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.)
Newberry's Season-Long Climb Peaks with 1st Finals Championship Since 1974
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
May 30, 2025
NORWAY — Newberry started the season as only the third or even fourth-best team in its own conference.
But once it started winning meets, it hasn’t stopped, and that included Friday’s Division 2 U.P. Finals.
Newberry edged runner-up Stephenson by three strokes, 465-468, for the U.P. title at Oak Crest Golf Course in Norway.
“I’ve got three or four freshmen that continued to get better,” Newberry coach Kenn Depew said.
Things turned around for the team about halfway through the year when Newberry won an event. Newberry later won the Eastern U.P. Conference tournament, a part of a streak of five first-place finishes to end the season.
“A fantastic year for the girls,” Depew said.
It was the second U.P. Finals championship for Newberry, and came 51 years after its first in 1974. That previous title was won against all of the participating teams in the U.P. as schools weren’t separated by enrollment until 1978.
Freshman Blair Maki led Newberry with a score of 105, good for third place overall. Her season went a lot like the team’s — she started out the year as the No. 5 golfer on Newberry.
“Then she went 4, 3, 2, 1,” Depew said. “Then she separated herself as a No. 1 and ended up third medalist today, which is really good.”
Munising took third with a 480, St. Ignace was fourth at 507, Painesdale Jeffers fifth at 515 and Norway sixth at 527.
Cedarville/DeTour’s Makenna Smith came to Norway looking to have fun playing golf on a nice day – and winning the individual Finals title would certainly qualify as fun.
She carded a 101 to finish as medalist, one stroke ahead of Norway’s Grace Schiltz. After Newberry’s Maki in third, Stephenson’s Cheyanne Palzewicz placed fourth with a 108 and Cedarville/DeTour’s Brylee Smith rounded out the top five with a 109.
Makenna Smith, a sophomore, said it was “pretty cool” to be U.P. champion. She noted the best part of her game Friday was her drives, something that hadn’t been the case during the regular season.
“My coach really focused on it with me the past couple weeks,” she said, “and I’ve just been trying to dial in and drive it.”
PHOTOS (Top) Newberry's Blair Maki follows a drive Friday in Norway. (Middle) Cedarville/DeTour's Makenna Smith tees off during her championship round. (Photos by Jason Juno.)