Performance: Notre Dame's Danielle Staskowski
October 24, 2018
Danielle Staskowski
Pontiac Notre Dame Prep senior – Golf
The Fighting Irish ace capped her career Saturday at Michigan State University’s Forest Akers East with her third Division 3 Finals individual championship – becoming just one of five Lower Peninsula girls to achieve that feat. She shot a two-day 152 and won a one-hole playoff to clinch the title, and led Notre Dame Prep to tie for fifth as a team in earning the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week.”
Staskowski has thrived in pressure situations. As a freshman, she won a playoff to claim the final individual qualifying spot from her Regional – and went on to take fourth at the Final. She missed most of her tennis season the following spring and then a summer of golf with a broken rib – but she came back in the fall and won her first MHSAA Finals also in a one-hole playoff while leading her team to a runner-up finish. She cleared the Finals field to win by eight strokes as a junior – shooting career-best rounds of 72 both days – in helping the Irish finish 13th. Staskowski owns school records for low 9 (34) and 18-hole scores and 9 and 18-hole averages. This season she averaged 37.3 strokes for nine-hole matches and 77.7 for 18.
This fall’s success followed a highlight-filled summer that included a run to the Round of 8 match play at the Michigan Women’s Amateur in August. Staskowski finished runner-up at the Oakland County Invitational in September and won her Regional with a 75 on the way to shining again in East Lansing. On the same day she won her third title, friend Anika Dy from Traverse City West also won her third straight Division 1 championship as together they became the first to win three titles since another friend, Maple City Glen Lake’s Nichole Cox, won three straight in Division 4 from 2014-16. Staskowski is committed to continue her career next year at Central Michigan University. She carries a 3.4 grade-point average and is considering studying biomedical engineering.
Coach Kyle Lilek said: “Dani has been playing golf for about 15 years. She practices every day, has taken lessons from a variety of swing coaches, and even taken lessons from a mental coach. She has always worked hard at her game and dedicated herself to golf. However, at her freshman year tryout she stepped up to the tee, and due to nerves, duffed her tee shot; I always remember that story, because as talented as she is, she's still a teenage girl who deals with the same obstacles as anyone else ... and overcomes them all. … Dani thrives when presented with obstacles, and her high school golf career is proof of that fact. She has played and won three playoffs in the past four years. … This is what she does, and she thrives when presented with direct competition. It can seem overwhelming and super-human to achieve at Dani's level the way she does, but I never forget how human she is. … Dani is just a large heart with limbs. Her empathy, compassion, and friendship is what made her a leader and captain on the team, not her skill. She's the type of girl to console a frustrated teammate, even after winning a state title. I've always been proud of Dani; I've been proud of her skill, proud of her competitive spirit, but I've been most proud of her heart. She's a three-time state champion because of her fiercely competitive spirit, and because of her caring heart. I will miss her next year, but I'll always be proud of her, and I'll always have her back.”
Performance Point: “After I made my putt on Saturday, and my team running onto the green, is always something I'm never going to forget. All the support from them, that's something that will always stick out. … What's funny about it actually is that I grew up golfing with Anika (Dy) and with Nichole Cox, so it's a crazy thing to think because we all did the same golf camp when we were younger. So me and my dad were laughing about it – we said, ‘I guess the camp works out pretty well.’ It's such an amazing thing to accomplish (three championships) with my best friends. We've been talking about it all week, and just bringing up old memories from camp and just stuff like that. It's been a pretty cool couple of days just getting to talk with (Anika) and experiencing this together.”
Mastering the mental game: “The biggest thing for me is treating everything the same. Whether it's a really big international tournament, or it's a regular tournament for high school, treating everything the same and never feeling like I have an advantage over anybody else and just going into it like everybody has a chance to win this. I work with Jason Novetsky, who is a really great mindset coach, and we work on stuff with that all the time – on trying to keep my mind in it, and focused, and not on the future and the outcome. I think that's been a big help for me. … Golf is so day to day. You just have to always remember that anybody can win it, anybody could have the round of their life, to always play every shot the best you can. I think that's what really just keeps me in the moment and helps me out.”
On to the next shot: “I’ve learned how to deal with things that don't go well on the course better now. I wouldn't say I used to panic when things went wrong on the course, but I've learned to really use the mindset that the next shot is so important. If you hit it into a pond or if you hit it into something where you weren't expected to hit it – the rough or in a bunker – you just play that shot, and then move on and try to birdie the next hole. Moving on from something that didn't go as planned is something I'm doing a lot better, and just remembering that it's a game.”
It’s always been golf: “I've been playing golf my entire life. It's just always stayed that thing that I love, because I never let it turn into a chore. Every time I go out and play, it's fun. If I'm trying to beat myself, or if I'm trying to beat the course … it's just something that's always fun to me. I'm always happy to be out there playing, never felt like I have to go and practice, that I have to go do this. I think that keeping it fun for me has been why it's still my thing. I never go on a golf course and don't want to be there. With my mindset coach, another thing we talk about all the time is you don't have to go play golf; you get to play golf, which is something I keep in my head all the time. I've had the opportunity to go out and play golf all the time, and it's fun for me, and I'm going to take that opportunity and I'm going to keep it fun. Plus, I grew close to a lot of girls in the golf community, so usually when I'm at tournaments, it's with the people that I really like to be around and that have the same goals as me. It just keeps it really fun and light-hearted.”
More than a team: “My golf team is my family, and if they need anything any time, they know they can call me, they can come to me and I'll do anything in my power to support them and be a good captain. If they need swing advice and they want help with it, I'll help them out with it. Or if they need notes from a course that I have, I'll walk them through it or we'll go out and play a round together and I'll give them advice. Even outside of golf too; we're best friends on the golf course, and we're best friends in the hallway. That was a really big thing for me when I became one of the captains last year; we are a team, but I want us to also be a family. I just wanted to have a group of girls that could rely on each other even when we're not playing our sport, outside of school. … I wanted it to be a really friendly, family-like environment, and I think that's what happened this year, which was really exciting for me.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2018-19 school year, Second Half and the Michigan Army National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Past 2018-19 honorees
October 18: Adam Bruce, Gladstone cross country - Read
October 11: Ericka VanderLende, Rockford cross country - Read
October 4: Kobe Clark, Schoolcraft football - Read
September 27: Jonathan Kliewer, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern soccer - Read
September 20: Kiera Lasky, Bronson volleyball - Read
September 13: Judy Rector, Hanover-Horton cross country - Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Pontiac Notre Dame Prep's Danielle Staskowski fires a shot during Saturday's second round at Forest Akers East. (Middle) Staskowski follows one of her iron shots during Friday's first round. (Top photo by Jason Schmitt.)
Rochester Adams, East Kentwood's Fennell Claim Finals Wins by Narrowest of Margins
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
October 21, 2023
EAST LANSING – Conditions were chilly and rainy, but the down-to-the-wire drama at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Girls Golf Final was enough to warm up anyone with adrenaline.
And this was true both from a team and individual medalist perspective at Forest Akers West.
In the team portion, it became apparent on the back nine that the championship was a two-team race between 2022 champion Rochester Adams and No. 1-ranked Brighton.
Back-and-forth the teams went until they were tied going into the last hole.
From there, it was Adams which did just enough to squeak by, pulling out a one-shot win with a final score of 669 to repeat as champion. Had the teams tied, Brighton would have won with the fifth-score tiebreaker.
The next closest score behind Brighton’s 670 was produced by Plymouth, which took third with a 683.
Rockford (693) and Rochester (695) rounded out the top five.
Plymouth was in first with a seven-shot lead over Adams and an 11-shot lead over Brighton after the first round. But while Adams was 15 shots better and Brighton 22 shots better in the second round, Plymouth was 13 shots worse.
“The last 10 holes were up and down and back and forth,” Adams head coach Jeff Kutschman said. “I think it was the girls just sticking to their game. Just fighting all the way to the end and fighting for every stroke.”
The Highlanders were led by senior Laura Liu, who shot a pair of 75s to tie for fourth individually with a final score of 150.
Senior Katie Fodale shot a 158 (82-76) to tie for eighth with Brighton senior Abbie Pietila.
The repeat crown capped off a season that saw Adams struggle during the first couple of months but come on in the end when it counted most.
Adams performed better to win its Regional at Twin Lakes and entered the Final healthier than it had been all season, especially since Fodale didn’t hit a golf ball for months until roughly two weeks before the season started after suffering a shoulder injury.
“She got a lot better throughout the season,” Kutschman said. “Peyton Sage, our No. 5, played great down the stretch and helped us win the league and the Regional. They all just did what they needed to do today and yesterday. I think experience helps a lot.”
Brighton finished runner-up to Adams for a second-straight year, although this one was a lot more crushing than finishing 47 shots behind the Highlanders last fall.
In addition to Pietila’s performance, Brighton was led by senior Madison Martens, who shot a 74 in the second round after shooting an 86 in the first.
“It’s golf,” Brighton head coach Paul Parsell said. “A lot of times it can go your way, and this day it didn’t go our way. I’m super proud of all the girls that battled hard. Starting out in fifth place and getting it down to the last putt.”
The individual title also came down to the last hole and putt.
East Kentwood senior Elise Fennell ended up claiming the crown by one shot over Byron Center senior Macie Elzinga and Rockford senior Jessica Jolly, shooting a pair of 70s for a final total of 140.
Fennell’s last hole was the third hole on the course, a par 4, and said she was fully aware of what was going on and what she needed to do.
“I was watching scores, and I wanted to know,” Fennell said. “I figured par or birdie (would win).”
Headed to college golf for Illinois State, Fennell won the title this year by a stroke after finishing one shot behind Kate Brody of Grand Blanc last year.
“It feels amazing,” Fennell said. “It’s kind of been bothering me all year wanting to get it done.”
PHOTOS (Top) East Kentwood's Elise Fennell lines up a putt during the LP Division 1 Final. (Middle) Rochester Adams celebrates its repeat Finals championship. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)