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.)
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.)