Four area teams head on to the big show
Sometime soon it will be history.
But until then, they’re writing it.
Right here, right now.
Heading into this weekend’s MHSAA state golf finals the mid-michigan area is well-represented with four teams competing in Chippewa Hills, Mt. Pleasant, Shepherd and Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart Academy.
Moreover, there’s a lot of history therein. As it stands Chippewa Hills won the first team regional title in program history last Tuesday at Eagle Glen in Farwell as it finished first with a score of 398. Shepherd also advanced to the season-finale as it was runner-up with a 405. SHA was third with a 419, advancing also.
Mt. Pleasant advanced as it was second at its home Division 2 regional last Tuesday with a 414, four strokes behind regional champion Petoskey.
Moreover, on an individual level, Mt. Pleasant’s Ashley Trost and Rilee Burgan both had great regionals as Trost took home medalist honors with an 83 while Burgan posted a career-best 85 to land second.
Shepherd’s Madde Skeel also claimed D4 medalist honors with a 91 at Eagle Glen.
In short last week was a great week for obvious reasons, but it’s done and gone. Now the focus is on the here and now and the not-so- distance-future.
Mt. Pleasant Oilers
One year ago the Oilers advanced to the D2 state finals and placed 18th as a team with a two-day score of 833. This year, well, the goal is to improve on that.
“What we’re looking for is improvement from last year,” said Oiler coach Aaron Gardner. “Whether that’s top-15...we just want to improve.”
In the 2019 finals Trost, Burgan and Caroline Brown all competed, thus the big stage is not so new to them. However, it will be new to sophomore Erica Narr and Kaylor Mcintosh.
“My goal is to play the course the best I can,” said Trost, a senior who also carries a 4.2 GPA. “I think the team definitely has a chance of doing better, but it’s all about playing our best individual game. If we all do that, we can improve quite a bit.”
On paper the Oilers are not exactly favorites to finish in the top-10, yet they’ve been flying under the radar all year, thus why not let it rip and see where it goes in the season-finale?
Chippewa Hillswarriors
One year ago the Warriors advanced as a team to the state finals for the first-time ever and finished 14th in the D4 finals after being seeded 18th.
This year, well, they’re looking to improve on that too.
“We’d like to be in the top-10 and if we could get int the top-five I’d be ecstatic,” said long-time Chippewa Hills coach Lenny Starck. “We have an opportunity and we’re going to enjoy the moment.”
Statistically speaking the Warriors, who finished second in the CSAA behind Big Rapids, have the kind of team to make a run as difference between the sixth seed at the finals and the 13th seed is less than 20 strokes. Thus, if thewarriors put it together they could be in line to make some noise.