DeTour Girls Deliver 1st Title since 1999
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
June 1, 2017
GLADSTONE — Most, if not all DeTour High School girls weren’t around the last time a team from their school was crowned Upper Peninsula golf champion.
It was 1999, and the Raiders were competing in Class D at the time. Ontonagon was runner-up that year.
On Thursday, the Raiders ended their title drought by taking the Division 3 crown for the first time with 403 strokes. They were followed by reigning champion Cedarville with 406 and Ontonagon at 433.
“I had a feeling it would be between us and Cedarville,” said DeTour coach Ken Wilkie. “I think our depth was a factor, plus we have four seniors. It’s very important to have that senior leadership and experience. The girls knew what to expect. Hopefully, this will draw some interest from our younger girls.”
Cedarville freshman Lily Freel earned the medalist honor with an 82 at Irish Oaks Golf Course. She was followed by DeTour seniors Madison Wilkie and Kaalin Crawford at 85 and 86, respectively.
“In the beginning, it was definitely a struggle,” said Freel, who shot 98 in last year’s Finals at Escanaba Country Club. “It took me a couple holes to settle down. I wasn’t too nervous, but I could still feel the pressure. I could tell I was a little tense, then I was able to convince myself to relax. I had some bad shots, but was able to recover from them. Last year was good for me because I learned from playing with the other girls. I put a lot of time into my game last summer and had a better idea what to expect.”
Freel, who works at the Les Cheneaux Club in Cedarville, is no stranger to golf.
“I think it’s great,” she said. “I’m around it all the time. I live within a block of the club. I ride my golf cart there all the time.”
Wilkie, consistently in the title hunt throughout her high school career, came in as reigning champion. She tied for first as a freshman in 2014, then was runner-up as a sophomore.
“Everything started good,” said Wilkie, who will continue her golf career at Lake Superior State University. “My play on the front nine was as solid as I’ve had, then things kind of fell apart on the back nine. I couldn’t read the greens for some reason. If you missed the hole, the ball rolled a little further. I had a hard time adjusting. I had three bad holes in a role at one time. My putting was better on the front nine. The first hole is always hard. Everybody tends to be a little nervous. Lily played awesome. I’m proud of her.”
Crawford’s putting, however, improved on the back nine.
“I became a little more comfortable on the course,” said Crawford, who will play basketball at Alpena Community College in 2017-18. “This is the best I’ve done in competition. Everything just came together. It was a real nice day for golf. It wasn’t too hot or too cold. There also wasn’t much wind.”
Cedarville coach Rob Freel said he was pleased with the Trojans’ performance.
“I was hoping our girls would come out on top, but they played real well today,” he added. “We’re excited about Lily’s potential. She has worked hard on her game.”
PHOTOS: (Top) DeTour’s Kaalin Crawford gets ready to hit a tee shot during Thursday’s U.P. Division 3 Golf Finals at Gladstone’s Irish Oaks Golf Course. Watching Crawford hit are Ontonagon’s Samantha Lutz, left, and Engadine’s Lauren Dennis. (Middle) Cedarville’s Lily Freel hits a tee shot Thursday; she shot 82 to win the medalist honor. (Photos by Mike Mattson.)
Escanaba Girls Meet Sweetgrass Challenge with Sweep of Team, Individual Titles
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
May 28, 2025
HARRIS — Looking at scoring averages heading into Wednesday’s Upper Peninsula Division 1 Girls Golf Final, Escanaba assistant coach Jake Berlinski figured his team was the favorite.
With that in mind, he offered a simple message to deal with any pressure that comes with such a target.
“Just play our game,” said Berlinski, who handled things at the girls event while program coach Brian Robinette was up the road at the boys tournament. “Play Eskymo golf, I guess you call it, and do what we do best. The girls handled their business.”
For the third time in four years, that business resulted in receiving a Finals championship trophy.
Escanaba finished first with a score of 382 at Sweetgrass Golf Club, 17 shots clear of runner-up Marquette. The top-five was rounded out by Calumet (429), Negaunee (434) and Menominee (444).
Leading the way was junior Kamrie Scott, who successfully repeated as medalist. She finished with an 8-over-par round of 80, which was 10 shots better than runner-up Lexi Marineau of Menominee. Scott recorded birdies on the par-3, third hole and the par-4, 17th hole.
“I was hitting it good, so that was working,” Scott said. “It’s really hard around the greens here. They are really fast.”
Sweetgrass annually hosts an event on the Epson Tour, which is the developmental circuit for the LPGA Tour.
Scott has attended the tournament multiple times and might again when it’s played this June 20-22. Conquering the same course she has seen professionals play was a nice feeling.
“It feels cool do it on the same course they play on,” Scott said.
In addition to Scott, senior Danni Hughes shot a 93 for Escanaba, finishing in a tie for third individually with Sault Ste. Marie senior Kyla Garland.
“Sweetgrass doesn’t give up easy pars,” Berlinski said. “It’s tough. But the girls just plodded through and played hard. That’s all we asked them to do.“
Also pleased was Marquette, which posted its best Finals finish since coming in second three straight seasons from 2013-15. Senior Roegen Hruska shot a 94 to finish fifth, junior Kylie Smith carded a 96 to take sixth and junior Delanie Rhodes tied for seventh with a 97 to lead the way.
Marquette assistant Michelle Smith, who presided over the girls team while husband and program coach Ben Smith was at the boys Final, said it was the first time all year the Sentinels broke 400 at a tournament.
“The girls (played) really good yesterday (at a practice round), they felt comfortable coming into today and they did really well,” Smith said. “We had three girls in the top 10, so we are pretty excited about that.”
PHOTOS (Top) Escanaba shows its latest Upper Peninsula Division 1 championship trophy at Sweetgrass Golf Club on Wednesday. (Middle) Delanie Rhodes of Marquette looks toward the fairway after hitting her tee shot on No. 10. (Photos by Keith Dunlap.)