Reigning Champ Adams, Neighbor Rochester High Aiming to Set Pace Statewide
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
August 17, 2023
The Lower Peninsula Division 1 Girls Golf Tournament might not be until October, but there probably will be many events before then that feel the same for Rochester Adams and Rochester High.
That’s because whether it’s at invitationals, dual matches or league tournaments, whenever they are competing at the same event, it will likely be more than a battle of the best teams in Rochester or Oakland County.
It could very well be a contest between the two best teams in the state that reside roughly three miles from one another.
“It’s nice to be battle-tested,” Adams coach Jeff Kutschman said. “We see Rochester this year between duals and tournaments probably six or seven times.”
Adams enters this year as the reigning LPD1 champion after a resounding triumph at Battle Creek’s Bedford Valley a year ago.
The Highlanders captured their first Finals championship by finishing 47 strokes ahead of runner-up Brighton, and Adams might be even more potent this year. The only graduate off of that team was Grace Wang, so Adams is in a great spot to repeat with nine of 11 players back.
Laura Liu, Katie Fodale and Olivia Dance will be the senior leaders, with junior Alexa Camargo and sophomore Hannah Wang also back after playing at the Final last season.
“The mindset for the girls is just like it was last year, where it was one day at a time and one shot at a time,” Kutschman said. “We tried not to let anything get too big in front of us. Just go out and play golf. Just have a good time and focus on what you’re doing at the time.”
A traditional power that went through some hard times after winning its last Division 1 championship in 2016, Rochester seems to be back on the upswing.
The Falcons finished third at last year’s Final — 52 shots behind Adams — in what was their first top-5 finish since the 2016 squad won it all.
Even better for Rochester is that its best four golfers are back from last year’s team: seniors Brooke Haney and Natalie Haise, junior Madison Yang and sophomore Ananya Kumar.
For Rochester head coach Jeff Haney, who has helped guide the program to three Division 1 championships (2008, 2009, 2016) and two runner-up finishes since girls golf moved to the fall in 2007, it’s good to begin a season with lofty expectations once again.
“I’ll be honest, after we won in ’08 and ’09, I figured that would be the extent of that for me,” Haney said. “I was then fortunate to have those teams in ’15 and ’16. I really didn’t think it would come back around again. I feel pretty lucky to have a real strong team again.”
There is work for the Falcons to do in order to try and make up the 52-stroke difference Adams had on the Falcons last year, but Haney likes his team’s overall depth beyond the top four who are back.
“We have better depth than most people,” he said. “At a tournament, probably all nine of my girls can shoot under 100, compared to some other teams I’ve had where we barely had anyone who could shoot under 100.”
In fairness, Adams and Rochester won’t be the only title contenders in Division 1.
Brighton graduated just one senior from last year’s runner-up team and is powerful as well, while Rockford has four golfers back from its team that finished fifth last year, including senior Jessica Jolly, who tied for third individually at the 2022 Final.
But given the talent and experience both Adams and Rochester have back, don’t be surprised if the LP Division 1 Tournament in October turns into a de facto “Rochester Invitational.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties
PHOTOS (Top) Rochester High’s Madison Yang putts during last season’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final at Bedford Valley. (Middle) Adams celebrates its 2022 LPD1 title; the Highlanders graduated only one golfer. (Top photo by High School Sports Scene; middle photo courtesy of Adams’ athletic department.)
Shannon Finds Home on Golf Course
October 16, 2020
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
JACKSON – As a freshman at Michigan Center High School near Jackson, Kamryn Shannon was a volleyball player who decided to try golf for the first time.
“My grandpa (Bob Shannon) was the golf coach for a long time at Michigan Center,” Shannon explained. “He wanted someone in the family to pick up the game. I decided I’d give it a try.”
Her Cardinals teammates are happy she did. Now a junior and in her third season golfing, Shannon will lead the Cardinals into the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final on Saturday at Michigan State University’s Forest Akers West. This will be the second consecutive season the Cardinals have qualified. Last year, Michigan Center finished 15th as Shannon shot a two-day total of 197.
“Our team has come a long way,” she said. “If we were to finish in the top five, I would be so happy for us. I’d like to see all of our hard work pay off.”
Shannon, 17, took to golf quickly.
“It kind of came easy, but I was putting in tons of work,” she said.
Shannon lives in Vandercook Lake but started attending Michigan Center in the sixth grade. She has two older sisters, one who played basketball for the Cardinals. Besides golf, Shannon plays basketball and softball for Michigan Center.
Last basketball season, the Cardinals reached the Regional Final before the season ended due to Covid-19. She scored four points, including a 3-pointer, in Michigan Center’s 42-41 upset of Grass Lake. The Cardinals won their final 16 games of the season.
“We had a pretty good team,” she said. “We had four seniors who were really good and being recruited to play college basketball.”
Shannon said there was some concern this school year about the golf team being allowed to compete in the conference and Regional tournaments after students were sent home due to the coronavirus.
“The golf season almost ended,” she said. “Luckily, the school pulled through.”
Shannon finished first at the Cascades Conference Tournament, helping Michigan Center to its first conference golf championship at Ella Sharpe course in Jackson. The team won each of the conference events by an average of 37 strokes, and all five Cardinals golfers – including also Baylee Carlisle, Elly Trefry, Sydney Cramer, and Savana Stewart – made first team all-conference. The team set several records during the outstanding season, and they were ranked throughout.
At the Regional, Shannon was medalist after shooting an 87 at the Cascades Golf Course in downtown Jackson.
She now attends school virtually every day. After school she works at The Grande Golf Club in Jackson, on the range picking up balls and cleaning carts. Working there has its advantages.
“Because I work there, I can use the range and golf for free,” she said. “I was going there a couple of times a week because we live near there and my mom said, ‘Maybe you ought to get a job there.’”
It was a good idea. Shannon said it’s helped her game.
“I’m super happy with how I’ve been doing this year,” she said. “Last year I got a lot of double bogeys and triple bogeys. This year I try to hit pars on every hole, but even if I don’t get one, I’m not mad.
“Golf can be super tough. You have to be able to think about the shot and stay calm, go up to the ball, focus on just that and swing. I’m down about 10 strokes from last year.”
She credits Steven Saari, the head golf professional at The Grande, with helping her game.
“I started taking lessons from him, and he’s helped me so much,” she said. “When Steve tells me something, I go and hit one or two buckets of balls every day until I get it down. I knew when he started teaching me that I really had to listen. There are so many little things in golf that make a big difference.”
Shannon is long off the tee – hitting drives consistently in the 240-yard range. She said she works about three days a week at the course but is there pretty much every day.
The daughter of Craig and Stephanie hopes to study golf course or sports management and play golf in college. She’s made some unofficial visits already to in-state schools.
For this weekend, she has a goal. She wants to break 80.
“I know that I am capable of it,” she said. “I did it this summer in tournament play. That’s what I want to do.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Michigan Center’s Kamryn Shannon watches a drive. (Middle) Shannon was the medalist at last week’s Regional at Cascades. (Photos courtesy of the Michigan Center girls golf program.)