Focused Fenton Aiming for Record Finish
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
September 26, 2017
The middle and ring fingers join the thumbs in making a heart, or at least most of the popular heart hand gesture.
The forefinger and pinky, however, are showing off their wild side, pointed up as if to say, “Rock on.”
To most, it’s meaningless finger gymnastics. To the Fenton girls golf team, however, it’s the symbol for their team motto: Grind.
“It kind of calms us down in a way,” Fenton senior Molly Gundry said. “If you’re having a really stressful round and you see someone else from the team and they give you the grind symbol, it reminds you to settle down, because this isn’t just for yourself, it’s for the team.”
Whether it’s through grinding out holes or simply making shots, the Tigers are off to quite a start this fall. They’ve shot a school-record nine-hole score (163) twice.
They’ve won the Genesee County Tournament, and find themselves ranked No. 9 in the Division 2 Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association Lower Peninsula rankings.
“I think that last year we kind of had a good idea that we were OK,” senior Margaret Berry said. “Coming into this year, we knew we had to put in a lot of work to be as good as we wanted to be. But I think last year, we knew since we weren’t graduating any seniors, that this was kind of our year.”
Fenton placed ninth in the MHSAA LP Division 2 Finals a year ago at The Meadows on the campus of Grand Valley State University. Four of the girls who played there – Gundry, Berry, senior Keegan Miller and junior Lily Horning – are back this season, as is Horning’s classmate, Angela Hanners. Freshman Brooke Herbstreit, the daughter of veteran coach Kurt Herbstreit, has joined the team this season and found herself among the scorers often, making the Tigers even deeper.
“Going into freshman year we had (Gundry, Miller and Berry), and we were all pretty good for freshmen,” Gundry said. “I knew that by the time we were seniors, we were going to have a pretty good team -- especially during our junior year, we realized that next year could be really good.”
The team’s goal is stated explicitly on its Facebook page under the “Mission” heading: “Win the Metro League and go to states.” While it’s a goal the Tigers target every season, this year it feels as attainable as in any other. The team has set an even greater goal of finishing top-five at the Finals, matching or even besting Fenton’s best finishes (fifth, twice, most recently in 2013).
“If we all play our absolute best, I think we could have a chance,” Berry said. “I’m not sure if we could finish first, but maybe in the top two or three.”
Of course, to even get there, the Tigers will need to place in the top three of a loaded Regional. Fortunately for them, the tournament will be played at Fenton Farms Golf Course, which isn’t their home course (that’s Tyrone Hills) but is awfully familiar.
“I was always looking forward to this year,” Kurt Herbstreit said. “That’s one of the reasons we put in to host the Regional. Our Regional is extremely tough -- it’s a really tough region. Four of the top 10 teams that are ranked right now are in our region, and there’s a fifth one that could probably be in the top 10. So that’s five teams who are deserving to go to state, and only three are going to go. We all know it, so there’s going to be a lot of nerves on Oct. 11 for our Regional, because we know it’s stacked.”
With his team aiming to get back to the Finals and playing well there, Herbstreit has had to work on keeping his golfers focused throughout the season. With a veteran group that’s close on and off the course, however, that hasn’t been difficult.
“Golf is so individual, especially during the summer, so the girls really look forward to coming together as a team,” Kurt Herbstreit said. “As I’ve done this for 11 years, the thing I tried to focus on is making it a team, making it a family. They get along really well, and we try to have them be competitive, but yet still be teammates. They’ll get together for fun rounds and things like that.”
When the big tournaments do get here, the Tigers know they have the talent to do well, and even if things aren’t going well, it will only take one hand gesture from a teammate to remind them of what they need to do.
“One bad hole can end up making your round or breaking your round,” Gundry said. “We just need to think about grinding it out.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) From left, Fenton's Keegan Miller, Brooke Herbstreit, Margaret Berry, Molly Gundry and Lily Horning hold up their trophy after winning the Genesee County championship this month. (Middle) Miller watches one of her shots during last season's LP Division 2 Final, where the Tigers finished ninth. (Top photo courtesy of Fenton girls golf, bottom by HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
South Lyon Celebrates 1st Title, Cui Earns 2nd
October 16, 2020
By Tom Lang
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – For the South Lyon girls golf team, it was a first.
For Allison Cui of Okemos, it was number two.
And for all of the competitors Friday at Forest Akers West playing in the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals, it was a relief that there simply was a competition in the first place to conclude a season where the Covid-19 pandemic has had school programs, and society in general, on edge.
Last year’s Division 1 champion, Cui, won her second individual Finals title with a 2-under 70 – this time in Division 2 as her team dropped a slot in enrollment. As a freshman in 2018, when Okemos was also in Division 2, Cui tied for first but finished runner-up due to losing a one-hole playoff.
“I’m ecstatic. I really never imagined (two in a row),” Cui said. “I thought there was a chance I could win, but for it to happen, it’s just surreal.”
She said the competition in D2 was just as solid as playing last year in D1.
“I know a lot of the girls (in D2) and played with them over the summer,” Cui added. “They are really strong players, and any other day they could win this easily.”
Cui had a rough start to her day, scoring three consecutive bogies early. But in the middle of her round she carded five birdies over a span of six holes to fight back and then hold the lead. She admitted that made her a little nervous since the Finals this season were cut back from the traditional two-day, two-rounds format, to one 18-hole round to reduce the chances for spreading Covid-19.
“I think I was a little nervous going into it, because this year we don’t have that second day to bounce back if you have a bad first round,” she said. “But I think you have to have the same mentality. I was thinking take it one shot at a time and if you have a bad hole move on from it and make some birdies here and there.”
South Lyon won its first Finals team title in girls golf, after coming so close many times before. The program has won nine straight Regional titles, made 12 consecutive Finals trips and earned two runner-up finishes – last year and in 2014.
This time, the Lions ended Forest Hills Northern’s three-year hold on the Division 2 championship, shooting 335 to edge the Huskies by three strokes.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said long-time head coach Dan Skatzka. “We were so close so many times, and (with) so many great teams of girls. It wasn’t easy of course. (Forest Hills) Northern didn’t go down without a big battle. We’d be up by eight or nine strokes, then down to three, then back up to seven. As it came right down to the end it was literally like match play for about the last four holes. Someone would lose strokes, then someone else picked them up. Just a great team effort all the way.”
Skatzka wasn’t quite sure if playing just one round versus two was the difference maker in the outcome.
“We really didn’t think about it that way,” he said about not having a second round for a possible comeback scenario. “We looked at it as this is one shot, and we need to be ready from the beginning. We felt pretty good about playing here, and we felt pretty good about having a one-time shot at it. Whether it’s one round or two rounds, you have to put out your best effort from the beginning. The girls were so focused, and the hours and hours of extra putting, especially in these last couple of weeks, using all the putting drills we’ve used all season long. It always comes down to the putting.”
Leading the Lions were senior Katherine Potter at 1-over 73, good for individual runner-up; and reigning individual champ Gabriella Tapp, who finished tied for sixth with an 80. Senior Isabella Campbell tied for 11th.
Tying for third overall were Lilia Henkel of Northern and Olivia Stoll of Haslett.
“I’m just so appreciative to have been able to get this season in,” Skatzka added. “I feel so bad for so many teams that weren’t able to in the spring. We’re very fortunate to have gotten it in and not have any issues all along.”
He also noted that his golfers were focused on keeping to themselves and not getting sick, because they knew the entire season could end if there was Covid-19 detected on the team.
“We had that hanging over us this year in addition to the usual things,” he said, “so I’m very thankful.”
PHOTOS: (Top) South Lyon’s Gabriella Tapp takes aim during Friday’s Division 2 Final at Michigan State University. (Middle) Okemos’ Allison Cui drains a putt on the way to her second-straight individual title. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)