By Craig Beilfuss
LocalSportsJournal.com
LUDINGTON—The Spring Lake Lakers shot a team round of 310 on Tuesday in Division 2 Region 7 boys golf action to capture the title at Lincoln Golf Club in Ludington.
The Lakers held off Northview who was close behind with a round of 314. They were followed by Cadillac who finished third with a round of 328.
“Today was a great day. We had a few kids really face some adversity today early in the round and it was great to see them battle and overcome the early struggles to score,” said Spring Lake golf coach Dan Start.
“Evan McDermott was the individual winner and our anchor every tournament and today was no exception as he posted a -3 (69).
“Max Brown wasn’t far behind finishing 5th with a (75).
“Dylan and RJ Lisman each faced some challenges during their round but both were able to battle to card an (83) and round out the scoring.
“Conrad Bush played a solid round outside of a couple of difficult holes to card an (86).
“Overall, we played well enough to win and left ourselves an opportunity to improve over the next 10 days to get ready for State,” Start said.
Rounding out the team scoring for the day were:
Petoskey (337)
Greenville (351)
Forest Hills Eastern (352)
Reeths-Puffer (354)
Kenowa Hills (356)
Coopersville (358)
Whitehall (361)
Cedar Springs (363)
Ludington (364)
Fruitport (366)
Cheboygan (367)
Gaylord (372)
Sparta (N/A)
Fremont (429)
Photo courtesy of LSJ photographer Joe Washington
“Regular season was great. We battled difficult conditions throughout the season but the guys continued to improve week after week’” said Start.
“We were able to win our conference championship and won our conference tournament which gave our kids a boost. Our conference was incredibly competitive and performed at a high level all year. We had 3 kids that were all conference (Evan McDermott, Max Brown, Dylan Lisman) and 1 kid that was honorable mention (RJ Lisman). Outside of conference our goal was to get into as many challenging golf tournaments as possible to force are kids to compete at a high level and get use to that level of competition which I feel like is paying off now.”
Locally, Reeths-Puffer senior Tyler Tallefson shot a round of 79 and will compete at the state finals individually in Division 2.
Start and his Lakers are looking forward to heading off to the state finals in ten days.
“It’s exciting. All you can ask for is an opportunity to compete against the best in the state. The guys earned that throughout the season working their tails off and I’m excited to see them go out and compete. No matter the outcome, it’s going to be a great two days of these guys testing themselves physically and mentally against great competition and a challenging course. That’s what it’s all about. Can’t wait.”
All photo’s courtesy of LSJ photographer Joe Washington
