The Hastings Banner — Thursday, June 17, 2021 — Page 11HCDC divers earning spots in national competitions
Members of the Hastings Community
Diving Club had to wait roughly 15 months
between chances to compete for their club,
but the summer diving season is in full swing
now.
HCDC divers returned to competition at an
age group meet at the Holland Aquatic Center
May 15, and four girls went to take part in the
USA Diving Region 6 Championship in
Elkhart, Ind., May 21-23.
Divers Mayari Coriano-Lahiff and Aubrey
Yarger had already qualified AAU Diving
National Championship, which will be in
mid-July at The Aquatic Center at Mylan Park
in Morgantown, W.Va., when they made the
trip to Elkhart last month.
The HCDC regional team competed in a
field of 102 divers from Indiana, Michigan,
Illinois and Tennessee at the regional.
Coriano-Lahiff, Yarger and Abigail Dumond
all were finalists in their 1-meter age group
competitions, earning spots in the USA Diving
Zone C competition that will be held in
Knoxville, Tenn., June 24-27.
Coriano-Lahiff placed sixth and Dumond
ninth in the 14-15 age group. Yarger was sev-
enth in her 12-13 age group. The club also had
Eve Bishop placed 25th in the 16-18 age
group at the regional.
“This was a great achievement for our team
considering the year it’s been and the lack of
practice time due to pool closure,” HCDC
head coach Todd Bates said. “I’m beyond
happy with the results.”
The club opened its competition season in
Holland May 15. Practices started in early
February. Bates called the meet in Holland a
good warmup for regionals.Bates said the club is hoping that more div-
ing meets start getting added to the calendar to
include future champions now that people are
getting vaccinated and mask mandates arelifting.
“We are part of the Michigan Safer Sports
Testing Program so we are definitely doing
our part to keep our athletes safe,” he said.
The club also was one of only five diving
clubs in the country to be awarded a National
Competitive grant from USA Diving this year.
The scholarship that Bates named “Drive to
Dive,” will focus on divers who are at an eco-nomic disadvantage and would not otherwise
be able to participate in club diving.
“I am always looking for new talent and
athletes with that ‘drive to dive,’” Bates
exclaimed.
Anyone interested in diving lessons or a
“Drive to Dive” scholarship is asked to con-
tact the HCDC by phone at 248-227-7718 or
email at [email protected].Tough course, hot sun challenge
Lakewood boys at D3 golf finals
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The fourth Lakewood varsity boys’ golf
team to ever reach the state finals finished
14th at the 2020 Michigan High School
Athletic Association Division 3 Lower
Peninsula State Finals over the weekend at
The Meadows on the campus of Grand Valley
State University.
The Vikings shot a 355 on day one of the
36-hole event Friday, and then scored a 356
Saturday. They moved up one spot in the
overall team standings from day one to day
two on the hottest weekend of the spring.
“This is a demanding championship golf
course,” Lakewood head coach Carl Kutch
said. “The heather (tall grass) is very penaliz-
ing, and yes our guys did find it during these
two rounds at the finals. I was proud of how
they battled and gutted it out when they found
trouble. Our guys did not cave in.
“Time and again I saw our players coming
back from a bad shot or a bad hole and mak-
ing par on the next hole or making a good
recovery shot. ‘Get it back’ we say.”
Junior Trevor Simon, a regional champion
this season, led the Vikings individually at the
event scoring an 82-84-166 over the two days.
That had him 41st in a field of more than 100
golfers.
Cheboygan sophomore PJ Maybank blew
the field away, scoring a 66-69-135 to win the
individual state championship. He was ten
strokes better than Grosse Ile’s Anthony Naso
and Leslie’s Cannon Risner who tied for sec-
ond with overall scores of 145. Naso shot a 70
and a 75 while Risner tallied rounds of 74 and
71.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central didn’t have
a state medalist in the top ten, but had the
deepest team overall. The Cougars captured
the Division 3 State Championship with a
team score of 306-217-623.
Big Rapids was second with a 320-320-- Hanover Horton shot a 321-319-640 to
place third.
Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard was fourth with
a total team score of 649, ahead of Grosse
Pointe Woods University Liggett 649, Grosse
Ile 650, NorthPointe Christian 650, Leslie
660, Elk Rapids 670, Boyne City 678,
Saginaw Swan Valley 681, Portland 695,
Lakewood 711, Covenant Christian 715,
Shepherd 722, Schoolcraft 748, Hemlock 767
and Parchment 822.
“This State Finals experience was a great
finish to a wonderful season for this group,”
Kutch said. “We are young. We will definitely
miss Jakeb [Jackson], but he is our only
senior and we have the rest of this team hun-
gry to get back here again.”
Jackson had the second-best score of the
weekend for the Vikings, shooting an 85-89-
174.
Viking sophomore Owen Richmond
bounced back from a 97 Friday to shoot an 88Saturday, finishing with a 36-hole total of- Fellow sophomore Drew Marquoit shot a
91-98-189. Lakewood used junior Liam
Cavanaugh’s day-two score of 95. He fired a
105 Friday and closed with a total score of
Grand Rapids Catholic Central as led by
freshmen Will Preston and Matthew Sokorai
who each scored a 155 over the weekend,
three strokes back of the last of the ten indi-
vidual state medalists. Preston shot a 77 and a
78 while Sokorai scored a 73 and an 82.
Catholic Central senior Andrew Armock shot
a 78-79-157 and junior John Harmon a 78-82-
- The Cougars split their number five spot,
with junior Luke Preston shooting an 84
Friday and senior Thomas Grile scoring a 78
Saturday.
Vikes get within a
strike of regional title
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Senior shortstop Hannah Slater lined a sin-
gle into left field to lead off the top of the
second inning of the Lakewood varsity soft-
ball team’s Division 2 Regional Semifinal
showdown with Greater Lansing Activities
Conference rival Olivet Saturday at
Fowlerville High School.
Slater stood on first, jumping off the bag 13
times with hopes of advancing, as Eagle
pitcher Shyann Truax struck out her team-
mates Cora Giffin, Emilie Yonker and Bella
Lab to end the inning.
That was the result of the only hit of the
ballgame between the two teams that closed
the GLAC season with the Eagles spoiling the
Vikings’ chances of a conference champion-
ship with three consecutive wins. It didn’t
take a hit for the Lakewood ladies to get the
result they finally wanted against the Eagles
though.
Olivet made three errors in the top of the
sixth inning, allowing Lakewood to score two
runs and eventually earn a 2-0 win in their
fourth meeting of the season. While the
Vikings’ ended the Eagles’ season, the Owosso
Trojans ended the Vikings’ season in the
regional final Saturday afternoon by scoring
five runs in the top of the tenth inning and
holding on for a 6-1 victory.
Lakewood’s Claire Behnam belted a home
run in the bottom of the sixth inning against
the Owosso Trojans and Lakewood was with-
in a strike of clinching the regional champion-
ship in the top of the seventh when Owosso
got the game-tying hit it needed to stay alive
in the state tournament.
Lakewood senior pitcher Morgan Stahl
threw all 17 innings for the Vikings, going
10.2 innings before allowing her first hit of
the regional tournament in the top of the
fourth inning against Owosso in the regional
final.
Stahl struck out 13 and walked just two
while no-hitting the Eagles in the regional
semifinal. Truax struck out 18 Vikings, walk-
ing one and allowing just the one hit.
Maryssa Goble dropped a bunt to the right
side and reached on an error to start
Lakewood’s two-run sixth against the Eagles.
Truax struck out Lakewood lead-off hitter
Lily Federau for the first out and then Liv
Woodman sacrificed Goble to second. Olivet
then misplayed a ground ball by Lakewood
Audrey Hillard and a fly ball by Slater, allow-
ing Goble and Hillard to score before Truax
struck out Cora Giffin to end the half inning.
Abby Williams worked a nine-pitch walk
for the Eagles with one out in the bottom of
the seventh inning, but Stahl got a fly out and
a strikeout to end the ballgame, stranding
Williams on first.
Owosso pitcher Macy Irelan set down the
first 16 Vikings in order in the regional final
before Behnam belted the third pitch she saw
with one out in the top of the sixth over the
center field fence for a 1-0 Lakewood lead.
The Vikings were one out away from a
regional title in the top of the seventh inning.
Kendall Anderson popped a ball up on the
infield that was misplayed by the Vikings.
The error gave the Trojans new life. Anderson
went all the way to second on the error and
then stole third base with teammate Nevaeh
Ginger at the plate. Lakewood was within a
strike of a regional championship when
Ginger drilled a 2-2 pitch for a double to cen-
ter field, tying the ballgame at 1-1. Stahl kept
her team alive by striking out Reese Thayer.
Lakewood kept putting pressure on the
Owosso defense the rest of the way, but
couldn’t break the 1-1 tie. Hillard singled in
the bottom of the seventh. The Vikings had
the bases loaded with nobody out in the bot-
tom of the ninth following a single by Goble
and a double by Federau and an intentional
walk to Woodman. Irelan got three consecu-
tive strike outs to get out of the trouble.
A Viking error started the Trojans’ rally in
the top of the tenth. Thayer reached on a
ground ball and then went to second on a one-
out single from Madyson Rainey, with both of
them moving up a base on an error. Stahl then
walked Irelan to load the bases.
Reyn Tuttle delivered the big hit for the
Trojans, bounding a hard single into center to
score Thayer and Rainey. She went to second
on the throw in as Irelan went to third. Jamie
Maier then knocked a ground ball through the
left side, scoring Irelan and moving Tuttle to
third. Tuttle scored on a sacrifice bunt from
teammate Karley Kincaid as Maier went to
second. Maier scored from there on a ground
ball single into left by Anderson. It was 6-1 in
favor of the Trojans when Stahl got Ginger to
pop the ball up to Hillard in left field for the
final out.
Irelan put down the Vikings 1-2-3 in the
bottom of the tenth to clinch the regional
championship for her team and a spot in the
Division 2 State Quarterfinals against
Wayland Tuesday at Cornerstone University
where the Trojans scored a 5-4, eight-inning
win.
Irelan finished the ballgame with 21 strike-
outs. She walked one and gave up four hits.
Stahl struck out 15 in the ten-inning ball-
game, giving up three earned runs on nine hits
and one walk.
Owosso meets Gaylord and Chelsea takes
on Marysville in the two Division 2 State
Semifinal matches today (June 17) at
Michigan State University. The D2 State Final
is set for Saturday at 10 a.m. back at MSU.HCDC members Mayari Coriano-Lahiff, coach Todd Bates and Abigail Dumond
celebrate medal-winning performances at the USA Diving Region 6 Championship at
the Elkhart Health and Aquatics Center in May.
Hastings Community Diving Club teammates (from left) Bethany ButchBaker, Mayari
Coriano-Lahiff, Abigail Dumond, Jillian Brandli, Lexi Koorndyk, coach Todd Bates,
Nuriya Nesby, Aubrey Yarger, Eve Bishop and Madi Koski are happy to get their 2021
diving season started at the age group meet inside the Holland Aquatic Center May
15.
HCDC diver Aubrey Yarger poses with
her medal beside the pool at the Elkhart
Health and Aquatics Center in May after
competing in the USA Diving Regional 6
Championship.Bailey just shy of medalists
at D4 Finals in Frankenmuth
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Maple Valley junior Owen Bailey put
together a great two days at the Division 4
Lower Peninsula Boys’ Golf Finals at The
Fortress in Frankenmuth.
Bailey scored a 78 Friday and then fol-
lowed up with an 81 Saturday to finish just
two strokes behind the last of the top ten state
medalists with a 36-hole total of 159.
Clarkston Everest Collegiate sophomore
Remy Stalcup won the individual state cham-
pionship with scores of 70 and 72 for a total
of 142. Hackett Catholic Prep senior Thomas
Keyte was the runner-up with scores of 74-75-
149.
Keyte and the Fighting Irish captured the
team state championship though, outscoring
runner-up Lansing Christian 640-646 atop the
standings. The Irish had a four stroke lead
over the Pilgrims after shooting a 321 Friday,
then dropped their Saturday total to 319.
Charlevoix was third in the team standings
with a 36-hole score of 667, ahead of Maple
City Glen Lake 677, Kalamazoo Christian
688, Hillsdale Academy 703, Sandusky 722,
Saginaw Nouvel Catholic 730, Hudson 736
and Mt Pleasant Sacred Heart 739 in the topten of the 18-team field.
Bailey was 14th overall in the field of at
least 108 golfers. Blake O’Connor from Glen
Lake and Jeffrey Andrus from Royal Oak
Shrine Catholic were tied for ninth individu-
ally with scores of 157. The trio of Rykert
Frisinger from Hillsdale Academy, Ben
Bridenstine from Hackett and Aiden Coleman
from Leland tied for 11th with scores of 158.
Bailey was in tenth place after day one. He
got his first birdie of the tournament seven
holes in, on the 278-yard, par-4 eighth, and
had one more birdie on the back nine.
He got into a little more trouble on Saturday
than on Friday, but his score got a boost
Saturday on the par-4, number 13 thanks to a
birdie on the hole he bogied Friday.
The rest of the top ten medalists over the
weekend included Lansing Christian’s Davis
Garrett who was third with a total score of
150, as well as Charlevoix’s Jake Beaudoin
and Nouvel’s Luke LeBourdais who each shot
a 153; Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker’s Brady
Krohn who scored a 154; Sacred Heart’s
Michael Zanoni who scored a 155, and
Lansing Christian’s William Combs who was
eighth with a 156.Lakewood’s Owen Richmond hits a tee
shot on number 13 at The Meadows
during the Division 3 Lower Peninsula
Boys’ Golf Finals over the weekend in
Allendale.The Lakewood varsity boys’ golf team members (from left) coach Carl Kutch, Trevor
Simon, Liam Cavanaugh, Owen Richmond, Drew Marquoit and Jakeb Jackson gather
together at The Meadows on the campus of Grand Valley State University in Allendale
for the Division 3 Lower Peninsula Boys’ Golf Finals.