Title IX at 50: Warner Paved Way to Legend Status with Record Rounds
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 5, 2021
Girls golf teams across the Lower Peninsula have begun postseason play with Regionals this week, with a Monday tournament featuring the last two Division 1 Finals champions – 2020 winner Kate Brody of Grand Blanc shooting a 67 to edge 2019 medalist Allison Cui of Okemos by four strokes. The Oct. 15-16 Finals rematch at The Meadows at Grand Valley State University is sure to be a classic.
Brody’s 67 also recalls the unforgettable closing round fired by then-Livonia Churchill sophomore Shannon Warner on the way to winning the first of her back-to-back LPD1 championships during the Spring 2006 season.
Warner’s second-round 67 that June 3 followed a first-round 69 and tied the Finals record 18-hole score shot by Whitehall’s Laura Kueny on the same course in LPD3 a year earlier. But Warner’s combined 136 broke Kueny’s 36-hole Finals record, also set the year before, by one stroke.
Warner was an individual Finals qualifier in 2006, and she bested the field by 11 strokes. She also was an individual qualifier in Spring 2007 when she shot a 145 at Forest Akers West to win by five. Girls golf in the Lower Peninsula then was switched to the fall, and Warner returned to the Division 1 Finals four months after her second championship and tied for fifth, four strokes back.
Warner played her first three collegiate seasons at Michigan State University and finished her college career in 2012 at Eastern Michigan University, earning first-team all-Mid-American Conference honors as a senior. She won the Golf Association of Michigan Women's Championship in 2013.
Second Half's weekly Title IX Celebration posts are sponsored by Michigan Army National Guard.
Previous Title IX at 50 Spotlights
Sept. 28: Taylor Kennedy Gymnasts Earn Fame as 1st Champions - Read
Sept. 21: Portage Northern Star Byington Becomes Play-by-Play Pioneer - Read
Sept. 14: Guerra/Groat Legacy Continues to Serve St. Philip Well - Read
Sept. 7: Best-Ever Conversation Must Include Leland's Glass - Read
Aug. 31: We Will Celebrate Many Who Paved the Way - Read
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.)