Blue Devils compete at UP Golf Finals, finish 9th

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The Sault High boys golf team, includes from left to right: Carson Kronemeyer, Easton Fitzner, Reilly Cox, Odin Medrick, coach Doug Harkema and Jackson Gervasio.
The Sault High boys golf team, includes from left to right: Carson Kronemeyer, Easton Fitzner, Reilly Cox, Odin Medrick, coach Doug Harkema and Jackson Gervasio.

BARK RIVER – The Sault High boys and girls golf teams both finished ninth at the MHSAA Division I U.P. Finals Wednesday, played at The Island Resort and Casino's courses Sage Run and Sweetgrass.

Jackson Gervasio paced the Blue Devils with an 86, while Carson Kronemeyer shot 88. Reilly Cox shot 95, Easton Fitzner 97 and Odin Medrick 101.

The Houghton Gremlins won the Division I boys meet with 329 at Sage Run Golf Course. Following in second were the Marquette Redmen just five strokes back at 334. They were followed by Calumet 337, Kingsford 337, Escanaba 341, Westwood 347, Negaunee 352, Menominee 362, Sault Ste. Marie 366, Iron Mountain 386, Baraga 393, Gladstone 446 and Ironwood 487.

Menominee’s Brady Badker earning the individual U.P. Finals Championship. For Badker, it has been a senior year of second places as he earned second in the Great Northern Conference and played a vital part of the Maroons’ basketball defense in their run to the Breslin Center that fell just 10 points shy of a state title.

That changed Wednesday.

“This one feels good to get off my chest,” said Badker. “The last two things I cared about most were basketball and golf and was runner-up, runner-up. But, this one was kind of the one I wanted really bad because last year I came up short.”

Badker finished three strokes ahead of Houghton’s Marino Pisani, shooting a 75 to Pisani’s 78. Cole Myllyla of Kingsford, Cooper Pigeon of Iron Mountain and Tyler Annala of Westwood all finished tied for third with 79s.

For the Gremlins, it was only their second time on the Sage Run course.

“I’m really proud of the kids. We had never seen the course until yesterday,” said Houghton coach Corey Markham. “We came down to do a practice round and the wind was howling like 30, 35-mile an hour winds. So it was hard to get a read on how you're playing the course in those kind of winds. But, they got to see the course and how it was laid out so that really was great.

“They showed up. I told them going in if we could average between 80 and 85, we’d be right in the mix. We had Marino (Pisani) go down into the 70s and the rest were all between 80 and 85. So, I’m really proud of how they played today.”

The Sault High girls team, pictured from left to right: Ava Stark, coach Mark Pingatore, Grace Swanson, Alexis Landis and Elizabeth Ohman.
The Sault High girls team, pictured from left to right: Ava Stark, coach Mark Pingatore, Grace Swanson, Alexis Landis and Elizabeth Ohman.

The Escanaba Eskymos won the girls U.P. Division 1 Finals at Sweetgrass Golf Course Wednesday.

Esky had four of the top 12 finishes and won with a team score of 411, six strokes ahead of Negaunee. Marquette was third with 422, followed by Westwood 431, Menominee 440, Kingsford 444, Houghton 499 and Calumet 562, Sault High 575 and Ironwood 609.

Elizabeth Ohman led Sault High with a score of 120, while Grace Swanson shot 130. Ava Stark finished with 162 and Lexi Landis 163.

Rachel Niskanen of Negaunee won medalist honors with an 82, one shot ahead of runner-up Madison Derusha of Menominee. Jillian Koski of Westwood was third with 89, Cierra Scott of Escanaba was fourth with 90 and Redeit Husing of Iron Mountain was fifth with 93.

(Edtior's note: Todd Rose of the Escanaba Daily Press contributed to this story)

This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Blue Devils compete at UP Golf Finals