Northville Rises from Low-Scoring Pack to Finish with 1st Finals Victory
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
June 10, 2023
ALLENDALE – A mere six shots separated the top three teams at Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Boys Golf Final.
Out of the competitive tussle emerged a first-time champion.
Northville captured the program’s first Finals title after fending off its two closest competitors.
The Mustangs shot a two-day total of 605 to clip runner-up Rochester Adams (607) and third-place Brighton (609).
Adams’ junior Peter Roehl won the individual title after closing with a final-round 68.
“This program has never won a team state title in golf so this team, yesterday and today, just battled and battled and battled,” Mustangs coach Matt Lewicki said. “It’s been one of the toughest state finals we’ve ever seen from a competition standpoint top to bottom, so for these guys to prevail, it's incredible.”
Four seniors catapulted Northville to the win, led by Mason Sokolowski with a third-place finish.
Sokolowski fired a 144 (70-74), while teammate Greg Braun shot a pair of 74s and finished 11th overall.
“This is crazy, our first boys golf championship,” Sokolowski said. “Everyone had each other’s back, and we were having fun out there in our last high school tournament.
“We’ve been going back and forth all year (with Brighton), and today was about smart golf. No big numbers and not getting ahead of ourselves. We just battled on a really tough course.”
The unsung hero for Northville was senior Thomas Forsythe, who hadn’t competed during the last two weeks due to the team’s talent and depth and had to go through qualifying for the opportunity to play.
“He wasn’t expecting to play in this tournament and he came out and really contributed and really helped the team,” Lewicki said. “He came in and had a counting score yesterday and nailed it down today. He came through a gauntlet of qualifying to get in this tournament, and it was incredible for him and the rest of our seniors.”
Forsythe shot a 156 (77-79), while senior Ryan Gallagher added a 157 (79-78).
“I’m overwhelmed,” said an emotional Forsythe. “I had to qualify to get into this, and now we’re state champions. We have some good players on this team, and I’m happy that I could help and get this done.
“We just took it one shot at a time and managed to pull through. I’m happy for all the seniors, and this is the first one in school history. It’s a big deal and means a lot.”
Northville and Brighton entered the final round knotted at 300.
“The mindset today was to have fun, and the reason they were here was because they worked their butts off to get here,” Lewicki said. “Just stay calm and stay confident. Don’t get too high or too low.”
Adams trailed by nine strokes entering Saturday, but posted the best final-round score (298) to jump into second place.
Senior Justin Oviatt finished eighth overall with a 147 (74-73).
“These kids had a great year, and I think we had 10 first or second-place finishes,” Highlanders coach Matt Zavadil said. “Overall they had a great year, and to finish it off with runner-up is pretty good.”
Roehl shot a 72 on the first day, but stormed to the top of the leaderboard with stellar play and finished Saturday with a tournament-low 3-under-par round.
He bested runner-up Drew Miller of East Lansing, who shot a 143 (74-69).
“I was just trying to make par on every hole,” Roehl said. “I knew scores might be a little lower, but I didn’t really look at the leaderboard and just played the golf course hole by hole. It worked out in the end.”
Roehl drained a 20-foot eagle putt on the fourth hole.
“That kickstarted my round,” he said. “I cooled off a little bit but finished strong. It feels good to win, but it stings to come up short as a team.”
Two Brighton players, seniors Winston Lerch and Andrew Daily, finished among the top 10 individuals.
PHOTOS (Top) Mason Sokolowski putts during Northville’s title-clinching round Saturday. (Middle) Adams’ Peter Roehl tracks a shot during his medalist weekend. (Below) East Lansing’s Drew Miller follows one of his approaches. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)
Okemos' Masih Completes Homecoming, DCC Finishes Finals Repeat Under New Leader
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 7, 2025
EAST LANSING — Two years ago, Ian Masih of Okemos was envisioning high school golf success in Michigan, although he wasn’t even living in the state at the time.
Masih grew up in Michigan, but spent his freshman and sophomore years of high school living in the Orlando, Fla., area with his grandpa. He took online classes and enjoyed the luxury of being able to play golf year-round with a coach he had there.
But before his junior year, he decided to move back to cold-weather Michigan in spite of his golfing ambitions.
“I wanted to come back for family and friends,” he said. “It was good to be down there practicing all the time. But it was nice to come back.”
Masih was really thankful he came back to Michigan on Saturday after he won the medalist honor at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final at Michigan State University’s Forest Akers West.
Not surprisingly, the team championship was once again claimed by Detroit Catholic Central, which won its second-straight title and third over the last four years.
Back to Masih, he shot identical scores of 69 for a two-day total of 138 – one shot ahead of Catholic Central junior Jack Whitmore (139) and two shots ahead of Warren De La Salle Collegiate senior Julian Sinishtaj (140).
Signed with Grand Valley State, Masih had five birdies and just two bogeys and finished his day by birdieing the par-4, 386-yard third hole.
“Patience,” Masih said of the key to his round. “There were a lot of times I wanted to hammer it at the hole. But I stayed patient and made the putts I needed to.”
Masih said he didn’t know he needed a birdie on his last hole to sew up the title.
“I tried my best not to look,” he said. “It worked out.”
All of that certainly made coming back to the cold of Michigan worth it, even as he had to readjust to hitting balls in a dome during the winter. “A lot of (simulator) golf also,” he said.
Behind Masih, Catholic Central had two players finish among the top 10 – Whitmore and senior Dillon Che, who placed as part of a five-way tie for 10th (146).
Juniors David Krusinski and Collin Davis flanked those two with identical two-day totals of 151 for the Shamrocks, who had to deal with a little bit of a transition this year.
Head coach Mike Anderson retired after leading Catholic Central to five Finals titles over 10 years, but the train kept rolling behind new coach Mike Fras, an assistant with the team the past three seasons.
Catholic Central finished with a final team total of 587, seven shots ahead of Rochester Adams, which finished as the runner-up for the second-straight season with a total of 594.
“It was definitely a change with Coach Fras coming in,” Whitmore said. “We did things different. We actually had team practices this year. There really wasn’t any pressure. Just have fun, go out there and play good.”
Catholic Central entered the day 11 shots ahead of second-place Brighton and 15 shots ahead of fourth-place Adams.
The Highlanders had a strong second day, shooting a team score of 296 to climb into second position. But it wasn’t quite enough to make up the difference with Catholic Central.
“We only cared about the team, and that is what our priority has been all season,” Fras said. “Our first tournament of the season, Rochester Adams beat us pretty good. We knew Adams was going to be right back and we’d be going back and forth all season. Fortunately we had a really good first day, because Adams had a really good day today.”
Brighton (601), Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern (602) and De La Salle (602) rounded out the top five.
(Click for more photos from High School Sports Scene.)