Spring Lake Dominates in D3 Repeat
October 17, 2015
By Mark Meyer
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Spring Lake may have fallen short of one of its goals this weekend, but it hardly mattered much after the defending MHSAA champion put the finishing touches on a command performance at Forest Akers West golf course.
The Lakers fashioned rounds of 325 and 336 (661) to win their second straight Lower Peninsula Division 3 crown by a mere 70 strokes over runner-up Goodrich, which rallied with a 357 on Saturday to finish at 731, two strokes ahead of third-place Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood (733).
Detroit Country Day (735) and Warren Regina (747) rounded out the top five.
Spring Lake coach George Bitner said his team had hoped to break 320 in one of its final rounds.
“That’s what they were aiming for because they usually set the bar pretty high,” Bitner said. “But we can’t be too disappointed. Last year we trailed after the first day and stormed back to win.
“This year we had a super start (on Friday) and were able to keep some distance between us and the challengers.”
Spring Lake junior Anna Kramer – whom Bitner fondly referred to as “the franchise” during the medals presentation – carded back-to-back rounds of 77 to claim medalist honors by three strokes (154-157) over Olivia Reed of Carleton Airport. Spring Lake senior Kayla Krueger shot 76-82-158 to edge Danielle Staskowski of Pontiac Notre Dame by one stroke for third place.
“I’m very proud of our team,” Krueger said. “We were confident coming into the weekend, and I knew we could handle the playing conditions no matter how difficult they might be.
“We usually play better on the second day of a tournament but it didn’t quite work out that way this time. But yet we played well enough to win and that, for us, was the most important part of the weekend.”
Sophomore Madelyn Nelson (84-85), senior Emma Conroy (88-98) and sophomore Hannah Klein (103-92) completed the scoring for the Lakers, who three times this season shot tournament rounds of 321.
Afterwards, the ageless Bitner marveled at his team’s commitment to practice and improvement.
“They never stopped working, all season long,” said Bitner, 78, who started coaching boys golf at Spring Lake in 1968 and founded the school’s girls golf program in 1980. “Putting, chipping, sand play, driving, iron play: you name it, they worked on all phases of the game all year long.
“Plain and simple, they’re golfaholics. They all love the game, love to practice. And a real fun group to coach. They make my job pretty easy.”
The Harding sisters – senior Taylor and junior Sydni – led Goodrich’s second day charge to second place in its first full year in varsity competition. Sydni Harding shot 80 on Saturday to go with an opening round of 82 to finish in a tie for fifth place individually with Ali Martus of Wayland Union (83-79-162). Taylor Harding placed sixth with rounds of 83 and 82.
“What can I say, we had a great weekend,” said Goodrich coach Jason Bescoe. “Super proud of these girls for what they have accomplished. Aaron Monroe knocked almost 20 shots off her score from the opening round, and it was that type of improvement that made a huge difference for us.”
Sophomore Kate Cao shot 86-89-175 to lead Cranbrook Kingswood, the Division 3 runner-up in the previous three LPD3 Finals.
PHOTOS: (Top) Spring Lake won its second straight MHSAA LP Division 3 title. (Middle) Goodrich finished runner-up in its second full season as a program. (Click for 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.)