Golf: Pioneer edges Skyline atop the Ann Arbor Classic scorecard at Barton Hills
Somehow, someway, golf was played this week.
The five local Ann Arbor golf teams gathered at Barton Hills CC on Tuesday for the Ann Arbor Classic and all of them defeated Mother Nature in the annual 18-hole (par 73) event that features the three public high schools along with Greenhills and Father Gabriel Richard.
Pioneer was able to avenge a rare loss last week to Skyline and scored a first-place finish with a team-round score of 346. The two teams are very evenly matched and Skyline wasn’t far behind. The Eagles took second with a round of 351.
“We had Pioneer on the ropes for most of the tournament but they pulled through to take the win today by only five strokes,” said Skyline Coach Ashley Mantha. “But our varsity shot their second best 18-hole team score on a challenging course. We’re getting better each week and it’s exciting to see.”
Pioneer and Skyline will meet again at the SEC league meet and at Regionals. The competitiveness seems to be bringing out the best in both teams.
Greenhills had a solid round and finished third with a 375.
Huron finished fourth (456) and FGR was fifth (517).
Pioneer was led by junior Mackenzie Rooney who fired a team-best 82. Junior Alysa Zhu carded an 86. Senior Hayley Marchand and sophomore Alex Ellender both fired an 89 and senior Kara Muckstadt had a 92 for the Pioneers.
Only two players broke 80 on the day and one was Skyline senior Adie Maki, who carded a 79 on the Barton Hills course. Senior Riya Patchava had an 87 and sophomore Reva Patchava had a 91. Senior Lia Tomilo carded a 94, junior Val Rutte had a 98 and senior Lucy Stoy had a 103.
Mia Melendez had the best round of the day. Only a freshman, Melendez carded an impressive 76 for Greenhills. The rest of the Greenhills scorecard featured sophomore Alesha Hassan (94), senior Sabeen Malik (98), sophomore Bella Young (107) and junior Sarah Horan (120).
Huron freshman Emmi Conrad and senior Sasha Lee both shot a 111 for the River Rats. Junior Aico Miao shot a 115 and junior Varvara Bashkirova shot a 119.
Sophomore Melissa Rapoza led FGR with a 115. Also making the Fighting Irish scorecard were junior Claire DiFranco (126), junior Blythe McCaig (133) and junior Molly Rapoza (143).
