#TBT: Marquette's Palmer Begins Title Run
August 17, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
This photo of Marquette’s 1996 Upper Peninsula Class A-B champion team is like most stuffed into our archives from publications past – and at the same time, includes a player starting on one of the most historic runs in MHSAA girls golf history.
Third from left is then-freshman Kendra Palmer, who won the individual title that day at Marquette Golf & Country Club with a score of 93. She also went on to win individual championships the next three seasons, becoming the first Michigan high school female golfer to win four Finals total.
Palmer shot a first-place 89 in 1997 at Gladstone Golf Club as her team finished third, and then a winning 89 at Escanaba Country Club as Marquette finished third again in 1998. Palmer capped her career firing an 85 to lead her team back to the top of the standings in 1999 at Riverside Country Club in Menominee.
Palmer went on to play at Loyola University in Chicago and was named Horizon League Player of the Year as a senior in 2003. This past summer Palmer won the Upper Peninsula Ladies Golf Association championship – click for more on that event from the Marquette Mining Journal.
Only one other golfer has won four MHSAA girls championships – Marquette’s Carley Saint-Onge from 2008-2011. Seven have won three Finals titles – Menominee’s Jenny Mellinger (1984-86), L’Anse’s Jennifer Kangas (1990-92), Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Kate Loy (1993-95), Ontonagon’s Halley Borseth (2009-11), Ishpeming Westwood’s Megan Manninen (2009, 2011-12), Okemos’ Elle Nichols (2011-13) and Maple City Glen Lake’s Nichole Cox (2014-16).
PHOTO: Marquette's 1996 girls golf team, from left: Jill Zorza, Emily Downs, Kendra Palmer, Jenny Shaffer, Katie Crotty and Elizabeth Koski.
Performance of the Week: Muskegon Reeths-Puffer's Paige Anderson
October 5, 2023
Paige Anderson ♦ Muskegon Reeths-Puffer
Senior ♦ Golf
Anderson carded a personal-best 4-under 69 at Oak Ridge Golf Club in Muskegon to finish as medalist at last week's Greater Muskegon Athletic Association championship tournament and also lead Reeths-Puffer to the team title with a 353, three strokes lower than Whitehall.
An individual qualifier for the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals the last two seasons, Anderson also has been part of some memorable team accomplishments this fall as Reeths-Puffer won its first Ottawa-Kent Conference Green jamboree in five years. The Rockets capped their league run Wednesday with the O-K Green Tournament title, guaranteeing them a shared league title with Mona Shores, and Anderson carded a 72 to win the individual championship. She'll lead her team into its LPD2 Regional on Oct. 13 at Muskegon's Lincoln Golf Club.
@mhsaasports ⛳️POW: Paige Anderson #golf #birdie #reethspuffer #letsgo #part1 #highschoolsports #tiktalk #interview #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ original sound - MHSAA
@mhsaasports ⛳️POW: Paige Anderson #tiktalk #questiontime #part2 #chicfila #pretzels #friends #family #phone #cryingemoji #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ original sound - MHSAA
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Past 2023-24 Honorees
Sept. 29: MacKenzie Bisballe, Lake City volleyball - Report
Sept. 22: Jhace Massey, Gladwin football - Report
Sept. 15: Kaylee Draper, Sturgis swimming - Report
Sept. 8: Owen Jackson, Traverse City St. Francis tennis - Report
Sept. 1: Rachel Forsyth, Ann Arbor Pioneer cross country - Report
(Photos courtesy of the Muskegon Reeths-Puffer athletic department.)