Gremlins Push Title Streak to 4
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
May 28, 2014
MARQUETTE — The Houghton girls capped a short, but successful golf season Wednesday as they captured their fourth consecutive MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 1 title with 396 strokes.
Runner-up Marquette finished with 423, with third-place Escanaba at 433.
“Three of our girls didn’t play until May 13 when we went to the Negaunee Range Bank Invitational at Wawanowin (Golf Club near Ishpeming),” said Gremlins’ coach Corey Markham. “Some of our new girls did real well. We have a couple real talented golfers, and our seniors (Noelle Polakowski and Megan Kelly) have been real consistent. Noelle and Megan have been part of four U.P. championships. This has been a real hard-working group.”
Gladstone senior Callie Jensen earned medalist honors with a 90 on the Marquette Golf & Country Club’s Heritage course. She was followed by Marquette’s Sydney Higgins with 94 and Kelly at 95.
“I went into a hazard and got a nine on it (on the par-5, No. 4 hole),” said Jensen, who will study at the University of Michigan this fall. “I had a little lane, but I hit a tree and ended up back in the hazard. I think if I could have gotten that down to a six, I would have been pleased with it.
“Overall, I played decent. This is a very challenging course. The greens were faster than we’re used to, although I like fast greens. So I can’t complain about that.”
Like most U.P. teams, Gladstone also started later than usual. The Braves opened their season May 1 at the Escanaba Country Club.
“We had a lot of tournaments cancelled due to bad weather,” said Jensen. “The late start made it harder to get into the swing of things.”
After the tournament, Braves’ coach Dane Quigley paid tribute to Jensen’s farewell performance and career.
“I thought Callie played well,” he said. “Yes, she took a nine on one hole. But that’s a quality golfer and young lady we’re losing. Callie is very dedicated to our program. She’s going to be missed, as (will) all of our other seniors.”
Manistique junior Hailey Hoholik placed fourth at 97, a stroke better than Escanaba senior Kelsey Motto.
“I thought everything went pretty good, although I should have done better on a few holes,” said Hoholik, who played on the Heritage course for the first time. “My putting didn’t go as well as I hoped. The greens were fast. Ours at home (at Indian Lake Golf Course) are pretty slow. This was a big adjustment at first. But by the third hole, I started getting used to it.”
Like Jensen, Motto received her due from Escanaba coach Brian Robinette.
“Kelsey has been an ambassador for our golf team,” said Robinette. “We spent four years together. Our girls’ program was barely breathing when I started. Kelsey knows what it takes to nurture the younger kids and play the game the right way. She has been a top-five golfer from the beginning of the year to the end. I think she’s going into college golf with a lot of momentum and self-belief.”
Motto, who will continue her golf career at St. Norbert College in DePere, Wis., next season, was followed by Houghton’s Adison Cook with a 99 and Polakowski with a 100.
The Gremlins also had a fourth golfer in the top 10, with Taryn Kaurala taking ninth overall at 102.
“Some of our girls came up through the junior program at Michigan Tech, which is a great program,” Markham said. “They’re all very competitive. They’ve been able to shake it off when they had a bad hole.”
Polakowski shared seventh with Marquette’s Hannah Crampton.
“Sydney’s second-place finish helped us get where we needed,” Marquette coach Ben Smith said. “Hannah had a solid round and Leah Anderson has been in the mix all year. Houghton is solid. It seems like Megan Kelly has been with them forever. I’m thrilled for our girls. Their scores got better through the season.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Houghton's Megan Kelly hits from the first fairway during the MHSAA Division 1 U.P. Final on Wednesday. (Middle) Gladstone's Callie Jensen hits out of a bunker on the first fairway; she went on to finish first individually with a 90. (Photos by Adelle Whitefoot.)
Northville, West's Dy Cap Remarkable Runs
October 20, 2018
By Matt Schoch
Special for Second Half
BATTLE CREEK – Mother Nature kept extending the illustrious high school golf career of Traverse City West’s Anika Dy on Saturday.
But all good things must come to an end.
More than eight hours after teeing up at Bedford Valley Golf Course, Dy sank the final putt of her even-par 72 round to earn her third straight MHSAA Lower Peninsula Girls Golf Finals Division 1 title by six strokes.
It came on a blustery and rainy fall Michigan day that tested the resolve of golfers across the state and caused more than two hours of delays in Battle Creek.
“You can’t complain about it or whine about it. You just take it for what it is and be positive,” Dy said. “It was hard, not going to lie. It was a mental grind more than anything.
“Yeah, it was rainy, cold, windy, snowy, whatever, but It’s up (in your head) where it’s the hardest.”
Dy finished at 4-under 140 for the two-day event, which was weather delayed twice Saturday.
Northville dominated the team competition, closing an undefeated season by topping Kensington Lakes Activities Association rival Plymouth by 31 strokes.
Northville shot 312 on Saturday, combining with a 318 from Friday for 630.
In the week leading up to the tournament, Northville coach Chris Cronin asked the Mustangs to share a reason for why they were playing in the Finals.
“Every girl that’s playing on the state team sent back the note that they’re playing for their teammates,” Cronin said. “That was huge. I knew at that point we couldn’t lose because that’s what you shoot for as a high school coach.
“They’ve been close like that all year. That’s what made it really just extraordinarily special.”
Northville was led by sophomore Nicole Whatley, who took fourth as an individual after shooting even-par 72 despite the conditions, tying Dy for the day while playing alongside her in the final group.
“We’re definitely really close,” Whatley said about her team after carding four birdies on Saturday. “We’ve been so close together, non-stop, every single day. We just fell in love with the game and each other.”
The title was the Mustangs' first. But Northville will be the team to beat next year, as Mariella Simoncini is the lone graduating senior.
Simoncini, who said she will sign next month with Oakland University, took 13th with 163. Junior Sufna Gill tied for fifth at 155, sophomore Katelyn Tokarz tied for 20th at 168, and junior Sedona Shipka tied for 25th at 170.
Led by Dy, TC West, the reigning champion and winner of two of the previous three championships, took third at 664, three shots behind Plymouth.
Meanwhile, Dy joins four other Michigan high school golfers to win three individual Finals championships since the MHSAA began sponsoring the sport in 1973. The others are Maple City Glen Lake’s Nichole Cox (2014-16), Okemos’ Elle Nichols (2011-13) and Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Kate Loy (1993-95) – and Pontiac Notre Dame Prep’s Danielle Staskowski won her third Division 3 championship Saturday.
The final round for the University of Michigan commit, who plans to sign with the Wolverines next month, was not without its tough moments.
On hole seven, Dy aggressively went for the par-5 green on her second shot, ending in a greenside bunker.
Dy then went up and down from there, nailing a 15-foot putt for her second of two birdies on the day and seventh for the tournament.
“I hit that clutch putt,” Dy said. “It was not a day for birdies, so I really treasured that one.
“I think that was one of those moments to keep the momentum going.”
Then, after the second weather delay, Dy had trouble finding her ball among the leaves on the 16th hole, although she eventually tracked it down – on the fairway, of course.
She managed to par, then did the same on 17 and 18 to close her career and a season where she won every event but one, a tournament in Alpena where she was nudged by her younger sister, Anci Dy.
“The one on 18 I’m going to remember for a while, because I knew it was my last hole as a high schooler,” Anika Dy said. “It was like 8 feet, it wasn’t an easy putt, and I made it and it just felt really good.”
Dy, the two-time reigning Miss Golf recipient by the Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association, could become the first player to win the honor three times.
After missing out on a Finals title as a freshman by one shot, Dy won by two shots in 2016, eight shots last season and topped second-place Mikaela Schulz, a senior from Bloomfield Hills, by six shots Saturday.
Utica Eisenhower sophomore Ariel Chang, who shot 1-under 71 on Friday, took third at 148. Whatley was fourth at 149, and her teammate Gill, a junior, tied Anci Dy – Anika’s sophomore sister from TC West – for fifth at 155.
“It’s been so much fun,” Anci Dy said of playing with her sister. “I’m going to miss her.
“I don’t think she has a bad bone against anybody here, ever. She’s just so supportive. She’s very humble, which is something a lot of us just admire her for.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Northville’s Nicole Whatley watches an approach during Saturday’s second round of the Division 1 Final at Bedford Valley. (Middle) Anika Dy follows through on a shot on the way to claiming her third individual Finals title. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)