Munising Girls Earn First Golf Title
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
May 30, 2013
ESCANABA — The Munising girls made a bit of golf history for themselves Thursday, earning their first MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 3 title with 416 strokes.
They were followed by Bark River-Harris with 435, Crystal Falls Forest Park with 444, defending champion Cedarville at 447 and DeTour at 474.
'“I think our consistency is what got us here,” Munising coach Bette Immel said. “We have four seniors who’ve played four years of varsity golf. This is a great way for them to end their careers.”
The Mustangs were led by sophomore Carla Nottmeier, an exchange student from Germany who was runner-up with a 93 at Highland Golf Club.
“On the front nine, I felt I wasn’t doing well with my driving,” Nottmeier said. “I didn’t get the distance I wanted, but that got better on the back nine. I started to relax a little more and hitting the ball a little farther. It’s a great feeling for us to win as a team.”
Sophomore Margo Brown, St. Ignace’s lone representative, was crowned individual champion at 90.
“I double-bogeyed the first three holes,” said Brown, who fired a 43 on the back nine. "After that, I told myself to shake it off, and I relaxed a little. I hit with my irons pretty good and putted pretty well.”
Brown, who played mainly on the school’s boys team during the season, had a chance to do two practice rounds at Highland, which she said proved helpful.
“I came up here with my dad on Saturday, then I had an 85 in a practice round here yesterday (Wednesday),” she added. “I knew what I had to do on every hole. The greens were real hard today. You had to hit the ball short and let it roll. You also had to club down on the par-3s.”
BR-H junior Savanna Stenberg hit 94, including 45 on the back nine.
“I started real bad on the front nine,” Stenberg said. “I was having a problem with chipping. My short game improved on the back nine, which was a big boost. I wanted to shoot a 42 on the back nine and hoped to finish in the high 80s. I know I could have done better, but I’m still pleased with my score. I had the home course advantage, which was pretty helpful because I knew where every obstacle was on the course.”
This marked the second straight runner-up finish for the Broncos, who placed second in Division 2 a year ago.
“Savannah shot a great round,” BR-H coach Scott Farnsworth said. “I’m proud of all the girls. They’ve worked extremely hard and done well all year. The girls all come from families who play golf. They have a golf background and understand the terminology. I hope they play golf all summer and keep improving their game.
“A lot of it is course management and knowing what to do. There was a lot of rough out there today. If you didn’t stay on the fairway, it added strokes in a hurry.”
Stenberg was followed by DeTour eighth-grader Madison Wilkie with a 95 and Forest Park junior Lexi Gussert and Munising senior Molly Mattson, both at 99.
Gussert, who came in as defending champion, already has offers to play basketball
at several major colleges including reigning NCAA Division I national champion Connecticut, which she’ll be visiting in the near future.
Also part of Munising’s championship team were seniors Katie Immel, who hit 107, and Eve Gendron at 117 and Emily DesJardins at 120.
“Our four seniors are awesome kids,” coach Immel said. “Their cumulative GPA is about 3.8, and they’re great ambassadors to our community. They’re close friends and they’re all like my daughters.
“We were pleased to have Emily on the team this year. She tore her Achilles tendon in the first basketball game last year and didn’t think she’d be able to play golf. But the doctors cleared her shortly before the season. I think this really means a lot to her.”
Full results will be linked when available.
PHOTOS: (Top) German exchange student Carla Nottmeier shot a second-place 93 to lead Munising to the Division 2 team championship. (Middle) St. Ignace's Margo Brown watches a putt fall on the way to her medalist score of 90. (Photos by Keith Shelton.)
Consistency Reigns as Northville, Okemos' Li Top Division 1 Finals Fields
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
October 19, 2024
BIG RAPIDS – Twenty-two years ago, Northville’s Kate (MacDonald) Schultz earned the medalist honor at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Girls Golf Final with Trish Murray as her head coach.
Schultz and Murray were side-by-side again Saturday, both as coaches, for another historic feat by the Northville program. Their Mustangs exhibited uncanny consistency in cruising to the Division 1 championship at Ferris State University’s Katke Golf Course.
“Truly special. (Murray) was my mentor, she was my high school coach 20-some years ago. It’s nice to be back here winning a state championship with her,” Schultz said.
All of Northville’s top four scorers posted two-day totals of 162 to tie for eighth individually and finish with a team score of 648 to clear runner-up Caledonia (692) by 44 shots. It was the Mustangs’ first Finals championship since 2021, when they capped a run of four straight.
Okemos senior Alena Li also displayed incredible consistency over the weekend with a pair of 73s en route to the medalist honor.
“I have no words right now …,” Schultz said with an incredulous laugh when asked to describe winning her first title as a head coach. “Kind of speechless.”
Murray interjected: “Ecstatic, ecstatic.”
“Excited,” Schultz continued. “We knew they could do it, but now that it’s happened, it’s real.”
Senior Sanya Singhal, sophomore Naaz Gill, and freshmen McKenzie Stevens and Cam Baker were in virtual lockstep for Northville. On Friday and Saturday, respectively, Singhal, Stevens, and Baker shot 80-82, respectively, while Gill went 82-80 in that order over the two days.
Romeo freshman Tula Puzzuoli finished second individually (150) and Caledonia senior Copelin O’Krangley took third (152). Rochester senior Madison Yang and junior Ananya Kumar were fourth (157) and fifth (160), respectively. Grand Ledge senior Isabel Kelly and Grand Blanc senior Sadie Kondel tied for sixth (161).
“I’m super excited to win the state championship. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and I’m so proud of myself for being able to get it done,” said the left-handed Li, who in June won the Michigan Junior Girls’ State Amateur Championship.
Li’s fired three birdies during Friday’s round and two more Saturday on the way to her 2-over-par 146 overall score for the weekend.
Like Northville, it was all about consistency for Li.
“I think I was just trying to stay consistent and focused throughout my rounds since it’s a long round as well,” Li said. “Just focusing on each shot and what I wanted to do on each hole, and I was able to stay focused and consistent with my play. Trying to keep everything in the fairway and then just trying to hit the green and trying to set myself up for some birdie opportunities.
“I think winning some tournaments in the summer gave me a lot of confidence coming into the high school season. I was really confident with my game, and I was feeling good and it’s super exciting to win states for my senior season.”
As one of two senior captains on the Northville team, Singhal was “overjoyed” to finish her high school career in grand fashion. Singhal stressed the fact that every shot matters, and that’s how the Mustangs played throughout their special season.
It was all about the mindset, according to Murray.
“That was the one thing we really said, going in, we really wanted to think about, ‘Hey, let’s play like we’re down five. Never let up. Just grind it out, battle, keep it going, and just try to finish strong, and widen that margin,’” said Murray, who was Northville’s first girls golf coach when the program launched in 1991. She stepped down from coaching in 2004 after retiring from the school district.
Speaking of history and the 2002 season, that was the year Caledonia claimed its Division 2 title. This weekend marked the highest finish for the Fighting Scots since that season.
“There is a little bit of unbelievability just because we knew that we could play this way, but the fact that they showed up and actually did it is just total excitement – sadness that it’s over, but I’m just so proud of these girls,” Caledonia coach Veronica Van Wagoner said. “I’m really, really proud of them.”
Macomb Dakota finished third (703) as a team, 2022 and 2023 champ Rochester Adams was fourth (704), and Okemos fifth (711) to round out the top five squads.
Singhal believes the Northville program’s success comes down to coaching. She said the Mustangs’ practices are very good, and the coaches have a knack for delivering effective pep talks.
Those things instill confidence in the team, said Singhal, who could not have drawn up a better finish to her high school career.
“I’m so excited,” she said. “For the last four years, I’ve always wanted to be a part of this, so I’m so glad that we ended it off like this.”
In Schultz’s opinion, it’s all about the Mustangs’ players, who never let the coaches down.
In Schultz’s words, they showed grit and determination. They took what they wanted and by large margins throughout the season.
“Our two captains, seniors, really led the team well. One of them was in the top (eight). Two freshmen and a sophomore being in the top (eight) is unheard of,” said Schultz, in her third year as head coach. “I look forward to continue building that tradition, and hopefully we can get four more in a row. That would be great.”
PHOTOS (Top) Northville’s Sanya Singhal lines up a putt during Friday’s first round at Katke at Ferris State. (Middle) Okemos' Alena Li. (Below) A competitor chips out of the Katke sand. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)