Munising Seniors Add to Title Legacy
June 1, 2017
By Adam Niemi
Special for Second Half
IRON RIVER — The writing was on the wall for the Munising High School girls golf team — play your best golf.
On Thursday, the Mustangs pulled through with a commanding lead to win the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 2 title at George Young Golf Course.
Munising coach Bette Immel said her team’s performance was another notch in the golfers’ impressive athletic resumes.
“Just had a fantastic day. We’ve had three seniors on the team that have been playing since their freshman year; great way to end their golf careers,” Immel said. “This group has done some marvelous things. They won the state championship in tennis this year, now golf, track is Saturday (U.P. Finals in Kingsford) which a few of them will participate in the top few spots there. One of the girls has four straight championships in cross country as well.
"It just couldn’t happen to a better group of girls. They’re great stewards of our community, great role models for others in the town. It’s one of these special things that doesn’t happen a lot. Just very proud of them.”
Bailey Downs was the medalist. Her 88 helped the Mustangs to a 412 team score. Crystal Falls Forest Park finished a distant second with 500 strokes. Iron River West Iron County was third at 514.
Frankie Mattson also placed among the top 10 individuals for Munising with a 105.
“I think course management was a big thing — make sure they know the smart shot, not take chances and be too aggressive, so just play smart and I think they did that,” Immel said of the team strategy.
Payton Dube led Hancock with a 91 to finish individual runner-up.
Munising, Forest Park and West Iron County were the only girls teams who fielded enough golfers to qualify a team score.
Michelle Wiegand’s 108 paced the Wykons, tying at 11th overall with Munising’s Taylor Downs. Anna Malmquist shot a 111, tying for 13th with Munising’s Marissa Immel.
Alexis Bailey’s 101 was good for a fourth-place medal for Painesdale-Jeffers.
Newberry’s Riley Burton shot a 100 to earn a third-place medal.
West Iron coach Mark Martini said the Wykons’ roster turnover to youth this year from experience last season could mean well for the future.
“Our girls are not only young for the most part, in some cases they have been holding a golf club for about 12 weeks total,” Martini said. “We have come a long way. I am just hoping they stay with it for the summer, and we will probably be a good team. We were second in the state last year; this year we’re kind of starting all over.”
Full results will be linked when available.
PHOTO: Munising's Bailey Downs watches a putt during her run to the medalist honor Thursday. (Photo by Adam Niemi.)
3 Receive National Honors from NHSACA, Coaching Pair Named to Hall of Fame
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
July 11, 2024
One of the longest-serving members of the MHSAA Representative Council and two longtime Michigan high school coaches have received highest honors this summer from the National High School Athletic Coaches Association.
Brighton athletic director John Thompson was named Athletic Director of the Year during the NHSACA’s annual conference June 26 in Bismarck, N.D. He has supervised the Bulldogs’ highly-accomplished athletic program for two decades and served on the Representative Council the last 14 years, including currently as vice president.
Thompson also this year received the Thomas Rashid Athletic Director of the Year Award from the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA). Brighton was selected as an MIAAA exemplary athletic program in 2015 and as an ESPN unified champion school in 2018, the latter recognizing its statewide leadership in cultivating unified sport opportunities.
Additionally, Farmington Hills Mercy girls golf coach Vicky Kowalski and Livonia Stevenson girls swimming & diving coach Greg Phil were named NHSACA National Coach of the Year in their respective sports.
Kowalski completed her 46th season coaching Mercy last fall by leading the program to its second-straight Lower Peninsula Division 2 championship and fourth MHSAA Finals title overall. She also in January was named the 2022-23 National Coach of the Year in her sport by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Coaches Association. She was inducted into the Michigan High School Coaches Association (MHSCA) Hall of Fame this year for both golf and bowling.
Phil has coached girls swimming & diving since 1976, including at Stevenson since 1985. After winning the Kensington Lakes Activities Association East title, the most recent of several league championships under his leadership, Stevenson finished 16th at last season’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals and previously had placed Finals runner-up twice. Phil was named to the MHSCA Hall of Fame in 2012.
All three honorees were nominated for the national recognition by the MHSCA. Beal City baseball coach Brad Antcliff, now-retired Leland volleyball coach Laurie Glass, Ann Arbor Greenhills boys tennis coach Eric Gajar and Lowell wrestling coach R.J. Boudro also were National Coach of the Year finalists.
Additionally, longtime softball coaches Kay Johnson of Morenci and Kris Hubbard from Ottawa Lake Whiteford were inducted into the NHSACA Hall of Fame. Johnson went over 1,000 career wins this spring and has led her program since 1993, including to Class C championships in 1985 and 1986. Hubbard retired after the 2019 season with an 865-380-3 record since taking over in 1974, with Class D titles in 1984, 1985 and 1987.