'Energizer' Leads Grosse Ile to Title
October 19, 2013
By Chip Mundy
Special to Second Half
BATTLE CREEK – Margaret Esordi says she likes to play golf in the rain, and she proved it Saturday in the MHSAA Division 4 girls golf championship meet at Bedford Valley Golf Course.
Esordi, a sophomore who has been the No. 5 player for Grosse Ile, battled the cold and rain for a 38 on her first nine holes and finished with a team-best 85 to lead the Red Devils to their second MHSAA championship in three years.
Grosse Ile held a six-stroke lead after play Friday and finished just two ahead of runner-up Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian.
“I was in shock when I came in,” said Esordi, who shot 94 on Friday. “I was just really focused, and I wasn’t thinking too much. I was just focused on helping my teammates, especially the seniors. I wanted to make it special for them.
“I like to play in the rain, and we knew the challenges that we faced, and we all stuck together and focused.”
Grosse Ile coach Jim Bennett was thrilled with the play of Esordi.
“She’s been No. 5 all year, and she came to life and just had a great front nine,” he said. “She just hit everything solid and started making putts.”
Senior Emily Bargardi confirmed just how special it was to win another title.
“It feels amazing,” she said. “We were state champions my sophomore year, so to have the feeling again is incredible. Since I was a sophomore then, I really didn’t know what really was going on, but being a senior makes it that much better.”
Bargardi’s two-day total of 171 led Grosse Ile, but she slipped to an 88 on Saturday after an opening 83 on Friday.
“I normally don’t play that good in bad conditions,” she said. “It was really tough for me because I was really nervous because of my previous times in the cold and rain – they haven’t been so good.
“My front nine was really bad – I had a 46 – but when I teed off on No. 10, the weather was still bad but I thought, ‘I’m definitely going to come back,’ and I did, which I’m really proud of.
“It wasn’t my best, but it was enough to win.”
Bargardi said she was re-energized when she found out how well Esordi was playing.
“Oh my gosh, I think that almost made me play better because it made me so happy,” Bargardi said. “I was so proud of her.
“I found out when I was about to tee off on No. 14, and I was just like, ‘I think I can finish strong; I think we all can finish strong.’ ”
Grosse Ile had a balanced team, and all five players finished among the top four for the team on either Friday or Saturday. In addition to Bargardi and Esordi, Katherine Kuzmiak had 88-92-180, Megan Moco had 91-96-187 and Katie Williams had 101-95-196.
“We’ve been bunched together all year,” Bennett said. “We don’t have that No. 1 player that goes out and shoots a great score, but all the girls pick up each other.”
The second-place finish by just two strokes was tough to take for Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian.
“Our girls are hurting al little bit right now from looking at themselves, but you can’t do that,” coach Tom Koert said. “I’ve even had to take a second and say, ‘Wait a minute. We all tried our hardest.’ Not one girl gave up one minute, and that’s the proudest you can be of a team. If they all give every minute out there, you can’t dip your head.
“We’ll fix ourselves from this, but right now it’s hard for them and me. I’m so proud of what they did.”
Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian did have the most inspirational player in sophomore Jessica Zystra, who was honored at the end of the tournament for her courage to play golf after having scoliosis.
Zystra had surgery to put two metal rods in her back and she has 10 fused vertebrae, but she walked all 36 holes and finished with 104-99-195.
“The hardest part was before the surgery, deciding whether to have it or not because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to do any activities like sports anymore,” Zystra said. “It’s been great the last couple of years. I’ve recovered very well, and it’s just been great.”
When asked if she could have imagined this day a few years ago, Zystra could not have given a better answer.
“Anything can happen, and today’s just a great day,” she said.
Monica Koert led Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian with 84-75-159, and third-place Flint Powers Catholic had Kristen Wolfe and Morgan Zloto each with 168 as the team finished six strokes behind Grosse Ile.
Three-time defending champion Lansing Catholic finished fourth and had the individual champion in senior Jacqueline Setas, who had a 150 total to win by nine strokes over Koert, who finished second. Setas had 77 on Friday and 73 on Saturday and seemed more pleased with the showing of her team, which lost four of its top five players from a year ago.
“I think everyone really didn’t think our team could be in the top five this year, so I think we made a bold statement,” said Setas, who plans to play golf at Michigan State University. “Just to make top four is an accomplishment.”
Lansing Catholic shot 359 on Saturday for its lowest 18-hole score all season.
“I’m feeling pretty good but a little sad for the seniors who are leaving,” coach Mary Schafer said. “It’s been a very special time.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Grosse Ile's Emily Bargardi putts during the second round of this weekend's LP Division 2 Final. (Middle) Lansing Catholic's Jacqueline Setas watches a shot Saturday on the way to winning the individual championship in her final high school event. (Click to see more from High School Sports Scene.)
Rochester Ends 'Incredible Run' on Top
November 15, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Four seasons ago, the Rochester girls golf team missed the MHSAA Finals – a rarity for a program that has won three of the last 10 Lower Peninsula Division 1 championships and finished runner-up twice.
Three seasons ago, Rochester missed the Finals again, by two strokes – and with only four golfers in the lineup.
But 2015 was a special fall. Much to coach Jeff Haney’s surprise, the Falcons – with those same four regulars anchoring the lineup – not only made the Final but came within a stroke of winning the Division 1 championship before finishing second to Traverse City West on a fifth-score tie-breaker.
And all of that set up a championship run that culminated in a 21-stroke victory at this season’s Final at Michigan State University’s Forest Akers East, a pleasing end to a wild ride.
“Their freshman year they missed going to the state finals as a team by four strokes. Sophomore year the missed out by two strokes,” Haney said. “To go from missing out on the state finals to then going to the state finals and being within a stroke of winning, to then follow it up by winning it, it’s been quite a journey. To me, that’s what I’ll remember this team by – the incredible run.”
An incredible finish to that incredible run made Rochester the clear-cut choice as Applebee’s statewide Team of the Month for October.
The Falcons won resoundingly at Forest Akers East after shooting what’s believed to be an MHSAA girls golf tournament record 289 to win their Regional on Oct. 5 at Twin Lakes in Oakland Township.
The run was fueled by balanced contributions from all five regulars.
In the Division 1 Final, the Falcons followed two who were among the individual top 10 finishers. Senior Brooke Busse was fifth at 148, five strokes back of the lead, and senior Veronica Haque carded an eighth-place 150. However, freshman Savannah Haque (158), senior Erika Yang (163) and junior Keri Yang (166) all also finished among the top 32.
At times through the season, the fourth and fifth players in the lineup shot the second or third-best scores at tournaments, something “definitely different in terms of depth, definitely different in that they all prepared so much, played so much and worked so much to get to this point,” said Haney, who took over the program in 2006. Four of the top five missed at least one tournament this fall, and Rochester still won a number of those events.
He noted that his isn’t the type of program that generally is able to count on adding tournament-experienced newcomers every fall. When the current seniors entered high school, Haney said he knew about Veronica Haque as a likely contributor, and that Busse had played some. But sisters Erika and Keri Yang were volleyball players when they decided to play golf instead.
Savannah Haque – Veronica’s sister – gave the Falcons another strong player this fall, and combined with her four teammates allowed Haney to focus his coaching differently.
In the past, he spent more time coaching his golfers on aiming points, club selection and things experienced golfers might already know entering high school. But this fall he was able to focus on the Falcons' mental games. And mental prowess was a strength of this team – Rochester made academic all-state with a grade-point average of 3.748, which ranked 11th in Division 1, and Erika Yang received individual academic all-state honorable mention.
As one might expect, on-course accolades abounded as well. Busse was named after the season to the Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association all-state Super Team, while Veronica Haque made the first team and Savannah Haque and Erika Yang earned honorable mentions.
“If we didn’t win, it seemed like the year was going to be a failure, and it’s hard to play like that,” Haney said. “And the other thing for which I give the girls credit, they played the whole season with everybody telling (them they were) the best team, and it was a lot of pressure. I felt it, and I’m sure the girls felt it, and to me (winning) was as much a relief as I was excited.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2016-17
September: Breckenridge football - Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Brooke Busse watches a drive during this season’s Division 1 Final at Forest Akers East. (Middle) The Falcons line-up during the second day of the Final, from left: Keri Yang, Savannah Haque, Brooke Busse, Veronica Haque and Erika Yang. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)