Dowagiac makes history, memories at Division 3 State Finals
Published 12:18 pm Sunday, October 22, 2023
The Dowagiac girls golf team made history by competing in its first state golf final. (Submitted photo)
Dowagiac’s Rebecca Guernsey finished eighth overall at the Division 3 State Golf Finals at The Meadows in Allendale. (Submitted photo)
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ALLENDALE — It was a historic weekend for the Dowagiac girls golf team as it competed in the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 3 State Finals at The Meadows on the campus of Grand Valley State University.
The Chieftains, who qualified as a team for the first time in school history, finished 12th overall after shooting a 791 over the two days of competition.
Junior Rebecca Guernsey, who made school history with her individual finish of eighth place overall, led Dowagiac with a 159. Guernsey finished one stroke out of sixth place and three strokes out of fifth place.
“Great weekend for girls golf in Dowagiac,” said Dowagiac Coach Bob Turner. “First girls team to ever qualify and had a top ten finisher! Friday was spectacular, better than hoped for. Rebecca was shooting lights out and the rest of the team was stepping up as well. Rebecca was 1-under through 13 holes and leading the tournament. She finished the day two shots back at 76, but definitely made it clear she was there to compete.”
Turner hoped his team would be able to maintain their momentum on Saturday.
“Saturday was a long hard day with an hour and a half rain delay,” Turner said. “We were at the course for over 10 hours. The girls kept battling though, Jason [Turner] and I kept telling them, don’t quit keep pushing, it’s not easy, but you can do it. Big Thanks to JT, I couldn’t do it without him.”
During Friday’s round, Turner said coaches from the Lakeland-KVA Conference, as well as coaches from the Wolverine Conference, reached out with their support.
“They were saying they were pulling for Rebecca and the Chieftains,” he said. “Memories, we made some that will last a long time.”
Besides Guernsey, Dowagiac also got a 199 from Carlee Spagnoli, a 204 from Bree Behnke, a 229 from Jaden Kusch and a 277 from Madison Winchester and Olivia Stockwell. Stockwell played on Friday for Dowagiac, while Winchester played the 18 holes on Saturday.
Spagnoli finished 58th overall, Behnke 65th, Kusch 95th and Stockwell-Winchester 103rd.
Niles’ Baylee Davis shot 221 to finish 87th overall.
