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.)
Lutheran North Ace, Cranbrook Kingswood Complete Title Climbs
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
October 17, 2021
EAST LANSING – Lauren Timpf came up a little short of her lofty goals at last year’s Lower Peninsula Division 3 Girls Golf Final. The Macomb Lutheran North sophomore was not going to be denied this weekend at Michigan State University’s Forest Akers West.
Same went for the seasoned Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood team in its fourth-straight trip to the Finals.
Timpf wrapped up medalist honors, while Cranbrook Kingswood completed its team-championship mission on a chilly, windy Saturday.
After she fired an eye-popping 6-under 66 Friday, Timpf followed with a solid 1-over 73 Saturday in challenging conditions en route to a 14-shot victory over the rest of the field. Meanwhile, Cranbrook Kingswood collected its first Finals title since 2006 by shooting 694 for a six-stroke victory over runner-up Grosse Ile.
“I was hoping to go a little bit lower – that was my goal coming into today; really, to get it to double-digits under par was my goal,” said Timpf, who missed a playoff for medalist honors in last year’s Final by one shot when she bogeyed her final hole.
“It was tough conditions today, but I didn’t play my best. I let some shots get away, had a double out there. It was just a little bit tougher today.”
Whitehall’s Karli VanDuinen was runner-up at 153 (78-75), followed by Grosse Ile’s Lily Bargamian in third (154), Grand Rapids South Christian’s Ashley Thomasma fourth (160) and Freeland’s Averie Pumford fifth (162).
Cranbrook Kingswood’s Natasha Samsonov (sixth, 163), Bloomfield Hills Marian’s Ashley Carroll and Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Ava Wisinski (tied for seventh, 165), Grand Rapids Christian’s Sara Muir (ninth, 167) and Ada Forest Hills Eastern’s Sophie Skoog (10th, 169) rounded out the top 10.
In the final team standings of the two-day tourney, South Christian placed third (708), while 2019 and 2020 champ Marian finished fourth (729). Grand Rapids Catholic Central took fifth (738).
“For my seniors that played today, this was their fourth state (finals tournament). They played in it as freshmen. … For them, they weren’t nervous,” said Cranes coach John Minnich, whose last three teams finished fifth, eighth and fourth at the Division 3 Finals. Three of the five players in this year’s lineup were seniors who were plenty familiar with playing at the championship level.
Cranbrook Kingswood also had finished Division 3 runner-up from 2012-14.
In addition to Samsonov, seniors Ashley Cong and Katherine Li shot 175 and 186, respectively, to help Cranbrook Kingswood. Sophomores Sienna Ilitch and Mackenzie Behnke posted 163 and 189, in that order.
Nobody was going to give Timpf a run for her money, but for Cranbrook Kingswood, there was strength in numbers. A tough schedule throughout the season, competing against the likes of eventual Division 1 champ Northville, perennial power Marian and Division 2 fourth-place Farmington Hills Mercy, had the Cranes prepared to win Division 3 this time.
“It was one of those things where I told them, ‘You know, you guys could probably have a pretty special team. Stay together, keep working at it, keep playing,’ and they did,” Minnich said. “They put in the time, they put in the work and, you know, it was a great season.
“The program is kind of on an up-tick. (Cranbrook) girls want to play, they’re excited about playing golf,” Minnich said.
Timpf has been playing golf since a young age.
And she’s quite familiar with the Forest Akers courses. In July, Timpf won the 43rd Michigan Girls’ Junior State Amateur Championship at Forest Akers East.
In the summer of 2020, Timpf gave eventual Michigan Women’s Amateur champion Anna Kramer a run before falling to her in the quarterfinals, 1-up, at Forest Akers West.
“(Last year’s Finals finish) did drive me because I knew that I could have won that tournament. I mean, I bogeyed the last hole to miss the playoff,” Timpf said. “And since we couldn’t take flagsticks out (last year), two my 3-footers hit the (stick) and bounced out.”
Everything about Timpf’s game was working Friday, and putts were dropping.
It was more of a challenge Saturday.
“I mean, yesterday I felt like I played great – everything was working together, putts were dropping,” Timpf said. “Today, not as many, but I did get away with a few. I missed a few 3-footers.”
PHOTOS Macomb Lutheran North’s Lauren Timpf follows a shot during Friday’s first round. (Middle) Cranbrook’s Natasha Samsonov tees off during first-day play. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)