MONTAGUE — Montague's depth has been its greatest strength all season, and there was no better example of it than Wednesday's regional championship, the fourth in Wildcat history and their first in Division 3. The team shot a 367 to best second-place Whitehall by nine strokes.
The team's top seed, Addi Smith, played solidly with a 91, and No. 2 Brynlee Kessler bounced back from a poor start to stabilize things and score a 101. However, the No. 3 seed, Marguerite O'Connell, seized the lead around the halfway mark and held it until the final two holes - and even when that lead got away from her at the end, it was the No. 4, Molly Mulder, that was there to grab it. Mulder shot an 87, with two birdies, and then made par to defeat Grant's Kyra Zerlaut in a one-hole playoff to earn medalist honors.
"Saturday (at Katke Golf Course) was her worst round of the year, and then we talked last night about just staying calm," Montague coach Phil Kerr, who was also named regional coach of the year Wednesday, said of Mulder. "I told her last night before she left, 'I need GMAA Molly,' because the last two GMAAs, it's not just that she's performed (well), but she just carries herself differently. She had that mindset today. She just stayed calm."
Kerr cited an early hole on which Mulder shot an 8 but had a series of bad breaks after hitting three shots he felt were of high quality. The soft-spoken Mulder didn't let that affect her and calmly made par on the next hole.
"I just told myself that they were all good shots and the hole just didn't go my way, and then bounced back and hit all the same shots in the next hole," Mulder said.
O'Connell had an 88 to tie for third place, ending her round with an 8 and a 7 - a sour ending to what was to that point a spectacular performance that included two birdies.
"An amazing day and definitely a learning experience," Kerr said. "You don't know how to come home with the lead until you've done it before, and usually it goes the way it went. It's really hard to hold a lead in a big event like this...She's been playing the best on the team the last couple of weeks, so her performance is not a surprise. I know she really badly wanted to win, but the consolation is that one of her teammates ended up winning."
The Wildcats are used to big-meet pressures, and those definitely existed heading into Wednesday due to the caliber of teams playing. In addition to the Vikings, Sparta, Ludington and Big Rapids entered the day with their own high hopes; Sparta ended up taking the third team qualifying spot.
"We knew if we had an off day today, forget winning, there was a chance we could not get out," Kerr said. "There was definitely some anxiety, I'm not going to lie, for the girls and for me, but we're kind of used to it. We know how to play with that anxiety."
Whitehall, which began the day ranked No. 6 to Montague's No. 2, also knew quality play would be necessary to reach state. They got it, with Kelsie McClure leading the charge. McClure took an early lead in the individual standings and finished solidly to record an 88. Riley Shafer shot a 92 and was in a three-way tie for eighth. Avarie Bentz shot a 96 and Kadee TenBrock managed a 100.
"I think we did really well," Whitehall coach Bill Borgman said. "That's pretty close to what we've been shooting. I think our best is 355 this year. We played out of our mind that day. 370 was our goal and we were very close to it."
The Wildcats will enter the state meet hoping to make a run, though top-ranked NorthPointe Christian and Lansing Catholic, old nemeses from Montague's Division 4 days, will have plenty to say about it. Kerr said the 'Cats have not yet gotten all four of their top players' best on the same day; if it happens at state, anything could happen.
"We're just looking to to go and have a good performance, and then we'll see what happens," Kerr said.
