West Iron Girls Claim 1st Title since 2005
May 30, 2019
By Adam Niemi
Special for Second Half
IRON RIVER – The West Iron County girls teamed up with the boys to defend home turf during the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 2 Finals on Thursday.
The Wykons girls carded a 433 for team honors. Second-place Mya Grubbs scored the Wykons' best score with a 98 behind leading medalist Payton Dube of Hancock (79).
The West Iron boys' team also won to key a hometown sweep at George Young Resort, located about 10 miles east of Iron River.
The Finals title was the first for the girls since 2005.
"Exceptionally proud of both boys and girls," West Iron County head coach Mark Martini said. "To come back and fight like that is an attribute not everybody has."
Crystal Falls Forest Park (448) took second place, followed by Munising (475) and Bark River-Harris (556).
Hancock, Newberry, Norway and St. Ignace did not field enough golfers for a team score.
West Iron's Anna Malmquist scored a 99, tied for third with St. Ignace's Olivia Champion.
Sarah Premo was Forest Park's leading golfer. She medaled at fifth place with a 104.
"They didn't get in a lot of trouble," Forest Park head coach Patrick Sommers said of his team. "They kept the ball in play, and they played very consistent golf."
Martini said there wasn't a key moment to the Wykons' win. It was just about building and maintaining momentum among the flights.
"It was just kind of switched different times, different holes, different places," he said. "When they came in, I was really amazed they scored that well in the last seven holes."
And, last but not least, Martini said, limiting mistakes is key at a tricky course like Young's. Many tee-offs Thursday ended with the ball echoing off tree trunks among the forest-lined fairways.
"The woods are bad here," Martini said.
Martini, who knew the man for which the course is named, said the millionaire Young designed each hole from inspiration by holes he played on courses around the world.
The No. 3 at Young's, for instance, is a par-3, 138 yards and flanked by bunkers which hug the edge of the green. But the depth perception of the hole from the tee box on a hill well above the green can easily complicate a young golfer's swing.
On Thursday, it did. Like many of the other 17 holes. Thus, Young's is a course that isn't about gaining ground as it is limiting mistakes.
"If you can play off the tee, you're going to help yourself out," Norway head coach Joby Sullivan said. "With the big greens, it really allows for that second shot on the par-4s. The greens are rolling – they're really nice as well."
While Norway didn't qualify for a team score, the Knights were led by Mary Slagle's 121 to finish 13th.
Munising's low scorer was Taylor Downs at 105. Teammates Sydney Curtis (117) and Olivia Koenig (118) took 10th and 11th, respectively.
Priya Rao led Newberry with a 125. Brylea Johnson led Bark River-Harris with a 128.
PHOTOS: (Top) Hancock's Peyton Dube fires an approach during her championship-winning round Thursday. (Middle) The West Iron County girls and boys title-winning teams. (Photos by Adam Niemi.)
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.)