Norway boys, West Iron County girls win Negaunee Kiwanis Invite golf
CHAMPION — Ten varsity high school golf teams competed under sunny skies and temperatures in the low 50s at Wawonowin Country Club on Tuesday.
It was just the second day the course has been open for the season, just in time for the annual Negaunee Kiwanis Invitational.
Norway topped the boys field with a score of 326, edging West Iron County, which had 328. Houghton rounded out the podium with 345, followed by Calumet with 371, Negaunee 394, Westwood 404, Hancock 406, Munising 413, Manistique 497 and L’Anse 502.
The Wykons were dominant on the girls side, totaling 453 strokes to defeat Houghton by 31 strokes with 484. Negaunee was a close third with 488, followed by Westwood with 509, Munising 517, Manistique 534 and Calumet 594. Norway and Hancock didn’t have enough players to register a team score.
Boys medalist was Norway’s Logan Pauolini, who ended his day with a 6-over-par 78.
Houghton’s Jiseung Choi and Calumet’s London Johnson completed the podium, each shooting 80. The Knights and Wykons made up eight of the top 10 spots who were awarded honors.
Despite the Hancock girls not recording a team score, the Bulldogs’ Payton Dube was girls medalist with 81, the only girl to break 100.
The Wykons’ Tori Bociek was next with 104, followed by Munising’s Taylor Downs with 105 and Ishpeming’s Rylee Ring, playing for Negaunee in its co-op program, was fourth with 108.
Miners head coach Dustin Hongisto said the tournament was close to being canceled due to the recent opening of the course.
“We were just happy to get out there,” he said. “Literally the course opened (Monday) and we weren’t sure if we were even going to be able to play this. It was nice to get the kids out.”
Hongisto also commented on the close battles throughout the 10-team tourney, and praised his players for sticking it out without a lot of experience on Wawonowin this season.
“On the boys side it was really tight,” he said. “There were a ton of low 80s, (Pauolini) broke a 78, and then the team scores were very close as well. Norway shot a 326 while West Iron had the 328, you’re not really going to get much tighter than that.
“It was kind of a long day. For most of the kids, it was their first time out on the course. It was a little bit of a grind, but I’m happy with how it ended.”
Brylea Ranta was the next Miners girls scorer with 121. On the boys side, Luke Stenfors placed 20th overall, shooting 95, tied with Calumet’s Andrew Eskola.
The Westwood boys were led by Tyler Annala with 90 and Colin Bjorne with 92, who finished 15th and 16th overall.
The Patriots girls were led by Laci Moffatt, rounding out the top five with 57. After that, it was Hailey Mattila in a three-way tie for 11th place, shooting 61 for the Patriots just four strokes back of her teammate.
The Mustangs’ top male shooter was Bryce Bowerman in a four-way tie for 16th place, shooting 92. Bowerman tied with Bjorne, Houghton’s Jimmy Pietila and L’Anse’s Johnny Mantila.
Following Downs for the Munising girls was Sydney Curtis who was also in the three-way tie for 11th with a 117.
Email Ryan Spitza at sports@miningjournal.net.