Sending shockwaves: Division 4 Oakland Christian wins first Oakland County D-I golf crown

SIZING IT UP: Auburn Hills Oakland Christian's Zach Preuss prepares for his putt during Wednesday's Oakland County Division I tournament at Pontiac Country Club.

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

WATERFORD — As a small school, Auburn Hills Oakland Christian was just trying to gain some respect at Wednesday’s Oakland County Division I Boys Golf Tournament.

The Lancers gained much more than that.

Putting together a play-five, count-four team score of 296, Oakland Christian sent shockwaves through the prep golf community of Michigan by winning the prestigious Oakland County Division I title.

The Lancers, ranked second in the state in Division 4, became the first Class D/Division 4 school in history of the tournament, which dates back to 1966, to earn the team crown.

The tournament featured 18 D-1 programs, four from D-2, two from D-3 and Oakland Christian, the only D-4 team in this year’s tournament.

“With the team we had this year, we felt we could break into the top five,” said veteran Oakland Christian coach Randy Johnson. “This is really exciting. This means a banner in the gym. The guys can look up in the gym and remember this day. I don’t think anybody but the guys on this team thought we would be one of the best teams here.”

Oakland Christian’s Nick VanBriesbrouck felt that his team was going to pull a surprise this season. His team has finished in the top-10 at the D-4 state finals the past three years and crept into the top-10 at the D-I county tourney last season.

GRIP IT AND RIP IT: Rochester's Mike Murri watches his drive fly during Wednesday's Oakland County Division I Tournament at Pontiac Country Club.

“We’ve had a good team ever since I was a freshman. But this year I knew something was going to be special,” said VanBriesbrouck, Oakland Christian’s sole senior. “A good friend of mine came over from his old school, we had a freshman come up who has surprised all of all and we had most of our team back. The good thing about this is we have two other guys that we can count on that didn’t play today.”

Oakland Christian, which finished 10^th last season and 15^th two years ago, rose to become the cream of the crop by having its top four golfers shoot between 71 and 76. Tyler Coyne carded a 71, Zach Preuss a 74, VanBiesbrouck a 75 and Paul Klemme a 76. Klemme had a 15-stroke improvement over last year’s county round.

“This is only our third year up in Division for the county,” reminded Johnson. “To come in here and win with all of these bigger schools, it means a lot to these guys.”

North Farmington, ranked seventh in Division 1, finished second at 299 and D-1 fifth-ranked Novi Detroit Catholic Central was third at 300. Unranked Novi claimed fourth at 305 and Birmingham Brother Rice, the top-ranked school in D-1 and the defending D-I county champs, rounded out the top five at 306.

Rochester, which won the County Division II crown last season to move up to the Division I tournament, finished sixth this season at 309, while White Lake Lakeland, (311), Clarkston (312), Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood (313) and Milford (314) followed in the top 10 in the 25-school field.

Rochester Adams (316) and Troy (316) tied for 11^th in the team standings, with Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (318), Birmingham Detroit Country Day (319), Birmingham Groves (321), South Lyon (322), Walled Lake Northern (322), Birmingham Seaholm (324), Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (325) and Lake Orion (326) wrapping up the top 20.

In a field of 125 golfers, a total of 24 golfers shot 76 or lower. North Farmington’s Max Collins shot a four-under round of 68 to earn medalists honors. Collins tied for second last season with a 73.

In comparison to last year, only 11 golfers shot 75 or lower with 72 earning medalist honors.

With all of the rain in recent days, Wednesday’s field was significantly better than last season.

“The conditions weren’t that bad. The greens were a little soft, more receptive, so I had some nice spin to my shot,” said Kollin. “The back nine, I tore it up. I putted really well on the back nine.

“I started off with a couple of three-putts, but then I made some good putts and played great,” added Kollin, who shot a 31 on the back nine and 37 on the front nine. “Earlier in the year, I shot 30 (on the front nine) at Farmington, but today was a lot more legit because it was in a tournament.”

While Kollin was the only golfer to break 70, there was plenty of fine scores turned in on the day by a talented field, where 51 golfers broke 80.

Patrick Luther of Catholic Central was runner-up with a two-under score of 70. Seaholm’s Francesco Ruffino, Notre Dame Prep’s Aaron Knuston and Country Day’s Michael Zausmer all followed with even-par rounds of 72.

Brother Rice’s Nick Dennis shot a 73 to place sixth, Oakland Christian’s Preuss, North Farmington’s Nick Williams and Novi’s Brad Kozinski all shot 74s, while Oakland Christian’s VanBiesbrouck, Rochester’s Eric Shyu, Catholic Central’s Connor Sexton and Novi’s Garrett Buckley all finished at 75 to round out the top 10 in the medalist standings.

LET HER FLY: Lake Orion's Tyler Dragoo watches his drive sail off the tee during Wednesday's Oakland County Division I Tournament. Staff Photo | Dan Stickradt

UPAND AWAY: Rochester Adams' Marcus Robinson's chip sails towards the 18th green during play Wednesday at the Oakland County Division I Tournament. Staff Photo | Dan Stickradt

STATE RANKINGS

Boys Golf

(By coaches association)

Division 1 — 1. Birmingham Brother Rice; 2. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central; 3.  Davison; 4. Grand Ledge; 5. Holt; 6. Novi Detroit Catholic Central; 7. North Farmington; 8. Pinckney; 9. Battle Creek Lakeview; 10. Muskegon Mona Shores; 11. Plymouth; 12. Grand Blanc.

Division 2 — 1. Spring Lake; 2. DeWitt; 3. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood; 4. East Grand Rapids; 5. Haslett; 6. Grand Rapids Christian; 7. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern; 9. Grand Rapids Catholic Central; 10. Trenton; 11. Marshall; 12. New Boston Huron.

Division 3 — 1. Jackson Lumen Christi; 2. Grand Rapids South Christian; 3. Grand Rapids West Catholic; 4. Grosse lle; 5. Pontiac Notre Dame Prep; 6. Birmingham Detroit Country Day; 7. Kalamazoo Christian; 8. Ithaca; 9. Tawas; 10. Essexville Garber; 11. Lansing Catholic Central; 12. Jackson Vandercook Lake.

Division 4 — 1. Muskegon Western Michigan Christian; 2. Auburn Hills Oakland Christian; 3. Kalamazoo Christian; 4. Grand Rapids North Pointe Christian; 5. Lake Leelanau St. Mary; 6.  Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Central; 7. Maple City Glen Lake; 8. North Muskegon; 9.Ann Arbor Greenhills; 10. Sand Creek; 11. Traverse City St. Francis; 12. Suttons Bay.

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Category: Auburn Hills Christian Acadamy, Auburn Hills Oakland Christian, Clarkston, High School (M-Z), Lake Orion, Oxford, Prep Wraps, Rochester, Rochester Adams, Rochester Hills Lutheran NW, Rochester Stoney Creek, Troy, Troy Athens, Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes