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http://www.cellsignalpros.com People with the Right Connections!Caledonia varsity girls’ golf team members Copelin O’Krangley, Codie
O’Krangley, Ellie Hudson, Mya Burgess, Katie Honhart and Emily Walbeck
celebrate their OK Green Conference championship after winning the
conference post-season tournament Oct. 3 at Saskatoon. The CHS girls
followed that up with a runner-up regional finish to earn a spot in next
weekend’s MHSAA D1 L.P. Girls Golf Finals. Photo providedBrett Bremer
Sports Editor
The Caledonia varsity girls’ golf
team brought back four of its five
players from the team that placed 11th
at the 2023 MHSAA Lower Peninsula
Division 1 Girls Golf Finals this fall,
and it shows.
The Fighting Scots captured the OK
Green Conference Championship at
Saskatoon Golf Course last week, spent
two days testing themselves against top
competition at the Katke Classic in Big
Rapids last weekend and then scored
a runner-up finish at the MHSAA L.P.
Division 1 Regional Championship
to earn themselves the right to return
to Katke for the 2024 D1 Finals next
weekend.
But wait, there’s more.
On top of the team accomplishments,
senior Copelin O’Krangley shot a
71 to win the OK Green Conference
Post-Season Tournament at Saskatoon
Oct. 3, was the leader after both 18-
hole rounds at the Katke Invitational
and then won an individual regional
championship at the A-Ga-Ming Golf
Resort in Kewadin Wednesday with a
score of 81.
“It’s all experience,” Caledonia head
coach Veronica Van Wagoner said of
her team’s success this fall. “We know
what to do and how to do it. We handle
pressure better. We handle all the bad
stuff that can happen on a golf course
better. We make smarter plays on the
golf course. I also think we put together
a more robust schedule this season
where we had to play some challeng-
ing courses. Those challenges helped
us grow in our abilities and the ways
that we think about attacking the golf
course.”
O’Krangley won as regional cham-
pionship and coach Van Wagoner said
she even may have left a few strokes
out on the course there in Kewadin.
“Copelin has been building all sea-
son,” Van Wagoner said. “The last two
weeks I have seen a massive push on
the gas pedal.”
Hudsonville won the regional title
with a score of 357, but the top three
teams and top three golfers not on those
teams at regionals across the state this
week earn spots in the state finals. The
OK Green champion Scots going back to Finals
D1 Lower Peninsula Finals will be held
Oct. 18-19 at Katke in Big Rapids.
O’Krangley finished in a tie for tenth
individually at the 2023 Finals at Forest
Akers West East Lansing.
The CHS team earned the trip back
to the 2024 Finals with junior Codie
O’Krangley shooting an 88 at region-
als, senior Mya Burgess a 92 and junior
Katie Honhart a 99. The Scots’ fifth
scorer for the day, senior Ellie Hudson,
was right there too with a 100.
“Codie and Ellie have just been super
consistent all season long,” Van Wag-
oner said. “They are reliable scorers
and always put up something that can
be counted on. Both have been manag-
ing the pressure better this season.”
The CHS coach said Burgess had
really cranked things up lately too. Shefired an 85 at the Post-Conference Tour-
nament, a score Van Wagoner is fairly
certain is her best 18-hole round yet.
Portage Central was the third state
qualifying team from the regional with
a score of 363 ahead of the Scots’ new
OK Green Conference rivals from
Byron Center who just
missed out on a team
state spot with a fourth-
place score of 373. Battle
Creek Lakeview was
fifth with a score of 384
ahead of Rockford 390,
Traverse City Central
397, Traverse City West
407, Grand Haven 411,
Jenison 412, Grandville
420, West Ottawa 429,
Kalamazoo United 442and East Kentwood 539.
The three individual state qualifiers
from the regional were Lakeview’s
Amiyah Gibson with an 83, Jenison’s
Kylie Coffey with an 84 and Grand
Haven’s Colbie Livingston with an 88.
At Saskatoon last week, the Scots
won the OK Green Post-Season Tour-
nament with a score of 322 ahead of
Byron Center 332, Mona Shores 338,
Reeths-Puffer 344 and Jenison 378.
Copelin was the individual champ
with an even-par 71. Codie shot an 81
and the Scots got 85s from Burgess
and sophomore Emily Walbeck. Hud-
son and Honart were the Scots’ fourth
and fifth scorers for the day but both
joined their teammates among the top
20 scorers overall. Hudson shot an 88
and Honhart a 91.
In between those two tournaments,
the Scots were fourth in a field of 14
teams at the Katke Classic. Copelin shot
a 75 on day one and a 77 on day two for
a 152 that was just five strokes over par
for 36 holes. Codie shot a 175, Walbeck
199, Hudson a 200, Honhart 205.
Northville too the Classic title with
an overall team score of 647 ahead of
Grand Rapids Catholic Central 688,
Brighton 705, Caledonia 721, Petoskey
757, Whitehall 786, Montague 787,
Hartland 815, Traverse City West 832
and Remus Chippewa Hills 847 in the
top ten.
Northville had four of the top seven
overall scorers for the weekend led
by freshman McKenzie Stevens who
ended up six strokes back of Copelin
for the individual title. Catholic Cen-
tral junior Kelsey Preston was third
individually.