Bialik’s 1-under 71 leads Sabers to fourth league title in five years

Manistee Catholic Central’s Zack Bialik watches his second shot to the 15th hole at Bear Lake County Highlands during the 18-hole West Michigan D League finals on Tuesday. (Matt Wenzel/News Advocate)

BEAR LAKE — The 17th green at Bear Lake County Highlands was the site of a pair of unusual instances on Tuesday afternoon.

First, Pentwater’s Erik Wallstrom and Alex Wagner — playing simultaneously from opposite sides of the rough — hit approach shots that collided after landing on the green.

A few minutes later, Pentwater’s Hunter Ruggles’ chip shot from behind the 17th green lodged in the bag stand of Manistee Catholic Central’s Nick Bialik.

Those two shots were the oddities of the day. The overall results were not as unconventional as Manistee Catholic Central claimed its fourth West Michigan D League title in five seasons.

“I’m very pleased,” said MCC coach Pete Solwold. “I’m really proud of the kids today.”

The Sabers, who won four of the five regular-season jamborees, rolled through the 18-hole finals at County Highlands with a 329 team total for a comfortable victory over second-place Pentwater (358). Brethren, which co-ops with Bear Lake, finished third (376) and Onekama fourth (449) while Mason County Eastern was unable to post a team score. Tuesday’s 18-hole league finals results mirrored the overall league finish for all five teams.

MCC senior Zack Bialik ran away with the individual title, shooting a 1-under 71 for a 12-shot victory.

“I’m pretty happy,” said Zack Bialik, who was 3-under through the first four holes and finished with six birdies, five bogeys and seven pars. “It was really an up-and-down round, but any time you shoot under par it’s a good round.”

In Zack Bialik’s five seasons of varsity golf (he played as an eighth grader), he was the 18-hole individual league champion four times and the Sabers won four titles as a team.

“To win four out of five years as a team, I’m pretty satisfied,” Zack Bialik said. “Hopefully winning the conference again will put us on another run to getting to the state finals as a team, which would be nice.”

The 1-under round is Zack Bialik’s second sub-par score of the season and he’s a cumulative 3-under through 117 holes of varsity play this season.

“To be under par for the whole season,” he said, “I’m very excited with how I’m playing going into districts and regionals and the rest of our season.”

Bialik had plenty of help as MCC posted the three lowest individual scores. Gabe Toczynski, who opened with an eagle on the par-5 first hole, took second (83) and Jaime Sierra-Nielsen was third (84). Nick Bialik, an eighth grader, shot a 91 to finish ninth and complete the team score while Gabe Sidor (105) and Joe Nelson (148) didn’t factor into the result.

 “I thought they’d be stronger today but the way we started out I thought, ‘probably a bad idea playing two 18s back-to-back,’” said Solwold, whose team took second in the 18-hole Benzie Invitational on Monday. “But, they did come through.”

On the whole, the scores were a little higher than anticipated.

“That’s what we talked about, all the coaches — a little amazed at how high the scores were today,” Solwold said. “I was expecting we’d have to shoot at least 325 and under to win because I thought Pentwater was going to play a lot better and unfortunately they didn’t, for them.”

The course may have played a part in the elevated scores.

“The scores that they shot, I thought all of them were a little high,” said Brethren coach Tom Anderson. “But, evidently there were troubles on the course.”

MCC’s Nick Bialik chips from behind the 17th green at Bear Lake County Highlands on Tuesday. (Matt Wenzel/News Advocate)

The host Bobcats placed three players in the top 10, led by Bryson Waller who shot an 87 to finish fifth, but was unhappy with the score which featured some big numbers.

“I’ve pretty much just got to concentrate on districts now,” he said.

Brethren’s Colton Podbilski finished eighth with a 90 and Joe Riggs was 10th with a 94 while Samantha Mullet completed the team score with a 105 and Eli Garcia (111) and Alex Dutton (125) didn’t factor.

“The places didn’t surprise me,” Anderson said of the team results, “I just thought the scores did.”

Onekama was without senior leader Derek Hobart on Tuesday and relied on a fairly inexperienced group. The Portagers were led by their No. 6 player as Trever Fink shot a 108 while Brandon Bohannon (109), Alexis Tribfelner (115) and Jack Coryell (117) rounded out the team score and Jarrett Bradford (122) and Matt Hull (128) didn’t factor.

“I played four freshmen today, so that makes it a little tough,” said Onekama coach Tom McCraner. “But, it’s a good building experience for the freshmen and something in the long run that’s going to help the team with experience.”

 

Posted by Matt Wenzel,
News Advocate on-line

 

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OHS GOLF TEAM
Bohannon, Brandon (12)
Hobart, Derek (12)
Sternberger, Parker (12)
Tribfelner, Alexis (10)
Bradford, Jarrett (9)

Coryell, Jack (9)
Fink, Trever (9)
Hagen, Braden (9)
Hull, Matt (9)
Wisniski, Caleb (9)
Coach: Tom McCraner
 

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