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Shores Core 4 wins Fourth MHSAA Title
October 20, 2012
By Greg Chrapek
Special to Second Half
ALLENDALE – Repeating was the theme of the weekend at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Girls Golf Final.
Not only was Muskegon Mona Shores looking for a fourth straight team championship, but Okemos junior Elle Nichols had her sights set on repeating as the individual medalist at The Meadows Golf Course on the campus of Grand Valley State University.
In the end, both the Sailors and Nichols accomplished their goals, but not without plenty of thrills along the way. On the team front, Mona Shores became the first girls golf team to win four straight Lower Peninsula championships. The Sailors also came full circle as their two-day total of 666 matched the score they shot in winning the 2009 title with four of the same players.
Mona Shores led the tournament at the end of the first day with a 341 and came back on Saturday to shoot a 325. Battle Creek Lakeview finished second with a score of 707 while Okemos took third with a 711.
“We talked about the butterflies after the first day,” Mona Shores coach John Brainard said. “We talked Saturday morning about getting rid of the butterflies. About getting a fire in our bellies instead and going out after it.”
That was exactly what the Sailors did, as seniors Hailey Hrynewich and Morgan Smith led the way with scores of 79 while fellow seniors Britni Gielow and Kelsey McKinley shot rounds of 83 and 84, respectively. All four have been among the team’s top five for all four championships.
“It feels so great to win it again,” Hrynewich said. “That was our goal from day one this season, to win a fourth state title. There was a lot more pressure on us this year. Everyone knew we were going for our fourth in a row, but we knew we had to do it."
The title was bittersweet for Brainard, who will say goodbye to his special senior class.
“I’m so proud of these girls,” Brainard said. “These four seniors are very special. They set the state record that no other team has done before.”
With a fourth title heading to the trophy case, Brainard is already looking ahead to a possible fifth next year.
“That’s my job,” Brainard said. “I’ve already started looking ahead. I started last summer getting some girls out for the junior varsity team, and we’re going to work on getting some more golfers out.”
While the Sailors won by 14 strokes, Nichols had a much closer margin of victory as she had to go to a three-person playoff to repeat as champion by one stroke.
Nichols was in third place, three strokes out of first as she carded an 81 on Friday. She came back Saturday and fired a 77 to finish with a 36-hole total of 158. Hrynewich came in with scores of 79 on both days to also finish with a 158, while East Lansing senior Kristyn Crippen, who was the Division 2 runner-up last fall, shot a 76 on Saturday to go with Friday’s round of 82.
The three golfers then played the treacherous 18th hole. Nichols’ second shot landed short of the green in the tall grass that was even more of a hazard due to the heavy rain from the previous two days. However, she was up to the challenge as she blasted a shot out of the tall grass and mud and onto the green some 40 feet beyond the hole. From there, it was a 40-foot, downhill put for par. Nichols sent the ball on a smooth line to the hole, but once it arrived at its destination the ball jumped just over the lip.
After her opponents missed their bogey putts, Nichols sank her next to edge Hrynewich and Crippen by a stroke and win the playoff.
“I knew somehow I had to get out of the gunk,” Nichols said. “I knew if I could get out of that I had a chance. My first putt lipped out, but then I got my second putt to go in.”
Nichols saved her best putts until the end, according to her coach Dan Stolz.
“Elle didn’t play her best,” Stolz said. “She struggled with her putting some, but then she almost holed that 40-footer that went around the lip. She had eight or nine three-putts, and if she made some of those it wouldn’t have been as close.”
Or as dramatic.
“It was really exciting,” Nichols said. “I was not sure it was going to happen, but I had been there before so I had confidence that I could do it again. I won state last year and knew that I could get it done.”
For Hrynewich, who was on the green in two, the sting of losing the playoff was soothed by the thought of being a four-time team champion with her classmates.
“I thought I had it, but then I missed that putt,” Hrynewich said. “It was disappointing to lose in the playoff, but we won the team championship, and that was the big thing. Winning our fourth team title was what we I really wanted more then anything.”
PHOTO: (Top) Muskegon Mona Shores' Hailey Hrynewich, East Lansing's Kristyn Crippen and Okemos' Elle Nichols shake hands after their playoff hole ended with Nichols winning her second MHSAA championship. (Middle) Mona Shores receives the Division 2 team trophy for the fourth straight season. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
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Spring Lake Dominates in D3 Repeat
October 17, 2015
By Mark Meyer
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Spring Lake may have fallen short of one of its goals this weekend, but it hardly mattered much after the defending MHSAA champion put the finishing touches on a command performance at Forest Akers West golf course.
The Lakers fashioned rounds of 325 and 336 (661) to win their second straight Lower Peninsula Division 3 crown by a mere 70 strokes over runner-up Goodrich, which rallied with a 357 on Saturday to finish at 731, two strokes ahead of third-place Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood (733).
Detroit Country Day (735) and Warren Regina (747) rounded out the top five.
Spring Lake coach George Bitner said his team had hoped to break 320 in one of its final rounds.
“That’s what they were aiming for because they usually set the bar pretty high,” Bitner said. “But we can’t be too disappointed. Last year we trailed after the first day and stormed back to win.
“This year we had a super start (on Friday) and were able to keep some distance between us and the challengers.”
Spring Lake junior Anna Kramer – whom Bitner fondly referred to as “the franchise” during the medals presentation – carded back-to-back rounds of 77 to claim medalist honors by three strokes (154-157) over Olivia Reed of Carleton Airport. Spring Lake senior Kayla Krueger shot 76-82-158 to edge Danielle Staskowski of Pontiac Notre Dame by one stroke for third place.
“I’m very proud of our team,” Krueger said. “We were confident coming into the weekend, and I knew we could handle the playing conditions no matter how difficult they might be.
“We usually play better on the second day of a tournament but it didn’t quite work out that way this time. But yet we played well enough to win and that, for us, was the most important part of the weekend.”
Sophomore Madelyn Nelson (84-85), senior Emma Conroy (88-98) and sophomore Hannah Klein (103-92) completed the scoring for the Lakers, who three times this season shot tournament rounds of 321.
Afterwards, the ageless Bitner marveled at his team’s commitment to practice and improvement.
“They never stopped working, all season long,” said Bitner, 78, who started coaching boys golf at Spring Lake in 1968 and founded the school’s girls golf program in 1980. “Putting, chipping, sand play, driving, iron play: you name it, they worked on all phases of the game all year long.
“Plain and simple, they’re golfaholics. They all love the game, love to practice. And a real fun group to coach. They make my job pretty easy.”
The Harding sisters – senior Taylor and junior Sydni – led Goodrich’s second day charge to second place in its first full year in varsity competition. Sydni Harding shot 80 on Saturday to go with an opening round of 82 to finish in a tie for fifth place individually with Ali Martus of Wayland Union (83-79-162). Taylor Harding placed sixth with rounds of 83 and 82.
“What can I say, we had a great weekend,” said Goodrich coach Jason Bescoe. “Super proud of these girls for what they have accomplished. Aaron Monroe knocked almost 20 shots off her score from the opening round, and it was that type of improvement that made a huge difference for us.”
Sophomore Kate Cao shot 86-89-175 to lead Cranbrook Kingswood, the Division 3 runner-up in the previous three LPD3 Finals.
PHOTOS: (Top) Spring Lake won its second straight MHSAA LP Division 3 title. (Middle) Goodrich finished runner-up in its second full season as a program. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)