Muskegon Catholic’s Powers wins individual city golf title, Mona Shores captures another team championship [VIDEO]

LocalSportsJournal.com

When you think about champions at the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association City Golf Tournament, Mona Shores usually comes to mind.

There’s good reason for that, because the Sailors have won 16 of the last 17 boys team championships, with the latest title in that incredible streak coming on Wednesday.

Collin Powers putts from the fringe for Muskegon Catholic. Photo/Jason Goorman

But a new individual champion was also crowned at this year’s tournament, and he’s not from Mona Shores.

Muskegon Catholic sophomore Collin Powers shot a 71 at Stonegate Golf Club in Twin Lake to win the tournament by two strokes.

“It feels awesome,” said Powers, 16, who earned All-State golf honors last year as a freshman. “I knew I was good enough to win an event like this, but with (defending city champion) Mitchell White out there, and all the other Shores kids being as consistent as they are, it’s pretty tough competition.

“To know I can compete at a high level with guys like that, it’s pretty special.”

Powers had to beat out a host of Mona Shores golfers to take the title.

Mitchell White chips for the green during the GMAA city golf tournament. Photo/Jason Goorman

The Sailors’ Glen Kastelic and Riley Duff tied for second place with rounds of 73, White took fourth with a 75, and Grant Norris finished sixth with a 77.

Other individuals in the top 10 were North Muskegon’s Will Mierz (5th place, 76), Reeths-Puffer’s Ryan Kooiman (7th place, 78), North Muskegon’s Mitch Edick (8th place, 80), North Muskegon’s Connor McEvoy (9th place, 81) and Reeths-Puffer’s Andy DeYoung (10th place, 82).

Of course high school golf is a team game, and when it comes to that, nobody in the area touches Mona Shores.

The Sailors, with so many players clustered near the top of the individual standings, won another title with ease. They shot a collective 298, 24 strokes ahead of second place North Muskegon (322).

Reeths-Puffer was third with 332, followed by Muskegon Catholic (360), Western Michigan Christian (362), Whitehall (366), Montague (373), Ravenna (375), Fruitport (405) and Orchard View (431).

North Muskegon’s Will Mierz putts on No. 4 at Stonegate Golf Club. Photo/Jason Goorman

Mona Shores’ low scorer, A,J. Ringelberg, finished a very respectable 12th place with a score of 81.

While the Sailors were thrilled to win another title, they didn’t feel like they shot as well as they could have.

“It’s a win,” said Mona Shores Coach Scott Volkmann. “This is always on our list of goals each year, but our kids were disappointed with their performance, to be quite honest.

“Last year we shot a school record 288. We had the exact same lineup today, the golf course was playing better, but we were 10 shots higher.”

Collin Kolbe for Reeths-Puffer. Photo/Jason Goorman

Volkmann said his team has had an extremely busy schedule lately, which may have affected its play.

“Including practice rounds, our team has shot 117 holes in the last six days,” he said. “We were up in Traverse City for two nights, in Detroit for a night. Today was the last day of a long stretch. We’re looking forward to getting back to practice and ironing things out.”