Spring Lake Can't Be Caught in 3-Peat
October 15, 2016
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
BATTLE CREEK – Only one team could beat Spring Lake at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 girls golf tournament Saturday at Bedford Valley Golf Course.
That team was Spring Lake.
The Lakers fired a 343 on the first day to take a 13-stroke lead into the final round Saturday. In that final round, four of Spring Lake’s five players bettered their first-day score and another tied her Friday round as the Lakers sliced 24 strokes off their first-day score with a 319 to finish with a two-day total of 662.
Spring Lake’s winning margin was 35 strokes fewer than Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (697) but not nearly the rout of a year ago when the Lakers edged the runner-up team by 70 strokes.
It was the third consecutive title for Spring Lake, which became the first Division 3 team in MHSAA history to win three straight championships. The MHSAA Lower Peninsula tournament moved to four divisions from two classes in 1999, and prior to that, Grosse Ile won three in a row from 1996-98 in the Class B-C-D meet.
“Spring Lake has had only one other team win a state championship, and that was girls cross country, so to be a part of a team that won three consecutive state titles is something special,” said Spring Lake senior Anna Kramer, who tied for medalist honors but lost in a playoff to Pontiac Notre Dame Prep sophomore Danielle Staskowski.
Kramer, the reigning Division 3 individual champion, led Spring Lake with rounds of 78 and 75 for a two-day total of 153. Junior Madelyn Nelson was next with rounds of 89 and 79 for a 168 total. Her 10-shot improvement from the first day was the largest for Spring Lake.
“I think it was just first-day nerves,” Nelson said, “and my putting was a lot better (Saturday).”
Sophomore Hannah Klein, who had an eight-stroke improvement over the first round and finished 89-81 for a 170, echoed the feeling about first-day nerves.
“There were a lot of people watching, and I had to get used to it,” said Klein, the only sophomore on the team. “We were really focused on winning, and every shot counted. I felt like every shot had to be amazing to be able to pull out the win.”
Two other seniors rounded out the five players who took the course for Spring Lake. Jackie Olszewski duplicated rounds of 87 but did it in a strange fashion. She had 39 on the first nine and 48 on the second nine the first day and then flipped them on the second day with 48 on the front and 39 on the back.
“I went through a bad streak both days,” Olszewski said. “I had five or six terrible holes, and then I had to make it up. I just told myself to forget about it and do my best because I couldn’t change what had happened.”
While Olszewski’s 87 counted the first day, it wasn’t needed the second day as fellow senior Jaedyn Shelton went from 93 on Friday to 84 on Saturday.
“I’ve worked really hard over the years to get to this point, and it feels really good,” she said. “We all didn’t have great rounds on Friday, but we all improved, and that is what we were looking to do.
“For me, there were a lot of nerves, because it was my first time at states, so I was worked up, and I think that’s how everybody felt.”
Everybody, including coach George Bitner, whose extensive background brings plenty of experience while his grandfatherly nature brings comfort and confidence.
“This is like having six daughters,” said Bitner, who has coached girls golf at Spring Lake since 1980 and also coaches boys golf. He also has coached junior high football, track & field and wrestling, and he said it all adds up to 87 seasons.
“To win a state title, you have to have the talent,” Bitner said. “The results are what I like. It shows that I am getting through to them. The girls listen better than the boys, they drink more water than the boys, and they stick together and do things together. They are an unbelievable group of girls.”
Bitner calls Kramer “The Franchise” for obvious reasons.
“Anna is a practice-aholic,” he said. “She will come out of the clubhouse and go to the putting green for 30 minutes, go to the chipping area and sand for 20, go up for an hour on the driving range and then go back to the clubhouse, but first she spends another 30 or 40 minutes on the putting green. That’s her routine every day, and the other girls follow it.”
Although the Lakers won their third MHSAA Finals title, the day finished on a disappointing ending for Kramer. On the first playoff hole, Kramer ran a long putt well past the hole and three-putted as Staskowski parred the hole for the individual title.
“It’s tough to three-putt in a playoff,” Kramer said. “I read the putt fine. One of my friends came up to me after and said she had that putt Friday and you can’t tell how fast it is, and it just flew by the hole.”
Staskowski, who opened with an 80 on Friday, improved to 73 on Saturday to force the playoff. She was in the same pairing as Kramer, and they were tied after 12 holes and matched each other the rest of the way to set up the playoff on the par-5 No. 16.
“I love playoffs,” Staskowski said. “All my life when I have practice putting I will say to myself, ‘This is for the state championship,’ and then, there I was, standing over a putt that was for the state championship.”
Staskowski, who finished fourth last year, drilled the 4-foot putt right into the hole, and she said she knew she had it the moment she hit it. She chipped just short of the green with her third shot, while Kramer was on the green but was facing a very long putt.
“I felt like I could get the chip up there and then get it to the hole so I would have an easy putt,” Staskowski said. “I hit that putt maybe 50 times on the putting green, so when I stood over it, I was like, ‘You made 50 of these. You’ve got it,’ and then I hit the putt.”
Staskowski had parred the hole Friday and birdied it Saturday prior to the playoff.
“I started my round off with four bogeys (Saturday), and then I didn’t have a single bogey coming in,” she said. “I made three birdies, and once I got to the place where I felt like I was playing well, it just didn’t go away.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Spring Lake's golfers and coach hold up their third straight MHSAA championship trophy. (Middle) Plainwell's Madison Tran watches one of her approach shots. (Below) Pontiac Notre Dame Prep's Danielle Staskowski. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Plymouth Emerges as Repeat D1 Champ
October 19, 2013
By Gary Kalahar
Special to Second Half
EAST LANSING – If it’s possible for a defending MHSAA champion to lay in the weeds, the Plymouth High School girls golf team pulled it off this weekend.
Some early-season struggles might have kept the Wildcats out of the discussion of title contenders. But when the time came, Plymouth was ready to repeat. Plymouth captured its second consecutive Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship, emerging from a knot of teams at the top on a cold and soggy Saturday at Forest Akers West.
Plymouth finished two rounds at 706, four strokes in front of Rochester Hills Stoney Creek and five ahead of Troy. Those three teams were among five bunched within four strokes – and nine within 15 strokes – after the first round.
“Everybody had a chance to win,” Plymouth senior Kayla Whatley said. “We knew every stroke was going to count, because there are some good teams here and they were going to improve (from the first day).”
Plymouth led by two strokes after the first round, played in decidedly better conditions than the high-40 temperatures, cool breeze and intermittent rain of the second round. The Wildcats turned the worst day of the fall into the best.
“This one is better,” Plymouth junior Sydney Murphy said. “No one was expecting us to come out on top, and we did. We weren’t doing so well at the beginning, but we kept working at it, and here we are. We succeeded.”
Murphy, Whatley and sophomore Katie Chipman all helped Plymouth win the title last year. But that success didn’t carry over to 2013, at least early on as Plymouth had to replace two all-state players, including MHSAA medalist Kelsey Murphy. Even heading into the Regional, Plymouth was ranked just 10th in Division 1 by the coaches association.
“We started playing well the first of October and rode it through,” Plymouth coach Dan Young said. “We kept improving. It’s hard to explain. They’ve always practiced hard, done what they’re supposed to do. For whatever reason, they started playing better. They’ve gotten better, and it’s been together as a team.”
Whatley, the only senior of the five Wildcats who played in the MHSAA Final, said the title was somewhat of a surprise.
“We really wanted to get it last year,” she said of Plymouth’s first championship. “We played much better all year long (last year).But after we won the conference, then we got excited, and we knew we had the potential to compete and win this.”
Even in the poor conditions, four of the five Plymouth golfers improved their scores from the first day. Murphy’s 77 was nine better, and Whatley’s 89 was a seven-stroke improvement.
“I needed to contribute to the team,” Murphy said about rebounding from her uncharacteristic first round. “It’s a team sport, and you all have to contribute what you can.”
“To her credit, she didn’t get down,” Young said. “Her attitude was tremendous. That’s what it’s all about. They all knew they had to come back and play better, and they did.”
Murphy’s ninth-place individual finish was Plymouth’s best, but the Wildcats’ depth was the difference. Katie Chipman totaled 166 and Alaina Strzalka 192 for Plymouth, which could have used its fifth-best score Saturday – Ariana Strzalka’s 103 – and still come out a winner.
For individual champion Lily Pendy, the single word on the back of her shirt – “Fight” – said it all.
Pendy, a senior at Grosse Pointe South playing in her fourth MHSAA Finals, fought through the conditions and won medalist honors with a 74-76—150. The pink shirts Pendy and her teammates sported bore inspirational words in honor of breast cancer awareness month and had special meaning for Pendy, whose mother, Megan, just finished cancer treatment.
“It shows what we’re playing for,” Pendy said. “This is really exciting. I did it for my team and my coach and my parents. Without them, I wouldn’t be here.”
After posting a sixth-place Finals finish last year and helping her team win the team championship in 2011, Pendy figured the top individual spot was attainable.
“I hadn’t thought about it too much, but I had it in the back of my head,” she said.
Pendy’s 74 in the first round put her three strokes in front, and she finished six clear of the field.
“I felt pressure,” Pendy said about carrying the lead into the second round. “I was nervous. I’m not going to lie. But I tried to turn the nerves into excitement.”
Elayna Bowser of Dearborn took second with a pair of 78s for 156. Emily White of Saline matched Pendy for the second day’s best round of 76 and finished third overall at 157.
“I convinced myself that I like playing in the rain,” Pendy said. “You have to have a good attitude about it. I played steady golf, par golf most of the way.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Plymouth players hoist the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship trophy for the second straight season. (Middle) A player launches an approach shot toward the green during Saturday's second round. (Click to see more from High School Sports Scene.)