Huskies Finish Strong to Reign Again
October 19, 2019
By Tom Lang
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – This threepeat was very sweet.
Carrying the heavy load of a No. 1 ranking all season after two consecutive years winning the Lower Peninsula Division 2 title, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern pulled away during the second round Saturday to secure its third consecutive MHSAA Finals championship at Forest Akers East on the campus of Michigan State.
Northern led South Lyon by only two strokes going into the final round (337-339) – an insignificant margin in team golf, which tabulates four individual scores. The past two years Northern had much larger cushions over the competition.
But Northern broke away to win this third title with a team total 337-311-648.
“We talked a lot about that before the second round,” coach Kent Graves said about having no room for error. “In years past we haven’t had to do that; we just had to get through it. Today we really had to focus, and they did, and it was a big win for us.
“I just love the kids. I’m just so proud of them. Not the fact that they won three in a row, but just that grit that they had coming back ... to focus and crush it today. I’m very proud of them.”
Northern was led by Lilia Henkel at 78-75-153, Anna Fay at 82-75-157, Ava Frost with 88-77-165 and Rylee Walters at 89-84-173 as all four scored better in round two.
Henkel tied for second individually with Emlin Munch of Traverse City Central, while Fay placed fourth overall.
“For us, I think being here three times was the difference” Graves said about the difference between the first and second rounds. “All five of our girls played in the final last year. You just can’t discount experience. To know where you’re at and know what you’ve got to do on the second day. I think they just went out and did it.”
Gabriella Tapp, a freshman from South Lyon, was not on most people’s radars, yet played two consecutive rounds of 75-75 to win the medalist title. She led by one stroke after the first round over teammate Katherine Potter, who finished 76-83-159 for fifth place individually as the pair powered the Lions to a team runner-up finish. South Lyon (674) was ranked No. 5 coming into the weekend.
“That’s a quality team. There’s some good players there,” Graves said.
Taking third place was Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central with a team total 711. Farmington Hills Mercy took fourth at 730, while Birmingham Groves and Fenton rounded out the top five teams, both finishing with 732.
Graves said Northern’s third consecutive title was due to a complete team effort – especially being under the microscope all season.
“They’ve got pretty good heads on their shoulders. My top two players – Lilia and Anna – play golf 12 months of the year. They play in a lot of big tournaments. The ones I’m really proud of, and I say this every year, you really don’t win this thing with just your No. 1 and No. 2; everybody has a good one and two. It’s players like Ava Frost that came back and shot a 77 today at our three spot. Rylee and Bailee Walters, our twins, came back at 84 and 87 today. That’s where you win it, at those three and four scores.”
So, could there be a fourth consecutive championship in Northern’s future?
Henkel and Fay return, with three juniors who are waiting their turns.
“These three girls have been out here for two days with us, walking the course and they know what it takes, and they definitely want to be a part of this next year,” Graves said. “And I’ll tell you what; they’re pretty good players. They’d be in the top three for almost every team in our conference.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Forest Hills Northern’s Ava Frost putts during Friday’s first round of the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final. (Middle) South Lyon’s Gabriella Tapp pops a chip toward the green. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Dexter Follows Manning to Team Championship, McCollum Makes Jump to Medalist
By
Tom Lang
Special for MHSAA.com
October 18, 2025
BATTLE CREEK – Dexter’s Avery Manning, an all-state Dream Team selection last year, entered this weekend’s Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final at Bedford Valley Golf Course as the reigning individual champ on a team that finished runner-up last fall.
The script flipped this year.
Manning led the Dreadnaughts to the Division 2 team championship, while she took third individually with a 154 score.
“We came into this so strong and so ready to do it, and I’m so proud,” she said. “I’m a little sad knowing we say goodbye, but I couldn’t have asked for a better ending to high school golf.
“I was very disappointed in what I did (in Friday’s first round),” she added about shooting a 79 to open in seventh place, “but I grinded out my last six holes and so it put me into a better position and headspace to go into (Saturday) where I was just trying to stay as steady as possible and keep my position and try to keep the lead for my team. I’m proud that I stayed content, even if something went wrong.”
Dexter’s team win helped make up for last year’s runner-up finish to Farmington Hills Mercy, which placed sixth this time with a team total of 718.
The Dreadnaughts’ two-round total of 643 placed ahead of No. 1-ranked Bloomfield Cranbrook Kingswood at 659. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central and Lowell tied for third at 684 each.
“The girls played amazing today,” Dexter coach Greg Palkowski. “They really brought it to the course. We played aggressive all day long. We told them don’t hold anything back today. Just go get it done and play our style of golf. This is what we’re accustomed to, and they did it today.
“With this group, being in either first or second going into today’s final round, I’m happy with it. It would have been the same mindset (if trailing). Just come out aggressively, get off to a good start, and they did today. That really propelled us through the first nine holes, and they just played steady golf on the whole back nine.”
Palkowski had plenty of reasons to credit a total team effort.
“All five of our girls are capable of shooting the scores they got here,” he said. So, for them to come through and do what they did, especially the seniors today, Avery, Ellie (Anderson) and Millie (Truesdell) played really well. Maddy (Manning) did really well today, and our number 5, Morgan (Pomerantz), played an awesome round today. They knew they could do it; they just needed to prove it today, and they did.”
Sophia McCollum, a junior at Muskegon Reeths-Puffer, was the individual medalist, leading wire-to-wire. Yet that’s not how she would have scripted it.
“I really didn’t want to be leading after the first day,” she said. “I feel like that’s more pressure, to stay at the top. So I definitely felt a lot of pressure, but it got a lot better as it went along.”
McCollum, who tied for 17th last year, said knowing both Saturday playing partners from summer golf helped ease her mind some – as did her start on each hole.
“I got off the tee box well, and I hit almost every green in regulation,” she said. “My putting wasn’t as great. I putted fine, just not my best. But definitely, my irons and my driving were good.”
She kept the pace with a two-round total of 148 to finish ahead of runner-up Sixtine Charnelet of Kingswood (152), with Avery Manning in third. Chaille Payne of Forest Hills Northen and Megan Guerrera of Mercy tied at 155 for fourth place.
PHOTOS (Top) Dexter’s Avery Manning tees off during Saturday’s second round at Battle Creek’s Bedford Valley. (Middle) Muskegon Reeths-Puffer’s Sophia McCollum tees off. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)