Regional champions
South Lyon captures ninth straight Division 2 title
One thing South Lyon golf coach Dan Skatzka knows he can count on with his girls is their ability to putt.
When he found out that the greens were recently aerated at Farmington Hills Golf Club — just days before the Division 2 regional tournament — he wondered how that might affect his golfers.
“We spend an enormous amount of time putting. It’s really our strength,” said Skatzka, whose team competed in Friday’s tournament. “They aerated it a couple days ago, so all of our putts were bouncing and going everywhere. It took away a lot of the advantage that we count on. I guess I shouldn’t be complaining. We shot 324. We’re happy with that.”
As they should be. The Lions rolled past the field, claiming the school’s ninth- consecutive regional championship. Skatzka’s team claimed the top three individual spots and four of the top six. All five of his golfers finished among the top 10 as the team once again qualified for the state finals.
Senior Katie Potter earned tournament medalist honors with her round of 76. She was four shots clear of her nearest competitor— which happened to be her teammate, sophomore Gabriella Tapp.
“I was playing well but the only problem was I had five
3-putts," said Potter, who also won a regional title a year ago. "The conditions were really tough with all the sand on the greens. But I hit a lot of fairways, I hit a lot of greens. I could have let it go because I was re-ally frustrated. But I was able to keep it together. (Shooting) 76, it's not ex-actly what I want. But if I'm medalist, I'm medal-ist."
Tapp, the defending in-dividual state champion, shot an 80 to finish run-ner-up. South Lyon senior Bella Campbell was third overall after carding an 82. Junior Sophia Joseph (86) was sixth overall, while teammate Logan Foust finished 10th overall with a round of 95.
"The girls just work so hard," Skatzka said. "I know everybody says that, but these girls have worked hard all year. They were doing double sessions the first two weeks un-til school was in session. They don't back off at all from all the hard work.
"I was really happy that our 34-5 girls all played really darn good."
Port Huron Northern finished runner-up with a team score of 371. Ju-nior Madison Bajis, a re-gional champion on this same course a year ago, was fourth overall on Friday. She shot an 83. Also scoring for the Huskies were Karly Ward, Madelynne Hemby and Megan Schumacher. Northern will be making its second straight trip to the finals.
Joining South Lyon and Port Huron Northern up in East Lansing will be Farmington Hills Mercy, which shot a 381— good for third place. Sophomore Chloe Fig led the way with an 85, which was fifth-best on the day. Leah Glover and Madelyn Juday were next, shooting a 96 and 97 for the Marlins. Gabby Crespi had a 103 to round out the team’s scoring.
Qualifying for states as individuals were Avantika Putta of North Farmington (89), Evelyn Stahl of Grosse Pointe North (90) and Ria Narang of Auburn Hills Avondale (93).
Division 2 Regional Golf Tournament
(at Farmington Hills Golf Club, par 72)
TEAM SCORES: South Lyon 324, Port Huron Northern 371, Farmington Hills Mercy 381, South Lyon East 393, St. Clair Shores Lakeview 407, North Farmington 412, Grosse Pointe North 416, Birmingham Groves 430, Berkley 439, Holly 452, Auburn Hills Avondale 456, Walled LakeWestern N/A, Port Huron NTS
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS: Katie Potter, South Lyon 76, Gabriella Tapp, South Lyon 80, Bella Campbell, South Lyon 82, Madison Bajis, Port Huron Northern 83, Chloe Vig, Mercy 85, Sophia Joseph, South Lyon 86, Avantika Putta, North Farmington 89, Evelyn Stahl, Grosse Pointe North 90, Ria Narang, Avondale 93, Logan Foust, South Lyon 95