MHSAA State Finals
MHSAA State Finals: Div. 1
By Todd VanSickle
BIG RAPIDS – Detroit Catholic Central clawed its way back to claim its third-consecutive golf championship at Ferris State’s Katke Golf Course. The Shamrocks finished with a score of 590 over the two-day 36-hole tournament.
“We started the day nine strokes back,” said Detroit Catholic Central coach Mike Fras. “We had to chase Brighton and Brother Rice, and we know how good they are. Everything really worked. We felt the pressure, but we handled it.”
DCC’s top placer was senior Jack Whitmore, who finished with a two-round 145. He shot a 69 on Saturday, with an eagle on hole 18 during the second round.
“I holed out from about 65 yards for eagle,” said Whitmore. “It was crazy. … We have won it in the past, so we knew we had it in us. We knew that we needed a low one today. All day the vibes were high.”
Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice placed runner up with an equally-astounding team score of 592. Senior Rocco Iacobelli was Rice’s top golfer with a 145 after carding a 71 on the final day.
The individual champion came down to a 3-man playoff. Rochester Adams freshman Ben Vento, Flushing’s AJ Gasper and Midland Dow’s David Han ended the first 36 holes tied at 142.
On the first playoff hole, Vento and Gasper each chipped onto the green coming within three feet of the hole. Han also landed on the green, but missed his 30-foot putt. Vento was next up and sank his short putt in front of a large crowd of fans and golfers who gathered to watch. Gasper was the last to putt, but he narrowly missed the hole giving the Rochester Adams youngster the win.
“I think this is the biggest tournament I have ever played in,” Vento said. “I don’t think I have ever experienced a crowd like that. My team was cheering pretty big for me. I really appreciated it. I kind of blacked out on all of my shots. On my drive, I just swung as hard as I could. The chip was pretty good and the putt caught the left edge of the hole.”
MHSAA State Finals: Div. 2
By Keith Dunlop
ALLENDALE — Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood boys golf coach John Minnich skipped the ‘motivational’ speech to his team after the first day of the Division 2 Finals at The Meadows at Grand Valley State.
Instead, with the team trailing by 12 shots going into the final round, Minnich resorted to simple math as the primary message.
“I said, ‘We were 15 back (after the first day) last year,”’ Minnich said. “We’re only 12 back. That’s three shots per player. That’s nothing. I said, ‘You guys are good. We can make up three shots per player.’”
Cranbrook shot a sizzling second-day score of 292 to rally and win its first Finals championship in boys golf since 2014. The Cranes finished with a two-day score of 602, four shots ahead of 2025 champion Grand Rapids Christian and five better than Grand Rapids Catholic Central.
East Grand Rapids junior JP Levan and DeWitt senior Justin Steinman finished with identical 1-under-par scores after 36 holes, creating a playoff to determine the winner. Steinman won on the second playoff hole with birdie.
MHSAA State Finals: Div. 3
BATTLE CREEK – Not even a little rain during the final eight holes of Friday’s first round, nor two accidental fire alarms going off in the middle of the night at the team's hotel could deter the Grand Rapids West Catholic Falcons from achieving their goal at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Final.
West Catholic fired a team score of 311 over the final 18 holes at Beford Valley Golf Course to take home the first-place trophy, for the school’s first time.
"I know we had an individual win a state title before, but as far as I can remember this is the only time we've won state as a team,” Grand Rapids West Catholic coach Daniel Karamol said. "We started working back in November when the snow was starting to fly.”
West Catholic rode the solid play of seniors Owen Kotowski (78-75, 153), Alex Bartish (74-80, 154) and Callahan Peterson (85-79, 164) along with a career weekend from freshman Brendan Morgan (77-77, 154) and sophomore Aaden Stellini (87-86, 173).
The individual medalist honor went to Elk Rapids' sophomore Blake Springstead after he recorded back-to-back rounds of 73 and ended his first appearance at the Finals with a low total of 146.
"I missed qualifying for state my freshman year by one stroke and it kind've upset me,” Springstead said. “I used that as motivation, and I was really focused at Regionals this time and won that by seven strokes.
“I play around 10 junior tournaments each summer. I think wedges are my strongest clubs, but I've really been working on improving my drives and being more calm on the course. It feels really great to win state as a sophomore, but I hope to win it a couple more times.”
Jackson Lumen Christi’s Brandon Kulka (73-74, 147) finished in second place.
