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.
Sintkowski's Final-Hole Eagle Secures UP Finals Repeat for Hancock
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
May 30, 2025
NORWAY — Hancock’s Jackson Sintkowski said he wasn’t playing the best at Friday’s Upper Peninsula Division 2 Final. His last hole, and what happened to be the team’s final one for the day, went exceedingly well, though.
His tee shot landed right down the middle of the fairway, he hit a 9-iron to within 10 feet of the hole and he drained the putt.
“I was pretty pumped up,” the senior said.
It was good for an eagle. The Bulldogs won the tournament by two strokes.
Hancock repeated as Division 2 champion, edging Painesdale Jeffers 324-326 at Oak Crest Golf Course in Norway.
“What we’ve always stressed to these kids is always play to the end,” Hancock coach Paul Sintkowski said. “You never know. I always tell them before every meet that every shot counts. Even though you’re not playing good — 87, if you would have shot an 89, we don’t win. Those kids did that today, they played till the end and I think that is part of the reason why we won again.”
He believes they were the favorites to win coming into the day. They won the Final last year and had won everything in the Western Peninsula Athletic Conference during the regular season.
“I think that’s probably why some of our scores were probably not where they should be,” Coach Sintkowski said. “I think it’s probably a little bit of the pressure.”
It all worked out in the end – thanks, in part, to the big-time eagle by Jackson Sintkowski, who finished with a score of 78, good for third place individually.
“It’s a great feeling” to repeat, he said. “We have a solid team. All of us put up pretty good scores.”
Every Hancock player shot under 90. Kirby Storm joined Sintkowski under 80 with a 79 to finish fourth. Teammate Nolan Hanner carded an 80 to finish sixth.
Four golfers among the top 11 wasn’t quite enough for Jeffers to avoid finishing runner-up as a team for the third straight year. Jets junior Griffin Heinonen finished individual runner-up himself with a 77, Max Nordstrom had an 81 to take seventh, Easton Therrian was eighth with an 82 and Benton Rajala was 11th with an 86.
Cedarville/DeTour placed third as a team with a 363, Ironwood was fourth with a 369 and Newberry rounded out the top five with a 375.
Stephenson’s Owen Kuehnau had the round of the day, carding a 71 to win the individual Finals title, with the runner-up Heinonen six strokes back.
“It feels good,” he said. “It was always a goal of mine, so it definitely feels good.”
The senior finished third at the Final last year and ninth the year before that.
It wasn’t easy to win it Friday.
“The pin positions were really tough, so you just had to go in the middle of green and hope to two-putt,” Kuehnau said.
His score was the lowest recorded by a U.P. Division 2 champion since the MHSAA created the division in 2001.
Munising’s Carter Deatsman rounded out the top five with a 79.
PHOTOS (Top) The Hancock boys golf team holds up its latest Finals championship trophy. (Middle) Painesdale Jeffers’ Benton Rajala follows his shot during Friday’s round. (Photos by Jason Juno.)