GIRLS GOLF: Rochester Adams shooting for state gold
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
ROCHESTER HILLS — Rochester Adams has normally fielded a competitive contingent in girls golf.
Since the very first Open Class nine-hole state finals tournament held for Lower Peninsula schools back in 1973, Adams has qualified 15 times, including a state runner-up finish in the Division 1 tournament back in 1999.
The Highlanders hope that 2020 is the year that Adams reaches new heights.
Adams recently took over the No. 1 spot in the Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association Division 1 state rankings thanks to the impressive body of work over the past two months. The Highlanders head into the regional and state finals competition absolutely on fire.
The Highlanders already shot a play-five, count-four team score of 290 already this year — that is one stroke off Rochester’s state-record team score of 289 set back at the 2016 regional round — and have captured nine tournament titles so far this season.
“I have quite the collection (of trophies) sitting in my kitchen right now,” joked fourth-year Adams coach Jeff Kutschman of the team’s string of tournament wins. “I told the girls that it’s been a long time since we’ve had a team at Adams like this.
“We have played very good golf all season long. They are a great group of girls to coach, very motivated,” added Kutschman.
Adams shot a 309 at the recent OAA Red Division League Meet No. 2 to sew up the overall league crown, the school’s second straight. The Highlanders captured back-to-back league crowns for the first time since the 1998 and 1999 spring seasons.
Adams also won the first OAA-Red tournament, Perry Scramble, Hartland Invite, Patriot Invite, Troy Invite, Rochester Invite, Midland Dow Invite and the Jackson Lumen Christi Invite this season. The Highlanders finished third at the prestigious Oakland County Division I Tournament behind Birmingham Marian (No. 1 in D-3) and South Lyon (No. 2 in D-2) and were only seven strokes off the pace in that star-studded field.
At the Hartland and Midland Dow tournaments, Adams defeated then-No. 1 Northville (D-1) by a couple of strokes — which proves that this team is for real.
“We were sixth in another tournament, but we didn’t have three of our top five golfers,” noted Kutschman, who only graduated Emma Ni and Emily Abramczyk from his regular rotation of players. “With our top five, top six golfers (this year) we have been very good this season.”
Adams snapped a seven-year state qualifying drought last season, eventually finishing second at its regional to Troy and finishing seventh at the D-1 state finals (704).
While Adams returned most of its roster from that top-10 team, the arrival of freshman Laura Liu, the Highlanders’ No. 1 player this fall, has catapulted Adams from a quality top-10 team to a realistic state title contender.
Sophomore Grace Wang has been Adams No. 2 golfer, followed by senior Carly Ortwine, junior Alyssa Fodale, freshman Katie Fodale and senior Maggie Fetterman. There are four other seniors on the varsity roster that rotate into the lineup.
What makes the Highlanders so tough is that the top five golfers average in the 70s and 80s while the sixth averages in the low 90s.
“That’s what you need today in girls golf and we have that,” beamed Kutschman, who has watched neighbors Rochester and Rochester Stoney Creek dominate the local golf scene for most of the past 20 years. League rivals Birmingham Seaholm, Troy, Bloomfield Hills, Lake Orion and Clarkston have also competed at high levels in that time-span with multiple top-10 squads.
“This is our best team here since (1999),” said Kutschman, a 1994 Adams grad. “We had some good teams back in the 1990s and we finished as the (state) runner-up in ’99.”
But could the Highlanders grab the state gold this year?
“That’s what we’re shooting for,” concluded Kutschman.
Only time will tell.
ROCHESTER ADAMS GIRLS GOLF AT STATE FINALS
2019: 7th in D-1 (776)
2012: 12th in D-1 (738)
2011: 14th in D-1 (830)
2007-Fall: 10th in D-1 (764)
2006: 14th in D-1 (747)
2003: 9th in D-1 (745)
2002: 10th in D-1 (730)
1999: 2nd in D-1 (714)
1998: 4th in Class A (689)
1997: 6th in Class A (776)
1987: 6th in Open Class (373)
1985: 10th in Open Class (421)
1979: Tied-8th in Open Class (379)
1978: 6th in Open Class (392)
1977: 12th in Open Class (467)
Girls Golf State Rankings
(By the MIGCA)
Division 1 — 1. Rochester Adams; 2. Northville; 3. Plymouth; 4. Grand Blanc; 5. Traverse City West; 6. Brighton; 7. Hartland; 8. Troy; 9. Bloomfield Hills; 10. Ann Arbor Skyline
Division 2 — 1. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern; 2. South Lyon; 3. Farmington Hills Mercy; 4. Sturgis; 5. Dearborn Divine Child; 6. Muskegon Mona Shores; 7. Fenton; 8. Battle Creek Lakeview; 9. Okemos; 10. Haslett
Division 3 — 1. Birmingham Marian; 2. Macomb Lutheran North; 3. Big Rapids; 4. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook; 5. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Eastern; 6. Birmingham Detroit Country Day; 8. Flint Powers Catholic; 9. Parma Western; 10. Coopersville
Division 4 — 1. Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian; 2. Montague; 3. Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Central; 4. Lansing Catholic; 5. Michigan Center; 6. Jackson Lumen Christi; 7. Wixom St. Catherine Catholic; 8. St. Joseph Michigan Lutheran; 9. Harbor Springs; 10. Adrian Lenawee Christian
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