Plymouth Celebrates School's First Girls Title
October 20, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Kelsey Murphy knew Saturday afternoon who she’d call first after the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final – her grandmother Erma Murphy, who introduced her to golf when she was 12.
The Plymouth senior just wasn’t sure which bit of history-making news she would share first. She might start with how the top-ranked Wildcats won their first MHSAA girls team title. Or lead off with how she battled through wind and rain to edge Utica’s Taylor Clark by a stroke for the individual title.
Most likely, it was all going to come out in one long sentence. There's just so much good news to share.
Plymouth – after finishing third in 2011 and coming into this weekend ranked No. 1 – shot a two-round 659 at Michigan State’s Forest Akers East to edge runner-up Farmington Hills Mercy by 11 strokes. Murphy shot a two-day 148, matching Clark’s 75 on Saturday to maintain a one-stroke lead from Friday’s first round.
"I’m extremely proud of my team. We worked so hard this year to get to where we are today,” Murphy said. “It’s the first state championship in Plymouth’s history in any sport, so we’re extremely proud to represent our school this way.”
All five of Plymouth’s players shot 183 or better for the weekend, with senior Sarah Thompson firing a 166 to miss the individual top 10 by five strokes. And the latter statement is all the more impressive considering seven of last season’s 10 were back for this Final.
Murphy had birdies on Nos. 11 and 16 on Saturday. Clark, who improved from tied for sixth last season to finish second, just missed a close putt on the 18th green that would’ve forced a tie-breaker.
“I knew they were going to be close because Taylor is such a great player and so is Tenley (Shield, of Grosse Pointe South, who finished fifth). So I knew we were going to have a shootout today, and we all had to play our best to see who would come out on top,” Murphy said.
Utica as a team was four strokes better than Friday and shot a 672 to finish third.
“I’m proud of where I’ve come in the last four years. But most of all, I’m proud of my team for getting here,” said Clark, who played in Utica’s top spot every year of high school. “This is our best finish in the history of our school, so I think we represented our district and our school well. A top-three finish is great here.”
Plymouth enjoyed the same last season, but wanted more – especially after how the 2011 Final finished up.
The Wildcats were in second place after that first round, but fell to third by the end of the weekend. Murphy led individually with four holes to play, but also finished third.
They also had to adjust to a quick switch right before the start of this season, after coach Chris Moore resigned after taking an assistant principal job. Dan Young, a teacher with Moore at Pioneer Middle School in Canton, stepped right in. He hadn’t coached golf before, but has plenty of experience leading teams – he’s coached boys basketball at Westland John Glenn for two decades.
Plymouth shot a 331 on Friday to lead by seven, then carded a 328 to finish the run.
“You can’t replace that (2011) experience. Obviously, we fed off that,” Young said. “We tried to keep things in perspective, tried to stay within ourselves and do our job and lay it all out there. I thought we could come back and play better than (Friday), and I think the girls felt they could play better than (Friday). So that was the goal.
“That (2011) experience grounded us the whole year. It really did.”
Holt junior Pader Her shot two strokes better to finish third individually with a 152. Brighton senior Hannah Pietila shot five strokes better to move up to fourth.
PHOTO: Plymouth's Kelsey Murphy digs a shot out of the sand during Saturday's final round of the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final. (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.)