Kennedy Repeat Keys Marian Title Sweep
October 19, 2019
By Steve Vedder
Special for Second Half
ALLENDALE – Shannon Kennedy had no trouble sleeping the night before her drive for a second MHSAA Finals title in three years.
The Bloomfield Hills Marian junior held a two-shot lead after the first round of the Lower Peninsula Division 3 championship at The Meadows. But instead of fretting over the many pitfalls which cause golfers to stumble, Kennedy promptly sealed her title Saturday with an even-par round of 73, including a clutch birdie on No. 18.
"I slept pretty well," said Kennedy after finishing with a two-day total of 143, three shots better than Flint Powers Catholic two-time all-stater Jolie Brochu. "You just have to go out and play your game. I felt like I was going to win."
Kennedy's individual championship sparked Marian to the team title, its first. The Mustangs finished with a 689, three shots better than reigning champ Powers. Marian shot a 335 the first day to lead the Chargers at that point by 11 shots.
Kennedy also had won the Division 2 championship as a freshman and finished third a year ago. She said she was confident the team would be in the hunt for a championship with a chance at upsetting a Powers team which lost only one golfer from 2018. After Marian captured the Catholic League championship late in the season, Kennedy said a whisper about winning a state crown grew into a real opportunity.
"We always knew it was a small possibility. We didn't talk too much about it until we got here and we thought, 'Hey, we can do this thing,’" she said.
Marian co-coach Cathie Fritz agreed with Kennedy that winning this weekend was a possibility. Fritz and co-coach Leon Braisted teamed up to win five Finals titles with five second-place finishes at Birmingham Seaholm until moving to Marian four years ago.
"We've got girls who work hard," Fritz said. "Marlo Hudson is our only senior, Shannon has worked hard the last 12 months and we've got multiple juniors who we knew would keep us in the hunt."
Marian's three juniors – Lauren Sass, Laura Emerson and Sarah Kuredjian – all broke 100 on Saturday. Hudson had rounds of 79 and 91.
Detroit Country Day finished third with a 711, Marshall was fourth at 712 and Big Rapids rounded out the top five with a 731. Powers entered the tournament ranked No. 1, while Marian was second and Big Rapids – which has four top-10 finishes since 2016 – was No. 3.
Other top individuals this weekend included Marshall's Karlee Malone, who was third with a 153. Madeline Blum of Marysville was fourth with a 160, and three golfers tied for fifth at 163: Haslett's Sydney Dausman, Grand Rapids Christian's Ryann Breslin and Big Rapids' Hope Thebo.
Braisted said Kennedy's individual title was no surprise to him.
"It's not about her; she's very humble," he said. "She's that precise. It's important to her to win, but she really wanted the team to win."
Powers coach Jim Snow said there is often a small gap between high expectations and actually winning a championship.
"Golf is a funny game. You don't always win just because you're favored," he said. "There can be weird bounces or a putt won't fall. To win a championship, things have to fall into place. That's just the nature of the business. You have to be precise and if you're not, you don't win.
"We played hard and just lost to a good team."
PHOTOS: (Top) Marian’s Shannon Kennedy follows through on an approach during Friday’s first round of the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Final. (Middle) Powers’ Jolie Brochu follows one of her drives. (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.)