The Marquette girls golf team poses with the runner-up trophy after the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 1 Finals in girls golf that was held Wednesday at the Sweetgrass Golf Club near Harris. From left are assistant coach Craig Moore; team members Kylie Smith, Delaney Rhoades, Roegen Hruska, Hayden Schetter and Elise Busick; and head coach Ben Smith. (Photo courtesy Ben Smith)

CUTLINES

RHOADES

Marquette’s Delaney Rhoades looks down the fairway after hitting her tee shot on No. 10 during the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 1 Finals in girls golf held at Sweetgrass Golf Club in Harris on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (Keith Dunlap photo courtesy MHSAA.com)

TEAM

The Marquette girls golf team poses with the runner-up trophy after the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 1 Finals in girls golf that was held Wednesday, May 28, 2025, at Sweetgrass Golf Club near Harris. From left are assistant coach Craig Moore; team members Kylie Smith, Delaney Rhoades, Roegen Hruska, Hayden Schetter and Elise Busick; and head coach Ben Smith. (Photo courtesy Ben Smith)

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By KEITH DUNLAP

Special for MHSAA.com

HARRIS — Looking at scoring averages heading into the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 1 Final in girls golf, Escanaba assistant coach Jake Berlinski figured his team was the favorite. 

With that in mind, he offered a simple message to deal with any pressure that comes with such a target.

“Just play our game,” said Berlinski, who handled things at the girls event while program coach Brian Robinette was up the road at nearby Sage Run for the boys tournament.

“Play Eskymo golf, I guess you call it, and do what we do best. The girls handled their business.”

For the third time in four years, that business resulted in receiving a U.P. championship trophy.

Escanaba won with a score of 382 at Sweetgrass Golf Club, 17 shots clear of runner-up Marquette’s 399. The top five was rounded out by Calumet with 429, Negaunee 434 and Menominee 444.

Leading the way was Eskymos junior Kamrie Scott, who successfully defended her medalist honor. This year, she finished with an 8-over-par round of 80, which was 10 shots better than runner-up Lexi Marineau of Menominee. Scott recorded birdies on the par-3 third hole and par-4 17th. 

“I was hitting it good, so that was working,” Scott said. “It’s really hard around the greens here. They are really fast.”

Sweetgrass annually hosts an event on the professional Epson Tour, which is the developmental circuit for the LPGA Tour.

Scott has attended that tournament multiple times and might again when it’s played in about three weeks. Conquering the same course she has seen professionals play was a nice feeling. 

“It feels cool do it on the same course they play on,” Scott said. 

In addition to Scott, senior Danni Hughes shot 93 for Escanaba, finishing in a tie for third individually with Sault Ste. Marie senior Kyla Garland.

“Sweetgrass doesn’t give up easy pars,” Berlinski said. “It’s tough. But the girls just plodded through and played hard. That’s all we asked them to do.”

Also pleased was Marquette, which posted its best finals finish since claiming runner-up honors three straight seasons from 2013-15. Starting in fifth place, the Sentinels took up three straight positions on the leaderboard with senior Roegen Hruska carding 94, junior Kylie Smith 96 and junior Delaney Rhoades 97.

Marquette assistant coach Michelle Smith, who presided over the girls team while husband and program coach Ben Smith was at the boys final, said it was the first time this spring that the Sentinels broke 400 as a team. 

“The girls (played) really good (Tuesday at a practice round), they felt comfortable coming into (Wednesday) and they did really well,” Smith said. “We had three girls in the top 10, so we are pretty excited about that.”

Hayden Schetter was the Sentinels’ fourth scorer with 112.

Keith Dunlap of Lake Orion is a past sports writer for the Oakland Press and writes regularly for the Michigan High School Athletic Association, as he was for this story for the MHSAA website, mhsaa.com. He has covered several Mining Journal area teams at state championship basketball tournaments, including the Westwood boys team at the Division 3 semifinals in March, the Ishpeming girls team in its Division 4 championship run in 2024 and the Munising boys team in its Division 4 title quest in 2023.