Hackett Catholic Prep Returns from Break as D4's Best Again
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
June 12, 2021
FRANKENMUTH – Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep officially won the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Golf Final championship with its play Saturday afternoon, but the seeds for the victory were planted Thursday.
The Irish played a practice round at The Fortress Golf Club a day before competing in the two-day tournament, and what was learned during that round played a crucial role in a back-nine surge that clinched their second-straight title.
“We try and come out the day before the event, and we were able to do that this year, and I would say it was very crucial,” Hackett coach Jim Holton said. “We stress, ‘We’re not here to shoot a score (Thursday), we’re here to learn,’ and that’s what we did when we got here.”
Hackett finished with a two-day total of 640 strokes, finishing ahead of runner-up Lansing Christian by six. Charlevoix was third with 646, followed by Maple City Glen Lake at 677.
Clarkston Everest Collegiate’s Remy Stalcup was the tournament medalist, shooting a two-under 142 to win by seven strokes.
For Hackett, a course far from home felt familiar enough Saturday afternoon as it held off a Saturday morning surge from Lansing Christian.
About halfway through the round, the Pilgrims inched ahead, but it was the work done on the back nine that lifted the Irish to a victory.
Their scoring foursome of Tommy Keyte, Ben Bridenstine, Ryan Chafty and Niklas Johansson combined to shoot 158 on the back nine, while Lansing Christian’s top four came in at 166 down the stretch.
“I think we all went through a tough stretch there as a team,” said Keyte, who was the individual runner-up at 149. “Back nine, we just kind of locked in and we picked it up. Made some good birdies, made some good putts. Everything just kind of clicked together on the back. The practice round, we really focused on where we wanted to hit our golf shots. It wasn’t driver every hole, it’s 4-irons, hybrids – you have to place your tee shot because there’s trouble on every hole.”
Holton said he and his team had identified the back nine as the key during Thursday’s practice round.
“We realized the back nine can cause problems for teams,” he said. “We discussed that in the practice round, made our gameplan based on the holes and what we needed to do to keep ourselves ahead of the other competition. We started off great, had a little lull, Lansing Christian went by us and I was a little concerned. But I knew those tough holes were ahead, and I knew we planned well for those holes.”
The second-straight title for Hackett was actually the team’s second in three years, as there was no 2020 season. The senior-laden group – Keyte, Bridenstine, Chafty and No. 5 player Grayson Walters are all seniors – was focused on retaining their title, despite the year off.
“It felt great,” Keyte said. “The whole team was really excited for this weekend, and we’ve been waiting for this for two years now, because we were trying to go back to back. We did it today, and we had a great time. It was a grind out there.”
Following up Keyte’s 149 for Hackett were Bridenstine (158), Chafty (163) and Johansson (171). Walters wasn’t far behind at 173.
Davis Garrett (150) took third individually to lead Lansing Christian, and was followed by William Combs (156), Caden Kinnas (167) and Baylor Brogan (173).
While Hackett was repeating as team champ, a new face was dominating the course in the individual race. As a sophomore, Stalcup was playing in his first MHSAA Finals, and he led nearly wire to wire. He essentially put the tournament away with an eagle on No. 1 (his 16th hole of the day) on Saturday.
“I hit my drive in the right heather, so I took a 5-iron out from about 230 (yards), and it almost went in, actually,” Stalcup said. “It was, like, not even a foot for a tap-in eagle and it got me back into it with a big lead.”
Stalcup had played the previous four holes at two-over par, and while the eagle ended up just padding his lead, at the time it seemed necessary.
“I thought it was close; I didn’t know if I was winning by a bunch or not,” he said. “So that helped a lot, for sure. I was happy then. I didn’t look at the leaderboard. I don’t want to know until the very end.”
Stalcup had played at The Fortress earlier in the season, and it was kind to him then as well.
“I love the course; I love it,” he said. “It’s one of my favorite courses, actually. I always play good here. I played good earlier in the season here, too. I putt really well on these greens, I love these greens. I made a lot of long putts. It helps a lot, too, I hit it pretty far. I hit a lot of wedges into greens.”
Jake Beaudoin of Charlevoix and Luke LeBourdais of Saginaw Nouvel tied for fourth at 153, followed by Brady Krohn of Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker (154), Michael Zanoni of Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart (155), Lansing Christian’s Combs, Blake O’Connor of Glen Lake (157) and Jeffrey Andrus of Royal Oak Shrine (157).
Full results will be linked when available.
PHOTOS: (Top) Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep, with a golfer putting here during Friday's first round, repeated as Division 4 champion. (Middle) Clarkston Everest Collegiate's Remy Stalcup drives during Friday's first round. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)
Powered by Transplanted Heart, Pioneer's Williams Relishing Return to Golf Team
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
May 16, 2025
Brady Williams knew something was wrong.
The then-freshman at Ann Arbor Pioneer was in class when he texted his parents that something wasn’t right. His mom, Tiffany, rushed to the school, got Brady into the car and drove straight to the emergency room in Ann Arbor.
His father, Greg, arrived a few minutes later.
“He was in heart failure,” said one of the doctors who was caring for Brady, then 14.
When he went home from C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital nearly six weeks later, Brady was the proud owner of a new heart.
“It was really random,” Williams recalled. “One day I wasn’t feeling good at school, so I left and went to the doctors. They kept me for a couple of days and told me I needed to get a heart transplant.”
It’s been an incredible journey for the Pioneer sophomore, who returned to school last fall and is now on the Pioneers junior varsity golf team.
“I can do basically everything now,” he says. “I’m back up to normal for sure.”
Normal is something Williams had rarely known. Even as a young boy he would occasionally get tired from doing simple things. As the family learned to deal with it, they decided at one point to seek more medical advice. After genetic testing, at the age of 7 he was diagnosed with a rare neuromuscular disease, known as limb-girdle muscular dystrophy.
“It basically makes the muscles weak, especially your heart,” he said.
As he got older, he was would sometimes struggle with the effects.
“We carried an AED (automated external defibrillator) with us everywhere,” Tiffany Williams said.
He tried playing sports, including basketball, and golfed regularly. In the months leading up to the heart transplant, though, Brady had slowed down.
“I was playing basketball and golfing four times a week,” Brady said. “Slowly I stopped playing basketball and even golf because I was getting really tired.”
Under the care of Dr. Mark Russell, Dr. Aaron Stern – a professor of pediatric cardiology at University of Michigan – and Dr. Kurt Robert Schumacher, the medical director for the pediatric heart transplant program at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Brady at first had a temporary device installed in his heart, but it was quickly determined that a heart transplant was needed – and fast.
“They didn’t think it would be this bad, but it ended up hurting my heart so bad that I had to get a new one,” Williams said.
After the decision was made to move forward with the heart transplant, he waited only two days for the new heart.
“They put me at the top of the list, and they got it there quick, thankfully,” Williams said.
His passion for sports has always been a driving force. A football fanatic, he is a die-hard Cleveland Browns fan. His favorite quarterback, former Browns signal-caller Baker Mayfield, sent him a video message while he was recovering. Former Eastern Michigan University and current Las Vegas Raiders star Maxx Crosby also reached out to him.
In the hospital, Williams was glued to the television.
“Everyone took to Brady,” Tiffany Williams said. “He helped everyone with fantasy football teams while he was in the hospital, plus Michigan won the national championship. So that was a good year.”
His recovery included several months of physical therapy and doctor visits. At first, Brady had to attend school virtually, but returned to the halls of Pioneer in the fall.
“I feel like honestly better than I ever have,” Williams said. “This is a really good heart, a lot better than the one I was born with. This is like 100 percent. My old one, I never lived at like a 100-percent level. It was always low.
“I don’t even notice anything. It’s just normal all of the time.”
This spring he was cleared to golf after a physical. He is able to use a cart during his matches and tournaments, something he said helps him a lot.
“This is what I really wanted – just to join the team and get back to how I used to be – hanging out with friends and making new ones,” Brady said. “That’s the best part about being on a team.”
Being part of a team was at one point something Brady didn’t think he would get to experience. He knows how fortunate he is to have that opportunity again.
“I realize that everything can get taken away from you easily,” he said. “One second you can be at the highest point and the next you can be at the lowest. I’m definitely at the highest right now after making the golf team, being on it and having a lot of fun with it.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.