Performance of the Week: Okemos' Alena Li
October 20, 2023
Alena Li ♦ Okemos
Junior ♦ Golf
Li carded a 72 to win last week’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Regional at Currie West in Midland, leading Okemos to an overall 350 score and team championship. The Regional win came shortly after she shot a career-low 66 at the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue Tournament in leading the Wolves to a championship there as well.
This weekend’s MHSAA Final at Michigan State’s Forest Akers West will be Li’s third, and she is expected to again be among contenders in a loaded field. She tied for ninth at the Final as a freshman, when Okemos placed third as a team, and tied for sixth last season as her team finished ninth.
@mhsaasports ⛳️POW: Alena Li #golf #regionals #okemos #letsgo #part1 #highschoolsports #tiktalk #interview #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ original sound - MHSAA
@mhsaasports ⛳️POW: Alena Li #tiktalk #questiontime #part2 #chickfila #augusta #night #golf #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ original sound - MHSAA
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Past 2023-24 Honorees
Oct. 13: Seth Norder, Grand Haven cross country - Report
Oct. 5: Paige Anderson, Muskegon Reeths-Puffer golf - Report
Sept. 29: MacKenzie Bisballe, Lake City volleyball - Report
Sept. 22: Jhace Massey, Gladwin football - Report
Sept. 15: Kaylee Draper, Sturgis swimming - Report
Sept. 8: Owen Jackson, Traverse City St. Francis tennis - Report
Sept. 1: Rachel Forsyth, Ann Arbor Pioneer cross country - Report
(Photos courtesy of the Okemos girls golf program.)
Bark River-Harris Takes Championship Steps with Team, Individual Sweep
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
May 29, 2024
CRYSTAL FALLS --- Bark River-Harris went home from last year’s Upper Peninsula Division 2 Girls Golf Final with some hardware. Just not the kind the Broncos wanted.
After finishing third the year before, they earned the runner-up trophy at the 2023 championship tournament, and Ava McDonough also took home a runner-up finish.
This year at Young’s Golf Course, the Broncos won the team title and McDonough took the medalist honor.
“It’s pretty great. We’ve been working for it for three years now, and it feels really good to finally accomplish it,” she said. “Last year we got second. I got second individually.
“I mean second’s good, but first is better.”
It was really good for the Broncos’ entire team, which won their first U.P. title since claiming back-to-back Division 3 championships in 2014 and 2015. They finished a dozen strokes fewer than runner-up West Iron County (451). Norway was third, Stephenson fourth and Munising fifth.
“It’s amazing,” Broncos coach Matt Sly said. “I’ve been with these girls now, this is our third year. We took third three years ago, second last year. They worked really hard this year, and they were able to do it.”
McDonough carded a 101 to earn the medalist honor.
“My drives were pretty good, and my chipping I did good,” she said. “My putting was not very good. That was the only thing that really killed me. Otherwise, it was all pretty good.”
Sly said she's been playing well this entire season.
“She’s just an all-around good player,” he said. “She’s good off the tee, she has good short game and she was able to put it all together today.”
McDonough finished just one stroke ahead of teammate Ella Boney, who was runner-up with a 102.
“She played exceptionally well today,” Sly said of Boney. “She was several strokes better than her average.”
Munising’s Jailen Hancock and West Iron County’s Addison Franzene both carded 105 to tie for third. The Wykons’ Kya Dallavalle finished fifth with a 108.
McDonough said improvement over the last year has been about hard work, practice, helping each other out and not getting down when things went badly.
“Four of the five are seniors,” Sly said of McDonough, Boney, Zailey Cortez – who placed 13th – and Melody Racicot. Sophomore Dakota Bridges took 16th. “They’ve been waiting for this for a while.”
PHOTOS (Top) Bark River-Harris Ava McDonough tees off on No. 17 at Wednesday's Division 2 Final at Young's Golf Course. (Middle) West Iron County's Kya Dallavalle putts on No. 17. (Photos by Jason Juno.)