TC West Ace Finishing Dy-namite Finals Run
October 19, 2018
By Chris Dobrowolski
Special for Second Half
TRAVERSE CITY — Anika Dy already has cemented her legacy as one of the greatest female high school golfers in state history.
Still, she continues to add to that decorated career as she winds down her senior season at Traverse City West.
Dy, the winner of the state coaches association’s Miss Golf Award the last two years, is the two-time reigning MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 medalist and has been the Titans’ top performer on two team state title runs. She caps off her last season for West this weekend at Bedford Valley Golf Course in Battle Creek when she and the Titans look to sweep the team and individual championships for the second straight year.
“I don’t think it’s quite hit me yet. It doesn’t feel like it’s ending, that’s for sure,” said Dy. ““I think I’ll be on a high of emotions. I’m going to come home and probably realize that it’s all over and start reflecting on these four years.”
What a four years it’s been, too.
Dy announced her arrival on a statewide level her freshman year when she was one of only three golfers to break 80 on the first day of action at the 2015 Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final at The Meadows at Grand Valley State. But her chance to finish first was dashed when she three-putted the last hole and closed with a two-day total of 156 — one shot behind Brighton’s Julia Dean, who came from five strokes back over the last 18 holes.
“That really, really stung,” said Dy. “I came back that next year wanting it really bad.”
Since then she’s been unbeatable on the state’s biggest stage, shooting a 143 (72-71) to redeem herself and card the low score by two strokes over Clarkston’s Meghan Deardorff at the 2016 Final at Forest Akers East. She repeated in resounding fashion last year at The Meadows course when her 141 (69-72) put her eight shots in front of Rochester’s Savannah Haque.
As satisfying as those individual victories have been, Dy has been more fulfilled by the team success the Titans have enjoyed. She calls West’s championship her freshman year her most vivid memory from the past four.
“Just because it was so unexpected,” she said of a title the Titans won over Rochester that came down to a fifth counter tiebreaker. “There is a difference for me (between individual and team success). It’s so much more fun when it’s with the team.”
Dy started playing golf at age 6 and surged to an elite level as a model of consistency and with an unequivocal work ethic.
“She has a love for the game and works very hard,” said Scott Wilson, the club pro at Bay Meadows Golf Course in Traverse City who has coached Dy for the past eight years. “She’s always been very consistent. She’s been consistent in her ball striking, and she has a great short game.”
Dy honed her game through Wilson’s junior elite program, first at Crystal Mountain and then at Bay Meadows. She’s maintained a challenging summer tournament schedule as well, taking part in a number of high-caliber events, including the Michigan Women’s Amateur, the Michigan Women’s Open and several USGA qualifiers.
“We’ve always tried to set her up in tournaments that would be challenging to her, almost a little over her head even,” said Wilson. “She’s excelled at every level.”
Dy also has helped spur increased interest in the sport within her school as the Titans’ roster ballooned to 17 players this year on the heels of last year’s Division 1 title.
“She’s put Traverse City West on the map,” said West head coach Karl Gagnon. “She’s helped influence a lot of kids to take up golf. Success breeds success. Kids want to be around programs that are successful.”
Dy has emerged as one of the leaders of that squad, along with fellow seniors Jillian Ellul, Hope Aspenleiter and Evelyn Krueger.
“This year it’s definitely been a challenge to be that leader,” she said. “I’ve had great seniors to look up to my past three years. It was a little tricky at first because we doubled the size of our team from last year. There were a lot more new girls who needed a lot of direction, but it’s been fun getting to know them and watching them grow into better players.”
Those new responsibilities haven’t had a negative affect on Dy’s game. She’s been regularly shooting in the upper 60s and near 70 and has finished as the medalist at every meet this season except one — when her younger sister Anci, a sophomore, beat her at an invitational in Alpena. Anci Dy, a tremendous golfer in her own right, was the Regional runner-up last week after finishing seven strokes behind her sister.
Anci admits it’s bittersweet to see her sister finishing out her high school career.
“It’s going to be our last high school tournament together, and I really want all of us to succeed,” Anci said. “I’m really excited to play on the team with her one last time.”
Next year Anika Dy will head to the University of Michigan for the next stage of her playing career.
“She’s going to a great school,” said Gagnon. “The coaches at Michigan are excited to have her. She’s going to be an asset for them from the very beginning. It’s a progression. She’s accomplished everything she’s going to accomplish in high school. It’s time to see what she can do at a different level.”
As for where golf could take Dy into the future, Wilson said the sky is the limit for his star pupil.
“She’s going to continue to try and put her skills to the test and see where it goes from there,” said Wilson. “It’s all up to her how far she wants to take it.”
Chris Dobrowolski has covered northern Lower Peninsula sports since 1999 at the Ogemaw County Herald, Alpena News, Traverse City Record-Eagle and currently as sports editor at the Antrim Kalkaska Review since 2016. 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) Traverse City West’s Anika Dy watches a drive during last season’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals. (Middle) Dy leaves the green after finishing a hole during her 2016 championship run. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Forest Hills Eastern Rises at D3 Final
October 20, 2012
By Gary Kalahar
Special to Second Half
BATTLE CREEK – The pain in Kelsey Sands’ shoulder Saturday morning had her thinking she would not be playing in the final round of the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 golf tournament.
“I was crying,” the Ada Forest Hills Eastern senior said of the injury plaguing her during her warm-up at Bedford Valley in Battle Creek.
Sands not only teed it up, her huge improvement from Friday’s first round typified her team’s comeback as the Hawks emerged from a tight four-team race to win their second state title in three years.
Top-ranked Forest Hills Eastern totaled 710 strokes to nip the 712 of Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood and the 713 of both Grosse Ile and Detroit Country Day. Forest Hills Eastern started the final round in fourth place, 18 strokes behind Grosse Ile.
All five Forest Hills Eastern players improved their scores in the second round, played in cold conditions but markedly better than the rain and wind of the first round. Just three other players in the field improved more than Sands, who shot a 94 to come in as the Hawks’ fourth scorer after a first-round 109.
“You need to have all four scores,” Forest Hills Eastern coach Brian Telzerow said. “She wasn’t going to play. We prayed as a team, and she said, ‘Let’s give it a try.’ She played phenomenally.”
Forest Hills Eastern did not have another player in Battle Creek, so without Sands the Hawks would not have the ability to throw out a score.
“It went away maybe a third of the way through the round,” Sands said of the pain she believed came from a pulled muscle and which subsided as she got her round off to a solid start with three bogeys and a par.
Henna Singh’s fifth-place 167 with a second-round 83 led Forest Hills Eastern. Jordan Duvall shot the Hawks’ best score of the round, an 81 that left her at 169 for her third straight top-10 state finish.
“I usually come out and play well in the state finals,” Duvall said. “It’s fun for me. I like the competition at the state level.”
With his team facing a large deficit after the first round, Telzerow channeled some Ben Crenshaw and reminded his team of the U.S. team’s comeback in the Ryder Cup in 1999.
“I said, ‘I’ve got a feeling. That’s all I’m going to say about it,’ ” Telzerow said.
“Coach told us the story about the Ryder Cup, and we took that in perspective and said, ‘Hey, it’s 4½ shots a person, why not come back and make it happen,’ ” Duvall said. “We knew we had the potential. We knew it was going to be tough, but we knew we could do it.”
Anne Parlmer shot an 85 for the Hawks’ other final-round score.
“That was remarkable to come up with those scores, especially in these conditions,” Grosse Ile coach Jim Bennett said after the Hawks stopped his team’s bid for a third title in four years. “They stepped up when they had to.”
Telzerow said being in fourth place after the first round might have aided his team’s rally. Players from the top three teams were paired together for the final round.
“We’re the fourth team, so nobody’s really going to be paying attention to us,” Telzerow said. “Let’s go play our game and not worry about the other teams. There wasn’t any of that nervousness about how any of the other players were doing. They could play their own kind of golf.”
“They really came from out of nowhere and beat us,” Country Day coach Peggy Steffan said after her team posted its best MHSAA Finals finish.
Her fourth trip to the Finals didn’t make handling the nerves any easier for Dearborn Divine Child senior Natalie Blazo.
“(Friday) I was a wreck,” Blazo said.
But Saturday was a lot better, and Blazo shot the round of the tournament to claim medalist honors. Her 76 was four strokes clear of the next-best round and gave her a 157 total.
Blazo was seven strokes ahead of Clio’s Ayla Bogie and Cranbrook-Kingswood’s Cordelia Chan.
“I thought that I had a chance (to be medalist), yes,” Blazo said. “That I could do it, a little iffy. I wanted to get in the top 10 at least.”
Blazo punctuated her round with a tap-in birdie on her last hole, the par-4 No. 3. Blazo and Bogie, playing as individual qualifiers, were tied for the lead after the first round and thus paired together in the second round.
“There were some girls who were close who were playing with their teams, so I always knew there could be somebody shooting lower than me,” Blazo said. “My putting was great. I made some long ones to save par.”
Jackson Northwest took fifth at 743 for its third consecutive finish in the top six.
PHOTOS: (Top) The top-10 placers stand together after receiving their medals Saturday. (Middle) Ada Forest Hills Eastern poses with its team trophy at Saturday's Division 3 Final. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)