Harbor Springs Goes Low, Claims 1st Title
October 21, 2017
By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Going into this weekend’s Lower Peninsula Division 4 Girls Golf Finals at Michigan State's Forest Akers East, the best team score Harbor Springs had produced this season was a 330.
When his team shot a 352 to place fourth after the first day, Harbor Springs coach Pete Kelbel pointed out that 330 number as a barometer for the Rams to try and close the 12-stroke gap that existed between them and first-place Almont.
“We already did a 330, and if we shot anywhere near what we did, we will be in the hunt,” Kelbel said.
Harbor Springs not only got to 330, but bettered it – and as a result was more than just in the hunt when it all was said and done.
The Rams were MHSAA champions.
Thanks to a blistering score of 328 in Saturday’s second and final round, Harbor Springs finished with a total of 650, 11 shots ahead of runner-up Jackson Lumen Christi.
Almont was third at 699, North Muskegon fourth with a 716 and Kalamazoo Hackett was fifth with a final score of 718.
The title was the first in Harbor Springs girls golf history. The Rams finished runner-up in 2014, their lone top-two finish before Saturday.
A big reason for the team jump was the improved scores on the second day from junior Madi Bezilla and sophomore Evie Garver.
After shooting an 87 on Friday, Bezilla did 11 shots better Saturday with a 76.
Garver also had an 11-stroke improvement, going from a 92 on Friday to an 81 on Saturday.
“(Evie) is probably the longest-hitting girl here,” Kelbel said. “Of course in golf you have to get the wedge shots on and the putts in, and that’s what she did today.”
Lumen Christi entered the day one shot back of Friday leader Almont and turned in a second-day score of 350, but it wasn’t enough to match Harbor Springs.
“This team won it,” Lumen Christi head coach David Swartout said of Harbor Springs. “My hats off to any team that can shoot that score on the second day. Typically on the second day, scores go up.”
However, the second-place finish was still a source of pride for Lumen Christi.
Swartout said the program was almost scrapped five years when only two girls came out for the team, and he saw one of the current seniors shoot a 21 on her first hole at the 2014 MHSAA tournament.
Lumen Christi ended up finishing 14th that season.
“To come from that to runner-up state champions, that’s phenomenal,” he said.
Senior Geraldine Berkemeier and junior Hillary Ziemba shot identical two-day scores of 163 to lead the way for Lumen Christi.
Individually, Brooklyn Columbia Central junior Alissa Fish emerged from a four-way tie for the lead after the first day to win medalist honors, following a first-day total of 79 with an 80 on Saturday.
“I struck my irons close enough, but I didn’t putt real well,” Fish said. “I actually putt really bad today and it had me in tears at some point. A lot of it came down to putting it close enough to where I could finish out a lot of holes.”
The individual runner-up was Almont senior Grace Zimmerman, who followed up a 79 on Friday with an 82 on Saturday to finish at 161.
PHOTOS: (Top) Harbor Springs poses with its first MHSAA Finals championship trophy won in girls golf. (Middle) The top 10 individual finishers at Forest Akers East. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
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.
“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).
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.”
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.)