Pederson Wins Memorably, Ontonagon Ascends Again in 'Phenomenal' Fashion
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
May 30, 2024
ESCANABA – Big Bay de Noc’s Camryn Pederson carded an 89 on Thursday to win the Upper Peninsula Division 3 Final individual champion and become the first U.P. champion to clear 90 since 2019.
“It feels really good,” she said. “I tried my best to golf as good as I could today, and I’m really glad that it came out the way it was. It’s a good way to end my senior year.”
She said she liked the open course that was low on hazards at the Escanaba Country Club. And she did most things well during her round Thursday.
“I think I minimized my putts. I only one or two-putt most of the holes,” Pederson said. “And my drives were really good.”
She became the second golfer from Big Bay de Noc to win a U.P. Finals individual golf title. Samantha Guertin won Division 3 in 2006 with a 90.
Pederson’s team was seeking its first title since 2005 after finishing runner-up last year, but finished second to a school where girls golf has pretty much always been strong – Ontonagon.
When the MHSAA first separated the U.P. Finals into separate classes, Ontonagon won the first 10 Class C-D championships, from 1978 to 1987. When Class D got its own U.P. championship tournament, the Gladiators girls won the first four, part of a five-year run of titles from 1994 to 1998. When classifications changed again in 2001, and the name of the smallest group of schools changed from Class D to Division 3, Ontonagon didn’t stop winning, racking up seven more Finals championships.
On Thursday, the Gladiators made it eight wins in Division 3 and 23 overall.
Two of their golfers finished under 100 – runner-up Madyson Pantti carded a 94, and Sam Bailey had a 98. All five finished among the top 10 individuals. Summer Stites’ 100 was good for a fourth-place tie, and Olivia Lockhart and Shayna Stites tied for 10th with 108s.
It was the first U.P. Finals golf championship for all of them, including coach Jim Jessup. The Gladiators’ last team wins came with back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019.
Ontonagon repeated as Copper Mountain Conference champion this year. The Gladiators had finished third last season at the U.P. Division 3 Final and outshot Big Bay de Noc on Thursday by eight strokes, 400-408. Ontonagon shot 36 strokes better than at last season’s Final, and every golfer shot under 110, which Jessup called “phenomenal.”
“I think the girls just worked really hard to better themselves,” he said. “Their stroke play was better, their consistency was better.”
Pantti improved her score by eight strokes from last year’s Final. The junior will have another shot at an individual championships in 2025, but she had a lot to be proud of this time with her runner-up finish that led the Gladiators to a team title.
“I’m really excited,” she said. “It was something that we’d been looking forward to all season. We’ve done good in a lot of our meets, and I thought this was a really good year for us.”
PHOTOS (Top) Big Bay de Noc's Camryn Pederson follows her drive on No. 4 on Thursday at Escanaba Country Club. (Middle) Ontonagon celebrates its latest girls golf Finals championship. (Photos by Jason Juno.)
Grand Rapids Catholic Central Extends Title Streak, O'Grady Reigns Again
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
October 18, 2025
EAST LANSING — Successful title defenses from the Grand Rapids area sure were the themes of the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Girls Golf Final this weekend at Michigan State’s Forest Akers West.
From a team perspective, Grand Rapids Catholic Central fulfilled a season with sky-high expectations, easily winning its third-straight championship with a score of 682.
The Cougars were the team to chase all season with four golfers back after winning last year’s Final by 65 strokes.
Ultimately though, there wasn’t a team in Division 3 that could catch and dethrone them.
“There definitely was a target,” Catholic Central coach Kim Napieralski said. “The expectations weren’t anything new or different. They just leveled up to it.”
Catholic Central had three golfers earn top-7 individual finishes, led by senior Kelsey Preston (81-78-159), who took third. Senior Margaret Deimel finished with a 166 (80-86) to place sixth, while senior Sofia Piccione added a 167 (81-86) to finish in a tie for seventh.
“All of them are super competitive,” Napieralski said of her team. “They are grinders. If they have a bad hole or two, they get right back into it. That’s the biggest strength of our team, is our mental ability to get through the round comfortably even when there is bad stuff happening.”
There was also a repeat winner individually, with Grand Rapids Christian senior Lillian O’Grady reigning again after winning last year at Bedford Valley in Battle Creek.
After birdieing five holes to shoot 72 in Friday’s first round, O’Grady birdied six more holes during her second round Saturday, finishing with a 1-under par score of 71 for a two-day total of 143.
“This course, you can kind of be more aggressive with it and really hit it to good spots on the greens,” said O’Grady, who will play next at the University of Findlay. “I would say it was a lot of good wedge shots into the greens and making some pretty good putts. In some moments, my driver was off but my irons were really good, and I was making the putts. And then other times my irons were off but my short game was really good. All combined together, it was really good.”
O’Grady did have a different dynamic winning the title this year, as her closest pursuer was sister Eleanor, a freshman who finished runner-up with a score of 156 (78-78) in what could be a passing of the baton within the family.
“It was so special to have my sister on the team and experience this with her,” Lillian said of Eleanor. “Hopefully she can do what I’ve done these years.”
Making its first appearance as a team at an MHSAA Final since 2021, Grand Rapids Christian finished runner-up, surging ahead of Detroit Country Day with a strong second-day-total of 353 to finish at 711.
Country Day was third at 731 (356-375), Grand Rapids South Christian was fourth at 734, and Goodrich rounded out the top five with a score of 745.
“I thought we played about as well as we could today,” Grand Rapids Christian coach Seth Davis said. “This course is tough and was set up really tough. You play that first day and you kind of get over that first tournament-day thoughts of, ‘What does this place look like?’ But the second day, you just feel a bit more confident and you are hitting your stride. We played more like we could.”
PHOTOS (Top) Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Margaret Deimel chips toward the green Saturday at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Golf Final. (Middle) Grand Rapids Christian’s Lillian O’Grady follows a drive at Forest Akers West. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)