Sisters Shine as Dow Charges to 1st Title
October 15, 2016
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
ALLENDALE – A friendly rivalry between two talented sisters helped the Midland Dow girls golf team accomplish a feat this weekend that was four years in the making.
Senior Stephanie Carras and junior Alexis Carras forged a competitive battle for individual honors and propelled the Chargers to a victory at Saturday’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final at The Meadows at Grand Valley State.
Midland Dow won its first MHSAA girls golf title in school history by firing a two-day total of 645. It defeated runner-up and reigning champion Birmingham Seaholm by a whopping 48 strokes.
Stephanie Carras captured medalist honors with a 139 to outduel her younger sibling by six strokes. Flushing’s Kerrigan Parks was third with a 150.
“It’s a healthy rivalry between us,” said Stephanie Carras, who shot under-par both days with rounds of 69 and 70. “We support each other, and it helps both of us.”
Added Alexis Carras, who shot 76 on Friday before closing with a final round 4-under 69: “We’re always secretly hoping the other one does well too. If we’re close, we start getting on each other. I didn’t know what I was shooting until the last hole when my dad told me. I didn’t know I was beating Steph.”
Both girls tied the school record with their 69s. Stephanie Carras equaled the score of 2009 Finals medalist Kim Dihn earlier in the season and duplicated that number Friday.
“It’s definitely a friendly rivalry between those two, which pushes them and helped us to accomplish as a team what we just did today,” Midland Dow coach Doug Bradford said. “They root for each other, but there is a competitiveness between them. They always want to know where the other one is and how close they are.
“It was a great effort today, and obviously Stephanie and Alexis just played lights out.”
The Chargers had been close in previous seasons with top-5 finishes at the Finals each of the last three seasons.
They finished runner-up a year ago to Birmingham Seaholm, which saw a stretch of three consecutive Division 2 crowns come to an end.
“We quietly talked about it all year,” Bradford said. “We didn’t come out and talk about it every day, but we talked about the goal and the goal was a state championship. We had three goals. Win league, win regionals and then state.
“Any state championship is wonderful, and it’s what you dream of as a kid. Either to play for one or coach one and to be a part of this is just really fun. The freshmen coming through have been so close, and for them to finish their careers with a state championship is just great.”
The Chargers received contributions from others as well. Junior Giacomina Fabiano and seniors Caroline Szabo and Morgan Dieters also delivered consistent scores.
Szabo said team chemistry was the catalyst in her team’s triumph.
“We’re all such good friends, and it is so cool to do it with people you are close with,” she said. “We want to do well for each other, not just ourselves. This is really amazing because we’ve done a ton of things that this program has never done, but we couldn’t do the one we really wanted. This was our ultimate goal, and it’s really amazing.”
Stephanie Carras, who will play golf at the University of Georgia next season, also had motivation from last year.
She finished runner-up for medalist honors, but saved her best for last with solid putting on the greens.
“It’s incredible, and I’m so excited because I’ve never won as an individual,” Stephanie Carras said. “This is big, and yesterday and today my putting was just going well. I feel like that helped me out here. I had the lead going into today, but my coach told me it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
The Chargers built a commanding 19-stroke lead after the first day.
“We knew we were in good shape, but they still put some pressure on themselves,” Bradford said. “I think they did a great job of finishing, and I’m really proud of them.”
Alexis Carras said she and her teammates took the early advantage in stride and just dedicated themselves to remaining poised.
“Last year was disappointing because we didn’t play well, and we were just really hoping for it this year,” she said. “We just decided to play our games and whatever happens, happens. Just do your best, and that’s what we did. I can’t believe it. This is surreal.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Midland Dow's Stephanie Carras watches one of her shots during Saturday's second round at The Meadows. (Middle) Sister Alexis Carras follows through during her second round. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Northville Turns to Experience in Repeat, Flavin Finishes All-State Career as No. 1
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
October 18, 2025
ALLENDALE – If Northville's golf team was going to capture a second straight and sixth Lower Peninsula Division 1 title over eight years, banking on experience was going to have to win out over caving to pressure.
Which is exactly how the Mustangs captured this weekend’s tournament at The Meadows at Grand Valley State.
A young but experienced Northville team completed a wonderous season with three golfers placing among the top seven en route to a 29-stroke win over runner-up Macomb Dakota.
The Mustangs turned to the experience gained from last year's title run. While some teams may bend to the pressure of trying to repeat, Northville coach Kate Schultz said it was more about a team which lost only one key golfer to graduation a year ago.
"It was basically the same team," said Schultz, who as a Northville senior in 2002 won a Finals title before going on to play at Grand Valley State. "So it was nothing better or worse for us. We're proud that we're a deep team. There may have been more pressure, but the kids didn't know any difference from last year. They know what they have to do, and I knew they would handle putting more pressure on themselves."
Northville finished with a 643 to outdistance second-place Macomb Dakota's 672. Okemos was third with a 674, and Rochester Adams fourth at 681.
Plymouth senior Annie Flavin won the individual title with a 148, including a 5-over-par 77 on Saturday following a 71 on Friday.
Northville junior Naaz Gill finished fourth with a 154, while sophomore teammates McKenzie Stevens and Cam Baker tied for seventh with 158s. That trio all finished among the top four at their Regional, with Stevens winning the qualifier.
Gill said her teammates were well-prepared to follow up a Regional team title won by 35 strokes with earning a second-straight Finals victory. The team had been ranked No. 1 in Division 1 all season while losing only once when the team was battling a team-wide illness.
"We know the difference between Regionals and state, and that state would be more competitive," she said. "We just all wanted to shoot personal bests, which would be good for the team."
Stevens said the experience of having been there, done that, was a huge reason for the repeat.
"It's hard, but we feel like we handled it well," she said. "We were excited to win last year, and we weren't nervous about being back. We took pressure as an opportunity to do better than we did last year."
Schultz said the ability to handle high expectations comes from learning to play in the moment. Looking ahead, she said, serves little benefit.
"We always tell the girls to play like we're five shots behind," she said. "We tell them not to take the pedal off the metal, that every shot counts."
While most considered Northville the favorite to win the team title, the individual crown earned by Flavin is quite another story. She was a three-time all-stater heading into the tournament. But Flavin, who may choose to focus on earning a business degree over playing golf in college, hadn't finished higher than sixth at any of her three previous Finals.
It may have been a goal to win since her days in middle school, but Flavin admitted she wasn't the most likely candidate to outdistance Saturday's field. The difference between being a solid high school golfer and Finals champion came down to annual improvements in simply "picking my way around a course," she said. Specifically, she learned how to slow the game down and trust her teammates. Most of all, she said, it was about making huge strides in mental toughness.
"I have more of a mental mindset now. It's more positive, which has helped me," she said. "I can't really pinpoint anything other than it's just mental with me."
PHOTOS (Top) Northville's girls golf team takes a photo with its team trophy Saturday. (Middle) Plymouth's Annie Flavin begins a swing. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)