UP Golf Finals: Westwood, Houghton win again
June 2, 2012
The Houghton and Ishpeming Westwood girls golf teams continued their Upper Peninsula Finals dominance to highlight finishes at the MHSAA championship tournaments Thursday and Friday.
The Gremlins shot a 365 to repeat as Division 1 champions, at Wawonowin Country Club in Champion. Westwood, meanwhile, repeated as Division 2 champion and earned its fourth-straight MHSAA title – the Patriots also won Division 1 in 2010 and Division 2 in 2009 – by shooting a 411 at Newberry Country Club.
All five Houghton players shot 91-94, led by sophomores Megan Kelly and Kenna Farrey and senior Hannah Hill all with 91s. Marquette junior Avery Rochester won the Division 1 individual title with an 82, three strokes better than Calumet senior Zoe Woodward.
Megan Manninen and Berkley LaFreniere shot 87 and 90, respectively, to take the top two individual spots and lead Westwood to its team championship. The Patriots finished 40 strokes better than runner-up Bark River-Harris.
At the Division 3 Girls Final at Terrace Bluff, Cedarville won its first championship since 2004 by shooting a 431, 23 strokes better than runner-up Painesdale-Jeffers. Junior Cayla Massey shot a 95 to finish second individually and led Cedarville, while Crystal Falls Forest Park’s Alexis Gussert shot a 90 to win the individual championship.
The Painesdale-Jeffers boys won their first MHSAA championship in that Division 3 Final, at Highland Golf Course, thanks to 79s by senior Matt Zerbst and sophomore Tyler Bailey. Those scores tied for third individually, behind first-place freshman Joe Duncan of Cedarville’s 76 and Forest Park senior Dustin Dishaw’s 77.
The St. Ignace boys won their first MHSAA championship as well, at Division 2, led by individual medalist Patrick Sweeney. He shot a 71 after finishing sixth individually last season.
The Houghton boys claimed their first MHSAA title since 2000 by beating Gladstone at the Division 1 Final on a fifth-scorer tie-breaker. Both teams shot 329, but Houghton’s fifth player shot a 90, one stroke better than the fifth for Gladstone.
Manistique senior Mike Nagy – who has signed to play next season at the University of Tennessee – shot a 70 to win his third MHSAA individual championship. He finished five strokes better than Gladstone senior Drew Scheenemun, while Houghton freshman Brendan Longhini and Kingsford junior Nick Baldwin tied for third with 77s.
Click for full girls results and boys results.
Newberry's Season-Long Climb Peaks with 1st Finals Championship Since 1974
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
May 30, 2025
NORWAY — Newberry started the season as only the third or even fourth-best team in its own conference.
But once it started winning meets, it hasn’t stopped, and that included Friday’s Division 2 U.P. Finals.
Newberry edged runner-up Stephenson by three strokes, 465-468, for the U.P. title at Oak Crest Golf Course in Norway.
“I’ve got three or four freshmen that continued to get better,” Newberry coach Kenn Depew said.
Things turned around for the team about halfway through the year when Newberry won an event. Newberry later won the Eastern U.P. Conference tournament, a part of a streak of five first-place finishes to end the season.
“A fantastic year for the girls,” Depew said.
It was the second U.P. Finals championship for Newberry, and came 51 years after its first in 1974. That previous title was won against all of the participating teams in the U.P. as schools weren’t separated by enrollment until 1978.
Freshman Blair Maki led Newberry with a score of 105, good for third place overall. Her season went a lot like the team’s — she started out the year as the No. 5 golfer on Newberry.
“Then she went 4, 3, 2, 1,” Depew said. “Then she separated herself as a No. 1 and ended up third medalist today, which is really good.”
Munising took third with a 480, St. Ignace was fourth at 507, Painesdale Jeffers fifth at 515 and Norway sixth at 527.
Cedarville/DeTour’s Makenna Smith came to Norway looking to have fun playing golf on a nice day – and winning the individual Finals title would certainly qualify as fun.
She carded a 101 to finish as medalist, one stroke ahead of Norway’s Grace Schiltz. After Newberry’s Maki in third, Stephenson’s Cheyanne Palzewicz placed fourth with a 108 and Cedarville/DeTour’s Brylee Smith rounded out the top five with a 109.
Makenna Smith, a sophomore, said it was “pretty cool” to be U.P. champion. She noted the best part of her game Friday was her drives, something that hadn’t been the case during the regular season.
“My coach really focused on it with me the past couple weeks,” she said, “and I’ve just been trying to dial in and drive it.”
PHOTOS (Top) Newberry's Blair Maki follows a drive Friday in Norway. (Middle) Cedarville/DeTour's Makenna Smith tees off during her championship round. (Photos by Jason Juno.)