Rochester Ends 'Incredible Run' on Top
November 15, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Four seasons ago, the Rochester girls golf team missed the MHSAA Finals – a rarity for a program that has won three of the last 10 Lower Peninsula Division 1 championships and finished runner-up twice.
Three seasons ago, Rochester missed the Finals again, by two strokes – and with only four golfers in the lineup.
But 2015 was a special fall. Much to coach Jeff Haney’s surprise, the Falcons – with those same four regulars anchoring the lineup – not only made the Final but came within a stroke of winning the Division 1 championship before finishing second to Traverse City West on a fifth-score tie-breaker.
And all of that set up a championship run that culminated in a 21-stroke victory at this season’s Final at Michigan State University’s Forest Akers East, a pleasing end to a wild ride.
“Their freshman year they missed going to the state finals as a team by four strokes. Sophomore year the missed out by two strokes,” Haney said. “To go from missing out on the state finals to then going to the state finals and being within a stroke of winning, to then follow it up by winning it, it’s been quite a journey. To me, that’s what I’ll remember this team by – the incredible run.”
An incredible finish to that incredible run made Rochester the clear-cut choice as Applebee’s statewide Team of the Month for October.
The Falcons won resoundingly at Forest Akers East after shooting what’s believed to be an MHSAA girls golf tournament record 289 to win their Regional on Oct. 5 at Twin Lakes in Oakland Township.
The run was fueled by balanced contributions from all five regulars.
In the Division 1 Final, the Falcons followed two who were among the individual top 10 finishers. Senior Brooke Busse was fifth at 148, five strokes back of the lead, and senior Veronica Haque carded an eighth-place 150. However, freshman Savannah Haque (158), senior Erika Yang (163) and junior Keri Yang (166) all also finished among the top 32.
At times through the season, the fourth and fifth players in the lineup shot the second or third-best scores at tournaments, something “definitely different in terms of depth, definitely different in that they all prepared so much, played so much and worked so much to get to this point,” said Haney, who took over the program in 2006. Four of the top five missed at least one tournament this fall, and Rochester still won a number of those events.
He noted that his isn’t the type of program that generally is able to count on adding tournament-experienced newcomers every fall. When the current seniors entered high school, Haney said he knew about Veronica Haque as a likely contributor, and that Busse had played some. But sisters Erika and Keri Yang were volleyball players when they decided to play golf instead.
Savannah Haque – Veronica’s sister – gave the Falcons another strong player this fall, and combined with her four teammates allowed Haney to focus his coaching differently.
In the past, he spent more time coaching his golfers on aiming points, club selection and things experienced golfers might already know entering high school. But this fall he was able to focus on the Falcons' mental games. And mental prowess was a strength of this team – Rochester made academic all-state with a grade-point average of 3.748, which ranked 11th in Division 1, and Erika Yang received individual academic all-state honorable mention.
As one might expect, on-course accolades abounded as well. Busse was named after the season to the Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association all-state Super Team, while Veronica Haque made the first team and Savannah Haque and Erika Yang earned honorable mentions.
“If we didn’t win, it seemed like the year was going to be a failure, and it’s hard to play like that,” Haney said. “And the other thing for which I give the girls credit, they played the whole season with everybody telling (them they were) the best team, and it was a lot of pressure. I felt it, and I’m sure the girls felt it, and to me (winning) was as much a relief as I was excited.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2016-17
September: Breckenridge football - Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Brooke Busse watches a drive during this season’s Division 1 Final at Forest Akers East. (Middle) The Falcons line-up during the second day of the Final, from left: Keri Yang, Savannah Haque, Brooke Busse, Veronica Haque and Erika Yang. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
'Baker's Dozen' Continues Rapid Rise Earning Leland's 1st Trip to Girls Golf Final
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
October 9, 2026
A lot has changed since Leland High School began offering girls golf just a decade ago.
Starting as a club sport with tremendous support from the Leland Country Club, the Comets began participation in MHSAA competition in 2021. These days, they are among Northern Michigan’s best Division 4 programs – and Tuesday qualified for the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final for the first time.
The Comets have done especially well considering more than 90 percent of their student-athletes had never picked up a club prior to entering high school.
Not many would have thought this rapid rise possible, but the team’s coaches – head coach Grace Keeble and assistant Kathy Wheeler, also a Leland teacher – are not among them.
“I don't think you can write a better script, really,” Keeble said. “I'm really excited for the girls. It is just so magical to be in the same sentence with Traverse City St. Francis and Elk Rapids.”
The Comets placed second to Elk Rapids at their Regional to qualify for next week’s Final. St. Francis also qualified for the LPD4 championship tournament, which will be played at The Meadows on the campus of Grand Valley State University.
“Leland has been very fortunate to have some incredible teams go to states,” Keeble acknowledged, referring to the Comets’ successes on the volleyball court and soccer pitch. “I am honored and excited that these girls get to be added to that list. We've been riding an incredible wave, and I just want to ride it out. I want these girls to just soak it up.”
Leland’s run to the Final started at last year’s Regional, where they fell just shy of advancing.
“We were fourth, and the girls looked at me – and there were three girls who were really close to making it as individuals – and they had a smile on their faces and a determined look, and they said, ‘Coach, we're going to states next year.’ And I looked at them and I said, ‘Let's keep up with the hard work and the determination.’”
With five seniors leading the way and a total of 13 golfers on the roster, the Comets started this fall destined to reach championship weekend. Four seniors – Ariah Amin, Maya Hamelin, Elise Vann and Lillian Conner – were a part of the Comets team that nearly made the Final last year. The fifth senior, Ella Hennessey, is playing her first year of golf. All five seniors took at least a half-dozen strokes off their averages this fall.
“I wholeheartedly believed they could do it,’ said Keeble, a retired teacher and avid golfer. “It’s been kind of a mantra since the end of the season last year. I have 13 magnificent girls, and for the first time ever in this program, a representation from every class, from freshman sophomore, junior and senior.”
Keeble likes to refer to the 13-player roster as her “baker’s dozen” pointing out it took all 13 to get the team where it is today.
“When I saw the magical number 13, I told them they were my baker's dozen, and they kind of just looked at me,” Keeble recalled. “Well, there's 13, and I don't like classifying if you're the number one player or you're my 13th player – you're a member of this team. There are six going to states with five playing and four scores counting, but it took all of them, and it was these seniors leading.”
The rest of the “baker’s dozen” consists of juniors Jaelyn DeFour and Sadie Hill, sophomores Lucy Baldwin, Ella Hamelin, Bryn Waskiewicz, Flora Wengreen and Ellie Yoffy; and Penelope Shank, a freshman.
All 13 golfers will be behind the fire truck as Leland hosts a parade Thursday to send the Comets to Allendale.
Conner, finishing fourth, and Hamelin, sixth, led the way at this week’s Regional, and Amin, 11th, and Vann, 15th, rounded out the scoring. DeFour was right behind the scorers in 17th, allowing the entire team to place among the overall top 20 individuals. That success was despite weather conditions hampering the Comets after they all shot personal bests during their previous most recent tournament in Cadillac, with the team’s top four scores there all under 100 for the first time in program history.
As the Comets prepare for the Final, Keeble has them focused on the upcoming experience, rather than the result. She expects her golfers to always focus on the next hole, even if the last wasn’t so good, and let the results fall where they may.
“I'm not a big believer of putting expectations of where you're going to place,” Keeble noted. “I'd rather have the girls enjoy the experience and come off a course and say, ‘Hey, coach, I just did the best I could.’”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Leland’s Jaelyn Defour tees off on the Sundance Course during Tuesday’s Division 4 Regional at A-Ga-Ming Golf Resort in Kewadin. (Middle) Elise Vann tees off during her Regional round. (Photos by Jan-Michael Stump/Traverse City Record-Eagle.)