Jet's Pizza Team of the Month: Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central Girls Golf
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 4, 2026
The Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central girls golf team entered the postseason ranked No. 1 in Lower Peninsula Division 2 by the state coaches association, expected to win its first MHSAA Finals championship in this sport.
Making good on those expectations can be a much taller task. But the Rangers showed they were more than up for the challenge Oct. 16-17 at Michigan State's Forest Akers West.
The Jet's Pizza "Team of the Month" for October carded a two-day, 36-hole score of 642, clearing the rest of the field by 45 strokes. That score ranked as the second lowest in MHSAA history at an LPD2 Final, and its 319 on Saturday tied for fourth lowest in LPD2 Finals history for a single round.
Junior Alivia Offer was the individual medalist with 149 strokes, six better than the next closest competitor. Freshman Abigail Offer placed seventh, junior Camille Tierney tied for ninth, senior Caroline Vandervelde tied for 13th and junior Gienna Rinckey tied for 23rd.
(Photo courtesy of the Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central girls golf program.)
#TBT: Marquette's Palmer Begins Title Run
August 17, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
This photo of Marquette’s 1996 Upper Peninsula Class A-B champion team is like most stuffed into our archives from publications past – and at the same time, includes a player starting on one of the most historic runs in MHSAA girls golf history.
Third from left is then-freshman Kendra Palmer, who won the individual title that day at Marquette Golf & Country Club with a score of 93. She also went on to win individual championships the next three seasons, becoming the first Michigan high school female golfer to win four Finals total.
Palmer shot a first-place 89 in 1997 at Gladstone Golf Club as her team finished third, and then a winning 89 at Escanaba Country Club as Marquette finished third again in 1998. Palmer capped her career firing an 85 to lead her team back to the top of the standings in 1999 at Riverside Country Club in Menominee.
Palmer went on to play at Loyola University in Chicago and was named Horizon League Player of the Year as a senior in 2003. This past summer Palmer won the Upper Peninsula Ladies Golf Association championship – click for more on that event from the Marquette Mining Journal.
Only one other golfer has won four MHSAA girls championships – Marquette’s Carley Saint-Onge from 2008-2011. Seven have won three Finals titles – Menominee’s Jenny Mellinger (1984-86), L’Anse’s Jennifer Kangas (1990-92), Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Kate Loy (1993-95), Ontonagon’s Halley Borseth (2009-11), Ishpeming Westwood’s Megan Manninen (2009, 2011-12), Okemos’ Elle Nichols (2011-13) and Maple City Glen Lake’s Nichole Cox (2014-16).
PHOTO: Marquette's 1996 girls golf team, from left: Jill Zorza, Emily Downs, Kendra Palmer, Jenny Shaffer, Katie Crotty and Elizabeth Koski.