The top ten Oakland County teams are listed below. One team ranked too low will be featured on MIPrepZone this weekend.
BOYS GOLF PREVIEW: Defending state champion Brother Rice headlines area list of contenders in 2013
Birmingham Brother Rice poses with the state championship
trophy after winning the Division 1 state tournament last season at
Grand Valley State University. The Warriors begin their charge for a
repeat as the top team in Oakland County entering 2013.Until some nice days finally appeared this past week, it’s been pretty much been nothing but practice sessions in domes and delaying actual tryouts until teams could get outside.
But matches and tournaments did consistently start to be played this past week, so maybe the worst is behind area teams and players.
In light of that, here is a look at Oakland County’s top boys golf teams heading into the 2013 season.
1. Birmingham Brother Rice — It certainly not anything different to see the Warriors at the top spot entering a given season since they typically have one of the more talented teams year in and year out. What is different is that for the first time in 14 years, Brother Rice gets the luxury of defending a state title. After years of disappointing finishes at the state tournament, Brother Rice finally broke through and won its first state crown since 1998 at the Division 1 tournament last June. A repeat is possible since Brother Rice returns first team all-state golfer Kyle Gaines, a senior who has signed with Detroit Mercy, and junior Jeremy Ball, who was honorable mention all-state last season. Senior Jeremy Glod and junior Joey Hildebrand are no slouches either and are capable of leading the team at any given tournament or match.
2. Novi Detroit Catholic Central — Longtime head coach Bill Hayes may have retired over the offseason, but the same quality team should still exist at Catholic Central under new head coach Mark Anderson. State champions in 2010, the Shamrocks certainly have the ability to reclaim that spot as the state’s best. Senior Charlie Green is entering his fourth year on varsity and is one of the state’s best, but he’ll have plenty of support in the lineup. Senior Corey Szmadzinski has signed with Dayton, senior Austin Kolezar was medalist at Monday’s Holiday Inn Express Invitational that had an outstanding field, senior Preston Dooley has signed with Elon University in North Carolina and sophomore Glen Tiot had a solid freshman season last year.
3. Lake Orion — The Dragons were the team to beat in the OAA Red before the season started, and they validated that this past Monday by winning the first league tournament at Boulder Pointe. Lots of experience is back for a Lake Orion team that has had back-to-back heartbreaking finishes at regionals that prevented them from qualifying for the state tournament. Seniors Alex Waelchli and Mason Gorris are four-year varsity players who were both honorable mention all-state players last season, and junior Griffin Beeler shot a 2-under par round of 70 on Monday and is entering his third year on varsity. A deep top-five will likely be rounded out by junior Ben Gorcyca and sophomore Schuyler Werth, both of whom played regularly on varsity last season.
4. Novi — The defending county champion, the Wildcats have the means to defend that title and qualify for the state tournament this year with an experienced and talented group returning. Senior Brad Kozinski and junior Garret Buckley form as good of a 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup as anyone has. If Novi can get consistent play from seniors Jason Carless and Mike Wenzl and sophomore Bryan Fegert, the sky is the limit.
5. Rochester Adams — Just like Lake Orion, Adams barely missed out on qualifying for the state tournament last year but has plenty of returning talent that will not only help it contend in the OAA Red, but make a serious bid to qualify for the state tournament. Senior Eric Busa is back after missing regionals last year with an injury, Brandon Barrows is one of the state’s best sophomores and is coming off an impactful freshman season, and senior Marcus Robinson also returns to the top-five.
6. Stoney Creek — The Cougars proved by finishing second at the first OAA Red tournament last week that they’ll be a team to be reckoned with, and that should continue to be the case all season. Stoney Creek has a terrific duo at the top of the lineup in senior Spencer Lenzion and junior Michael Doyle. Senior Richie Ingle and junior Michael Linihan are also capable of shooting low scores on a given day.
7. Clarkston — A team that doesn’t have a true “star,” Clarkston will have a leg up on competitors though in that it has a deep squad that can get contributions from as many as eight golfers. At the OAA Red tournament last week, five golfers shot no worse than 83. Jack Alli, Alec Genter and Cam Krausman are the seniors on the team, Nick Badgley and T.J. Craven are two juniors who will contribute, while Brendon Graham, Andrew Gibson and Mitch Rogowski comprise a promising core of sophomores.
8. Lakeland — The Eagles have talent that can make them fly far, but the only problem is that qualifying for the state tournament is such a difficult task with teams like Brother Rice and Catholic Central in their regional. Still, Lakeland can be a quality team behind a good crop of juniors in Jake Kneen, Alex Kleckner and Justin Pahl.
9. Rochester — Gone to graduation is Eric Shyu, one of the state’s best players last year, but the cupboard isn’t completely bare for Rochester because there is a solid top-four in place. Michael Busse is one of the state’s best freshman who will make an immediate impact, and juniors Mike Murri, Scott Difilippo and Ludovic Clavete-LaChapele bring the experience and the threat of low scores each time they tee it up. Depth behind those four is a concern for Paul Marti, so those four will have to perform well at key tournaments later in the season.
10. Birmingham Seaholm — The Maples could’ve really been a threat to qualify for the Division 1 state tournament if senior Francesco Ruffino, who won the Mr. Golf award as a sophomore and qualified for the U.S. Amateur after his freshman year, was in the fold. But Ruffino left the team midway through his junior season last year to concentrate on playing in amateur tournaments, and he decided not to come out and play high school golf this spring. Regardless, Seaholm will still be solid with seniors Tim Pearce and Alec Tropea back for their fourth years on varsity. Sophomore Alex Krivan will also make big contributions.
Others (in alphabetical order)
Auburn Hills Oakland Christian, which won the Division 4 state tournament two years ago and finished third last year, hopes to once again be the area’s top small school behind juniors John VanNoord, Aaron Kostich, Spencer Haupert and Austin Miller.
Birmingham Groves returns a solid group of veterans led by senior Calvin Greer, who was honorable mention all-county last season. Juniors Johnny Reid and Jordan Bohannon and senior Kenny O’Hanlon round out the top-four.
Birmingham Detroit Country Day will have one of the area’s top golfers back in junior Rishi Patel, who was all-state honorable mention as a sophomore last season.
Farmington could be a team that’ll be a factor in big tournaments behind a good core of juniors in Matt Goldi, Nick Heffron and Matt LeGault.
Milford will be a team that is sophomore-dominated. Sophomore Jeffrey Clemence will likely be the team’s best player.
North Farmington will have to move on to life without all-stater Max Kollin, but the Raiders do have a couple of promising sophomores in Austin Alexander, who qualified individually for the Division 1 state tournament last year, and Ryan Masell.
Oxford lost some quality player to graduation, but the Wildcats do return a fine junior in J.J. Lewis, who is entering his third year on varsity.
Another team that can contend in the OAA Red is Troy, which has one of the area’s best juniors back in Christian Harnishfeger, and sophomore coming off a good freshman season in Manak Singh.
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