Seaholm and Avondale take two of three Oakland County Division 2 spots

Video Stories by Roy J. Akers 

Team: http://youtu.be/uJVkQkSJHpM

Individual available- http://youtu.be/xBhgLjQfIbA

Leaderboard at the bottom

GIRLS GOLF: Rags-to-riches Avondale qualifies to state tournament for first time ever Heavily favored Seaholm takes first

By KEITH DUNLAP
@kd2578

HOLLY – If there ever were a time where a third-place finish made a team feel like champions, this was it for the Auburn Hills Avondale girls golf team.

Avondale entered this season having been a downtrodden program in years past and entered Wednesday’s Division 2 regional tournament at Heather Highlands having never qualified for the state tournament.

After spending the whole year turning around the whole downtrodden program part by having unprecedented success, Avondale fittingly followed it up my making history at the regional tournament.

For the first time ever, Avondale will head to the state tournament after nabbing the third and qualifying spot with a final team score of 367.

Birmingham Seaholm won the tournament with a 331 and Fenton came in second at 353, but those results were probably expected as far back as when the season started.

Seaholm is one of the favorites to win the state tournament, while Fenton is a solid team that could also do well at Michigan State’s Forest Akers East next weekend.

On the other hand, Avondale completed a stunning turnaround that was not at all expected at the beginning of the year, making the tears and smiles after the tournament all the more heartwarming.

“When I took the coaching job, I didn’t know that much about Avondale, let alone what to expect,” said Avondale first-year head coach Andrea Martin. “As a team, they have grown so much in the past month-and-a-half and it has been so much fun to watch. It has been an awesome team to coach. They are probably the group that deserves it most. I haven’t been here all the other years, but I can tell you those girls have worked hard to get to states.’”

Individually, Holly sophomore Paige Johnson shot an 85 and Ortonville Brandon junior Kelsey Edwards shot an 86 to claim two of the three individual spots to compete at the state tournament that go to players on non-qualifying teams, along with Kelly Woods (90) of St. Clair Shores Lakeview.

At the beginning of the year, Martin set a goal for her team to shoot 360 or lower at a tournament. Last month, the Yellow Jackets blew that away by shooting 328 at Pontiac Municipal to easily win the Oakland County Division II tournament.

That seemed to give Avondale a major shot of confidence that gave birth to the belief that qualifying for the state tournament was a realistic objective.

“I think that set the bar there,” Avondale junior Mackenzie Blomberg said. “That was a huge confident builder and showed us that we could really make it happen.”

Martin admitted she had a sleepless night before the start of Wednesday’s regional, knowing the third spot was very much up for grabs, although she was rightfully worried about a Birmingham Marian team that is typically as solid as they come.

But Avondale comfortably got the third spot thanks mainly to a 79 from Blomberg and an 87 from junior Courtney Morton.

Avondale junior Caroilne Riley added a 96 on a Heather Highlands course that is long, hilly and filled with big greens that aren’t easy to putt.

Marian ended up taking fourth with a 388, but was 21 shots behind Avondale.

“As a team, we started off a little rough,” Blomberg said. “But then we started to come together. Our coach had an expectation. We blew that expectation out of the water and then she threw out going to states’. The third spot was open. We came in here with the thought that we were going to take it and we did. We’re pretty excited.”

Understandably, being third place never felt so good for Avondale.



Division 2 girls golf regional

(at Heather Highlands, par 72)

TEAMS (top-3 advance to state tournament) – Birmingham Seaholm 331; Fenton 353; Auburn Hills Avondale 367; Birmingham Marian 388; Holly 391; Grosse Pointe North 396; Ortonville Brandon 406; St. Clair Shores Lakeview 423; Birmingham Groves 425; Berkley 443.

TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS – Samantha Moss (Fenton) 78; Mackenzie Blomberg (Avondale) 79; Megan Lam (Seaholm) 80; Jordan Michalak (Seaholm) 80; Taylor Prybylowicz (Fenton) 82; Allegra Cunningham (Seaholm) 85; Paige Johnson (Holly) 85; Kelsey Edwards (Brandon) 86; Rylie Miller (Seaholm) 86; Courtney Morton (Avondale) 87.

QUALIFYING INDIVIDUALS (not on qualifying teams) – Paige Johnson (Holly) 85; Kelsey Edwards (Brandon) 86; Kelly Woods (Lakeview) 90.

• 10/9/2013 - 10/9/2013 | High School Girls Division
• Heather Highlands | Girls - Regional Tees
• Par: 72 / Yardage: 5215 | Slope: 108 / Rating: 65.8

Leaderboard
Division: High School Girls Team View
	Pos	Total	Player	Team	Class	Today	Thru	R1	Strokes
+	1	+6	Moss, Samantha	Fenton	2014	+6	F	78	78
+	2	+7	Blomberg, Mackenzie	Avondale	2015	+7	F	79	79
+	T3	+8	Michalak, Jordan	Birmingham Seaholm	2016	+8	F	80	80
+	T3	+8	Lam, Megan	Birmingham Seaholm	2014	+8	F	80	80
+	5	+10	Prybylowicz, Tailer	Fenton	2014	+10	F	82	82
+	T6	+13	Cunningham, Allegra	Birmingham Seaholm	2016	+13	F	85	85
+	T6	+13	Johnson, Paige	Holly	2016	+13	F	85	85
+	T8	+14	Edwards, Kelsey	Brandon	2015	+14	F	86	86
+	T8	+14	Miller, Rylie	Birmingham Seaholm	2014	+14	F	86	86
+	10	+15	Morton, Courtney	Avondale	2015	+15	F	87	87
+	T11	+18	Greene, Jamie	Birmingham Seaholm	2015	+18	F	90	90
+	T11	+18	Woods, Kelly	St. Claire Shores Lakeview	2014	+18	F	90	90
+	13	+20	Klein, Gretchen	Marian	2014	+20	F	92	92
+	T14	+21	Gallagher, Liz	Grosse Pointe North	2016	+21	F	93	93
+	T14	+21	Quasarono, Katie	Wylie E. Groves	2014	+21	F	93	93
+	16	+23	Brown, Maddie	Fenton	2014	+23	F	95	95
+	17	+24	Riley, Caroline	Avondale	2015	+24	F	96	96
+	18	+25	Currier, Caroline	Marian	2016	+25	F	97	97
+	T19	+26	Cummings, Sarah	Fenton	2016	+26	F	98	98
+	T19	+26	Devine, Lauren	Marian	2014	+26	F	98	98
+	T21	+27	Yeacker, Emily	Brandon	2014	+27	F	99	99
+	T21	+27	Vens, Madison	Grosse Pointe North	2014	+27	F	99	99
+	T21	+27	Pepper, Jenna	Holly	2016	+27	F	99	99
+	T21	+27	Moses, Corinne	Berkley	2014	+27	F	99	99