) during the final round. She closed out a 145 (75-70) for a nine-stroke win over second place Averie Pumford of Freeland. O’Grady was the runner-up in 2023 and has one more season ahead of her at Grand Rapids Christian.

“Going into the summer I definitely grew a lot in my game, and I knew with some seniors graduating I had a pretty good chance to win this year,” O’Grady said. “I held onto that confidence all year and had a good season leading up to this weekend, so just putting it all together at the end felt good.”

Her team did not make it out of Regionals, but “I did have (teammate Kiera Bishop) here, and that was pretty great. Having the full team would have been a lot better, but it worked out. I think we were in one of the hardest Regionals, that if we’d been placed in other Regionals would we have won; but we have next year.

“This weekend I was able to hit a lot of greens,” she added. “Today I hit all 18 greens (in regulation), which I don’t think I’ve ever done before. So, it was great staying consistent with that, and my putting was good too – getting it close to the hole and making the two putts.”

At just 5-feet tall, O’Grady still packs a powerful punch, with an average drive of about 225-230 yards.

“I really work on my strength,” she said. “And if you have the right mechanics, you can hit it well no matter what size you are.”

Click for full results.

PHOTOS (Top) Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Margaret Deimel follows a drive during Saturday’s second round at Bedford Valley. (Middle) Grand Rapids Christian’s Lillian O’Grady lines up a putt. (Below) The Cougars take a team photo as champions for the second-straight season. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)

Senior Season Setting Up as Brody's Best of Storied Grand Blanc Career

By Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com

August 31, 2022

Grand Blanc’s Kate Brody entered her senior golf season a bit conflicted.

Bay & ThumbThe 2020 Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final champion knew her game was as good or better than it’s ever been, but she wasn’t happy with some recent results.

Then she shot a 62.

“I just was hitting every shot kind of right where I wanted to,” said Brody, who shot 10-under par at The Fortress in Frankenmuth on Aug. 25 during the Saginaw Valley League Preseason Tournament. “I wasn’t really thinking about much while I was playing. I’ve never played that well before. There was probably only one shot that I wasn’t happy with.”

The 62 was a personal best in tournament play for Brody, and could be the spark for the final year of an already illustrious high school career.

Brody has never finished outside the top four at an MHSAA Finals event, taking third as a freshman and fourth as a junior. She was named first-team all-state by the Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association after all of her first three high school seasons, and has committed to play golf at the University of Wisconsin when this school year is done.

But Brody wasn’t happy with how her summer season had panned out, and even on the day she shot 62, said she didn’t feel all that confident until she got to the first tee box.

Brody, here as a toddler, took to the game at a young age.“I didn’t have as good of a summer as I wanted to playing in tournaments around the state,” Brody said. “I wasn’t nervous going into my senior season, but I knew I was going to have to keep working hard to shoot the scores I wanted to. I feel like my game is definitely better than the last couple summers. I think I’ve gotten smarter on the golf course. I’ve definitely gotten better near the green with my chipping and putting, and I’m hitting it a lot farther, too.”

That leaves the main ingredient for Brody’s success in her own head – and she’s mastering that approach as well.

“My mental game has gotten a lot stronger,” she said. “I know that I’m going to have bad shots and a couple bad holes. I’ve tried really hard to keep it together and honestly forget about it and move on.”

All of that work has made this level of success possible for Brody, but she started with quite a foundation.

Brody’s parents, Jenn and Doug Brody, are the LPGA professional and head professional, respectively, at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club. Jenn played at Michigan State and on the LPGA Tour, and was inducted this past summer into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame.

Kate started playing at 4 years old, although she said there are pictures of her holding a club earlier than that. She didn’t start playing competitively, however, until she was 11.

“I don’t think my parents really wanted to push me into it,” she said. “I just really liked coming out to the golf course in the summer. It was just fun for me. I didn’t really take it super seriously until middle school. I also played travel soccer and basketball when I was little. Those were my main sports over golf until like seventh grade.”

Brody made golf her main game during junior high. Golf became Brody’s main focus right around the time Glen Bauer took over as coach of the Grand Blanc girls program. And he knew before she took a class at the high school that he had something special.

“I started coaching when Kate was in eighth grade, and I tried to get her on the varsity team when she was in eighth grade,” Bauer joked. “Some young players, you know right away if they have what it takes to be a great golfer and a great person. She just was so far advanced from pretty much everybody that’s been here as a freshman. A lot of that is DNA, but it’s also what she had worked on since she was 4½.”

While Brody grew up rooting for the Spartans, and had a coach who was pulling for her to wind up at Michigan, it was Wisconsin that got the jump on recruiting her and never fell back to the rest of the pack.

Badgers coach Todd Oehrlein was in contact with Brody the first day he was allowed by rule, and a visit to Madison in October of 2021 sealed the deal.

“I could tell that he and (assistant coach Kristen Simpson) really wanted me,” Brody said. “I wanted to go somewhere I felt wanted and felt like I would be valuable to the team. I really felt a good connection with my coaches at the start, and that was a big part in the decision. As soon as I stepped on campus, I really fell in love with it. It blew me away, everything about it. I didn’t have a lot of interest in visiting other places.”

Brody’s commitment came shortly after her junior season wrapped up, and she admitted the recruiting process had created excess pressure in the past.

Now, it’s one less thing to worry about as she tries to focus on the matches and tournaments immediately ahead while working toward the bigger goal of another Finals title.

“Those big goals are always in the back of my head,” she said. “I think it’s really necessary to have them to achieve what you want. But when I’m going to the next tournament, it’s not like I’m thinking about the state championship. I’m thinking about that round. When I’m off the course, I’m thinking of that bigger goal.”

Paul CostanzoPaul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Grand Blanc’s Kate Brody, here following through on a putt, has posted a tournament personal best 62 this season. (Middle and below) Brody, as a toddler and a few years older, took to the game at a young age and made it her main game during junior high. (Photos courtesy of the Brody family.)