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SWEET THREE-PEAT! Eskymo Girls Win Golf Title
 ESCANABA---The Escanaba High School girls golf team won the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division One championship on Thursday, using the home-course advantage to upset Houghton and Menominee for the trophy. Escanaba took first place with 381 strokes at the Escanaba Country Club.  "We knew it was going to be an uphill battle," Escanaba Coach Jake Berlinski said of his team's chances. "Houghton was very, very good in some of the numbers that they were projected to shoot. But we had a really good day and they had a couple of slip-ups in there, and it was just enough for us to slip by, by nine shots." Escanaba's Paxton Johnson repeated as medalist by shooting an 80. She said the team victory was even sweeter than her personal victory. "It just feels really good to rep Escanaba, in Escanaba, and be able to take home this first place trophy," Johnson said. "I think the front (nine holes) went pretty well, but after the rain delay, the back was pretty wet, so it was a battle to deal with that." Escanaba senior Megan Dagenais tied for second by shooting an 85. "This was really hard-earned, and I'm really happy to say this is our third one," Dagenais said. "I played pretty well. I really hit my irons good. This was unexpected. We all just went out there and crushed it today." Houghton's Kaaren Liston also shot an 85, and beat Dagenais in a tiebreaker for second place. On the team scoreboard, Kingsford (433) was fourth, Marquette (445) fifth, Gladstone (451) sixth, Negaunee (488) finished seventh. Iron Mountain (492), Manistique (513), and Westwood (538) rounded out the scoring. Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos, and video highlights and interviews.  |
