Lancers enjoying best times with depleted lineup

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

Twitter: @LocalSportsFans

AUBURN HILLS — Needless to say, Auburn Hills Oakland Christian is a small school power on the golf course.

Check out the rankings and standings in Division 4, or the team scores at a bevy of tournaments each year, and the Lancers are located in their usual spot well inside the top 10.

This season, Oakland Christian has defeated every small school team at every tournament it has entered and won the Michigan Independent Athletic Conference, district and regional titles all by decisive fashion. The Lancers were top 10 at the Oakland county Division I championships in mid-May against all D-1 and D-2 schools — Oakland Christian won the event last season, become the first Class D school to ever win the prestigious event — and finished eighth out of 25 schools this season.

“We have been in the top 10 at every tournament this season and last season — and the ones we didn’t win we played against big schools,” said Randy Johnson, the Lancers’ coach since 2000.

Johnson moved over from the school’s soccer program — he coached the Lancers’ to the Class D state semifinals in 1993 in that sport — and in 1999 began to help build up an already strong boys golf program.

The Lancers have consistently been a quality program. Even in the years where Oakland Christian didn’t qualify for the state finals — they were generally fourth at the regional and out by only a few strokes.

“We’ have been very fortunate enough to have some very good players over the years,” said Johnson. “There where a few years where we were fourth or fifth at the regional and barely missed. But what’s so amazing is that even though we’ve had our best years the past couple of seasons, we lost a bunch of players that transferred away. We had one really good kid come in, but we’ve lost six the past three years.”

Oakland Christian is going for its fourth straight top-10 state finals finish —  the Lancers have won four straight regional titles —  and is involved in a tight four-team race following Friday’s first round of the D-4 state finals at Michigan State University’s Forest Akers West Golf Course.

Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Central leads the pack at 316, with Lake Leelanau St. Mary’s is in second (318) and both Oakland Christian and Saginaw Nouvel Catholic both tied for third at 321 — a managable deficit for any of the teams trailing Hackett..

The Lancers are the defending Division 4 state champions.

Oakland Christain has three of their top five players from last year on the roster, including seniors Zach Preuss and Tyler Coyne and sophomore John VanNoord, plus one player who sat out last season with an injury (sophomore Spencer Haupert) and a fifth who played travel hockey last spring (Brandon Deletka).

Just over two years ago, then sophomore Justin Borrows transferred over to Orchard Lake St. Mary’s. Two years ago senior Dave Bommarito and junior Alec Bommarito moved to California, junior Paul Klemm transferred to Clarkston High School and this year junior Pat VanBiesbrouck was home schooled.

“Can you imagine that if those players never left,” said Johnson, whose team won the state championship last season by 11 strokes over the runner-up squad and 21 strokes over the third-place team. “I guess it’s a blessing after all. You can only bring five kids to the state finals.”

The Lancers will lose Preuss, Coyne and Deletka for next season, as all three recently graduated.

“We’ll have some good players next season, but nothing like we’ve had,” said Johnson. “But I can’t complain. We’ve had a great run, win or not this season, even with all of the quality players that we’ve lost that moved away. It’s really amazing when you think about it.”

To submit information to www.northoaklandsports.com, e-mail dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com.  To advertise, e-mail advertising@northoaklandsports.com . Follow us on Twitter @LocalSportsFans and more than a dozen other social media networks.

FOR MORE GOLF COVERAGE:  http://northoaklandsports.com/?s=Golf&x=9&y=14

Have photos or video of this event that you wish to share? E-mail pertinent information to www.northoaklandsports.com Senior Editor Dan Stickradt at dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com or e-mail results@northoaklandsports.com.

Tags: Auburn Hills Oakland Christian Boys Golf, boys golf, golf, High School Boys golf, MHSAA Division 4 Boys Golf State Finals, Prep Boys Golf

Category: Auburn Hills Oakland Christian, Editor's Column, Featured Articles, High School, High School (M-Z), Most Recently Updated Stories, Prep Wraps, Top Stories, Uncategorized