The Huron girls’ golf team fired a team score of 744 and finished in 12th place at the Division 1 MHSAA State Finals at Katke Golf Course at Ferris State University on Friday and Saturday. The River Rats carded a 384 on day one and then dropped 24 strokes with a 360 on day two to finish two strokes behind Brighton and 10 strokes better than Clarkston.
As expected, Northville dominated the tournament and finished first with a team score of 646. The Mustangs, who finished sixth last year, carded a 319 at Polo Fields in Ann Arbor last week to win their Regional by 39 strokes. One interesting thing to note about the champions – Northville had four players all shoot the same score (162). Talk about consistency at the top of the scorecard.
Caledonia was a distant second with a 692 followed by Macomb Dakota (703) and Rochester Adams (704).
Okemos senior Alena Li had the best round of the weekend, firing scores of 73 and 73 to finish with a 146, four strokes better than runner-up Tula Puzzuoli of Romeo.
Skyline’s Olivia Housler also qualified for the tournament after her strong showing in Regionals. The freshman carded an 81 on day one and 92 on day two to finish with a 173. It was a great finish to an amazing season for the Skyline ninth-grader.
Huron Coach Patrick Kelly was thrilled with the showing of his team – it was Huron’s first trip to the State Finals since 2004.
“We have had some individuals make it between that time but not the whole team,” said Kelly. “Our goal was to make states this year and we did. Once we were there we set a new goal of making the top 10 which we were close to but looking forward to breaking that goal next year with the core of the team returning next season.
“Hopefully, if we can add a couple freshmen next season we will be in really good shape for a good run at making states for the next few years.”
The River Rats were led by Jennifer Tang. The junior fired an 85 on day one and then an 81 in round two to finish with a 166. Sophomore Ellise Baidel carded a 101 and then an 89 on day two to shoot a 190 for Huron.
Senior Emmi Conrad shot a 102 on the opening day and then dropped 12 strokes for a 90 on day two and finished with a 192. Sophomore Tia Tarnal shot a first-round 96 and then a 101 for a score of 197.
Junior Asia Shi played the opening round and carded a 116. Junior Jessica Wu played the second round and shot a 100.
