Standouts Lead Mountaineers to D2 Peak
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
May 29, 2013
NORWAY — There was no question the individual winner was going to be from Iron Mountain High School at the end of Wednesday's MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 2 Girls Golf Final.
It was just a matter of which one.
Senior Katelynn Johnson and sophomore Cassie Feira shared the lead after 18 holes with 96 strokes apiece at Oak Crest Golf Course, forcing a sudden-death playoff hole on this sunny and warm day.
Johnson then became the overall winner by edging Feira on the first playoff hole.
"In my 15 years of coaching, that's the first time I've seen this happen," Iron Mountain coach Don Bianco said. "This was very unique. To have this happen was very special. Both girls played well. Katelynn just had better luck getting out of the sand trap during the playoff hole."
The Mountaineers also were crowned team champions for the first time since 2004 with 421 strokes. They were followed by Ironwood with 458 and Manistique at 466.
"The girls really deserve this," Bianco said. "This is a tough group of kids. They're willing to practice in all conditions. Plus, if they have one bad hole, they move on and grind it out."
This marked the first U.P. title for Johnson, who also was crowned Mid-Peninsula Conference champion last week and found being in a playoff with her teammate to be quite interesting and nerve-wracking.
"The pressure was on," said Johnson, who will attend Northern Michigan University this fall to major in nursing. "I couldn't have put the ball on the tee at first. I was so nervous. I was just shaking and everybody was watching. I don't think I have ever been that nervous in my life.
“I had a pretty decent drive, then both of us ended up in a sand trap and it took me two shots to get out. It was a relief to get out of there. After that I wasn't shaking anymore."
Once out of the sand trap, Johnson two-putted for the win.
"It was very nerve-wracking," Feira said. "I felt she should win because she's a senior. This the first time I shot under 100. I was happy to break that. I thought the back nine was easier than the front nine. I ended up in sand traps a lot in the front nine.
“As a team, we practiced a lot last week on chipping and putting, which are things I needed to work on. We also played 18 holes a few times and that helped a lot. The weather was better today, too. We didn't have to wear all the layers we did last week."
Feira's thoughts on playing extra rounds at Oak Crest were similar to Bianco's.
"I think coming here a couple times last week enabled the girls to get more comfortable with the course," he said. "Having a strong senior group also helped."
Alyssa Norback of L'Anse placed third at 97. She was followed by Ironwood senior Korrie Trier at 100 and Norway senior Shelby Matonich at 104.
PHOTOS: (Top) Iron Mountain's Katelynn Johnson studies a putt during Wednesday's U.P. Division 2 Final; she won the individual championship in a one-hole playoff. (Middle) Norway's Paige Sheski tees off during her round at Oak Crest Golf Course. (Photos by Theresa Proudfit.)
TC West Edges Packed Field for 1st Title
October 17, 2015
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
ALLENDALE – It was extremely close going into Saturday’s final round of the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final, with the only question being which Detroit-area girls golf powerhouse would prevail.
But unranked Traverse City West had other ideas.
Perhaps benefiting from its northerly location during the occasional snow flurries – and definitely benefiting from freshman standout Anika Dy – the Titans stunned the state by nipping Rochester on the fifth player tie-breaker to claim the championship at The Meadows at Grand Valley State University in Allendale.
“My attitude coming in is that I would be ecstatic if we could make the top five,” said sixth-year Traverse City West coach Kristen Nolan. “When we won it, it kind of blew me away.”
Traverse City West won its first-ever MHSAA girls golf championship the old-fashioned way, with all four of its top players improving on their score from Friday’s opening round.
That improvement allowed the Titans, who were in fourth after the opening round, to move past Bloomfield Hills and last year’s runner-up, Lake Orion, and into a tie with tournament favorite and first-day leader Rochester.
The tie-breaker is the combined two-day score of each team’s fifth player, and that’s where TC West junior Grace Warren made her huge contribution, as her rounds of 94 and 99 were enough to give her team the championship.
The leader of the Titans was Dy, a 14-year-old freshman, who was the only player in the field to shoot two rounds in the 70s. Dy’s rounds of 79 and 77 gave her a two-day total of 156, putting her second overall and one shot behind junior medalist Julia Dean of Brighton.
“We are all shocked and these are tears of joy on my face,” said Dy, the freshman leader of a Titans’ top five with no seniors, but also three juniors and one sophomore. “I think it does help that we play in a lot of bad weather; that didn’t bother us too much. I didn’t putt very good at all. If I had made a few more putts, it wouldn’t have come down to a tie-breaker.”
Temperatures were in the mid-40s during Saturday’s final round, but steady winds of 12 mph out of the north (gusting as high as 25 mph), made it feel closer to freezing at times on the par-73 course. Both rounds were dry for the most part, except for a few stray raindrops on Friday and a brief blast of snow showers late in Saturday’s round.
Those conditions produced bloated scores up and down the board, and it was the most northern of the 15 teams which plodded through the difficult conditions the best.
In addition to Dy’s terrific performance in her first MHSAA Final, TC West got solid efforts from juniors Hunter Kehoe (87-80) and Grace Ellul (88-87) and sophomore Madison McCall (97-93).
“It’s not like we came out of nowhere,” said Nolan, the Traverse City West coach and former player at Troy Athens. “We won six tournaments in a row earlier this year, then we took a second, then we won a couple of more. But we’re from up north, so sometimes people don’t hear about us.”
Rochester, which was looking to win its first MHSAA championship since back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009, received consistent performances from its top two players, juniors Veronica Haque (80-80) and Brooke Busse (85-85). Like Traverse City West, Rochester had no seniors in its top five.
TC West and Rochester emerged from a bunched pack in perhaps the closest overall team competition in girls golf finals history, with eight teams within 15 shots. Bloomfield Hills (692) placed third, followed by Troy (695), Novi (696), Saline (697) and Lake Orion and Farmington Hills Mercy (tied at 700).
The photo finishes weren’t confined to the battle for the team title.
Brighton’s Dean shot a remarkable even-par 73 in Saturday’s wintery weather to win individual medalist honors by one shot.
“I started making some putts today,” said Dean, who shot an 82 in Friday’s opening round, making her two-day total of 155 a shot better than TC West’s Dy. “My goal was to try and get every putt two feet past, and a few of them went in.”
The highlights of Dean’s round were birdies on holes 6, 9 and 14.
Rounding out the top five individuals after Dean and Dy were Lake Orion’s Moyea Russell (158), Rochester Hills Stoney Creek’s Lauren Ingle (158), Rochester’s Haque (160) and Saline’s Samantha Kellstrom (160).
PHOTOS: (Top) Traverse City West golfers hold up their championship trophy Saturday at The Meadows. (Middle) Snow began to fall as this Northville golfer lines up a putt. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)