Seaholm Succeeds by a Stroke
October 19, 2013
By Mark Meyer
Special to Second Half
EAST LANSING – Birmingham Seaholm found itself in an unenviable position Saturday morning, 17 shots off the Division 2 Girls Golf Final lead at Forest Akers East and facing an uphill climb against an Okemos team brimming with confidence.
Throw in some swirling rain, a brisk wind and temperatures in the 40s, and the Maples certainly had plenty of ground to cover if they had hoped for a repeat of their 2008 title.
Based on the way they kept their composure throughout the weekend – and with three of their five starters coming back next season – the Maples have plenty to look forward to in the coming years.
Senior Megan Lam keyed the second-day surge with a medalist round of 78 as Seaholm surged to a 1-stroke victory over Okemos, 663-664. The Maples outshot the Chieftains 320-338 Saturday thanks in large part to the play of sophomore Allegra Cunningham (79), junior Jamie Greene (81) and sophomore Jordan Michalak (82).
And, even though her score didn’t count toward the team total, senior Rylie Miller (84) closed out her high school career by chipping in for birdie on the 18th green – over the sand and into a hole that she could not see.
“I can’t tell you how amazing (of a comeback) this was,” Miller said. “After yesterday we were so upset. We went home afterwards and went to the football game against Groves (a 28-22 league title-clinching win for Seaholm) and that really pumped us up. We came out ready to win.
“To go home (Friday night) and watch our classmates celebrate that victory helped us so much. It was amazing.”
Seaholm assistant coach Cathie Fritz said the object was to have fun and block out the negative thoughts, no matter the conditions.
“Muddle through the weather,” Fritz said, “find some fun out there and hit shots, despite the pouring rain and the freezing cold. We had to find the fun in being on the golf course.”
Lam, one of two co-captains along with Miller, credited her father for an overnight tip that made a difference in her game.
“He told me my first putts had to be better,” Lam said. “I had to lag the ball closer to the hole and make as many two-putt greens as possible.”
Lam, a four-year starter for the Maples, said the weather was not a huge factor for her.
“Having played at states for four years, you kind of expect it and prepare mentally so that it doesn’t mess up your game,” Lam said. “It was really a pretty normal day for me.”
As it was for Okemos senior Elle Nichols, who became only the second player in Lower Peninsula history to win three individual MHSAA titles.
Nichols overcame a poor start – two double bogeys in the first three holes that put her 7 over par through six holes – to shoot 79 for a two-day total of 155, three shots ahead of Lam.
“I knew I had to go low on the back nine,” said Nichols, who closed with a 35, “and the birdie at 10 (capped by a 60-foot putt) helped get me started.”
The third individual trophy, however, couldn’t make up for the disappointment of a runner-up team finish.
“This team worked very hard to get to this position,” Nichols said, “and we wanted to finish it with a title.”
Sophomore Jessica Kim (81-83), junior Sydney Williams (82-89) and senior Carly Bullock (87-87) completed the scoring for the Chieftains, who finished third as a team in 2012.
“We had a terrific season,” said Okemos coach Dan Stolz. “We won our conference for the third year in a row, won a Regional and had a great day (Friday) to start the two-day tournament.
“But we started (Saturday) playing pretty crummy, Seaholm made up a lot of shots early and maybe we got a little tight. But then we came back and played much better on the back nine. We didn’t shoot a terrible score for the way the course was playing; they (Seaholm) just played better and deserved to win.”
Sisters Stephanie Carras (freshman) and Kharissa Carras (senior) both finished among the top 10 individuals to lead Midland Dow to a third-place finish with a team total of 695. Stephanie carded rounds of 79-80 while Kharissa, playing in the lead group with Nichols and Lam, shot 86-82.
Prior to the beginning of the awards ceremony, Fenton sophomore Madi Shegos received special mention for her hole-in-one Friday on the par-3 18th hole.
PHOTOS: (Top) Birmingham Seaholm’s Jordan Michalak celebrates after chipping in for a birdie. (Middle) Okemos’ Elle Nichols finished first individually for the third straight season, tying at MHSAA record. (Click to see more from High School Sports Scene.)
3-Time Finals Champ Cherishes Memories, Considering Golf Future
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
August 3, 2022
Golf has been a major part of Katy Nightwine’s past – and it could be a big part of her future.
But at the present time, there’s something more important to tend to that’s putting golf on the backburner.
Close to three decades after making history as a golfer at Ann Arbor Pioneer, much of Nightwine’s time and energy these days is as a stay-at-home mom raising her 2-year-old son Henry with her husband Bryan.
But even while doing that, it’s hard to get golf completely out of her mind, as she’s already trying to plant a seed with her son.
“He enjoys putting the ball on the tee,” Nightwine said. “We’re happy with that progress.”
If the little guy starts fully getting into the game, he’ll be hard-pressed to find a better mentor than his mother.
Nearly 30 years ago Nightwine, then Katy Loy, made history by becoming the first to win three straight MHSAA Girls Golf Finals individual titles in the highest classification/division when she claimed three consecutive crowns in Lower Peninsula Class A.
Nightwine said she grew up on a golf course in Dexter (now closed), which is where she learned the game and grew a passion for it.
“I liked going to golf more than I liked going to swim practice,” she said. “It became that thing I did with my dad after work. The weekends would be spent golfing, and that became my favorite place to be.”
Nightwine won the Class A title in 1993 as a sophomore, and then repeated as a junior in 1994.
She remembers going into her senior year with a lot of people talking about whether she could make it three in a row, but it didn’t put any more pressure on her than she’d already put on herself.
“If I didn’t get it then, that was going to be the blemish,” Nightwine said. “It had so much more meaning than it being the third time, but let’s cap it off and really give me something to remember.”
In her words, it “wasn’t looking so good,” for Nightwine on the front nine during the last round of the Final in 1995, but she turned it around on the back nine at Michigan State’s Forest Akers West to claim her third-straight title.
From there, Nightwine went on to the University of Michigan and was named Freshman of the Year in the Big Ten in 1996.
Due to a desire to play in warmer weather and more prestigious tournaments, Nightwine transferred after her freshman year to the University of Kentucky, where she finished out her collegiate career.
Nightwine turned professional after college and played in a futures tour, but a back injury ultimately led her to quit playing professionally.
She worked as a golf instructor here and there. But in 2008, Nightwine started focusing on what she said was her other passion: Baking.
She opened up a pastry shop in Ann Arbor and continued in that business for 10 years before her family decided in 2018 to sell the property where the bakery was located to a company that repurposed it.
Now, Nightwine is fully entrenched in the business of being a mom and raising her son, but is hoping for a golfing revival in the future.
When her son gets older, she’s thinking about getting back into golf instruction or doing something else in the industry.
If nothing else, she wants to at least get back to playing consistently again.
“To see where my swing is at and go from there,” she said.
Regardless of what the future holds in the sport, Nightwine will always own a piece of state golf history, something she cherishes to this day.
“I will always be involved with golf, especially if (my son) takes a liking to it,” she said. “I have such fond memories of people I met.”
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Katy Loy watches a drive during the 1994 Lower Peninsula Girls Golf Final. At right, Loy, now Nightwine, with her husband Bryan. (Middle) Katy Nightwine takes a swing at the driving range. (Below) Katy and Bryan Nightwine. (1994 Finals photo courtesy of Ann Arbor News/MLive; current photos courtesy of Katy Nightwine.)