LocalSportsJournal.com
The Spring Lake girls golf team is more than a two-time state champion.
It’s also the best in all four high school divisions.
The Lakers wrapped up their second consecutive Division 3 state title on Saturday with a two-day score of 661 at the Forest Akres West Golf Course in East Lansing.
The Lakers cruised past the competition, finishing 70 strokes better than second-place Goodrich, which shot a 731. The Lakers’ score was also the best among the state champion teams in all four divisions, with the closest being Division 2 champion Birmingham Seaholm, which shot a 664.
Laker Coach George Bitner admitted that his team knew early on Saturday that they had mathematically clinched the state title.
“They don’t know how to coast,” Bitner said. “We did this on the hardest of all the courses anyone played on this weekend in any division. The girls were just focusing on winning and it didn’t make a difference how many strokes they won by.”
The Lakers also had an individual state champion in junior Anna Kramer, who shot a 77 on both days to win the tournament. Her 154 score was three strokes better than Carleton Airport’s Olivia Reed, who finished with a 157.
Kramer started Saturday’ action with a 41 on the front nine, but heated up to shoot even part on the back nine.
“She (Kramer) was very focused on the back side,” said Bitner. “Three years ago she took third place, last year it was second and this year first. So she has progressed each year even though people thought she was a senior two years ago. She keeps showing up.
“It was a little easier than I thought it would be. They did as usual. They didn’t slack off even though they knew how far they were ahead. They did their job.”
Kayla Krueger also showed well for Spring Lake, finishing in third place overall. The senior golfer turned in rounds of 76 and 82 for a 158 total.
Madelyn Nelson (169) shot rounds of 84 and 85 while senior Emma Conroy (186) filled in the fourth spot for the Lakers with an 88 and 98. Freshman Hanna Klein finished with a 195 on rounds of 103 and 92.
