As you all probably know by now, our CC Boys Varsity Golf Team was able to bring home our school's second Golf State Championship yesterday.  The "story" with additional details is below.  We really appreciate all of your support this season - we're extremely humbled and blessed to have been able to bring home another championship.

Also, we thought this would be worth mentioning.  We had several players from other schools, fellow coaches, and spectators (family members, etc.) mention to us throughout the 2 days how much they enjoyed the competition with our student athletes.  Senior Johnathon Meyer, Junior Will Preston, Junior Matthew Sokorai, Junior Sebastian Deimel, Freshman Tommy Jandernoa and Freshman Charlie Maczka all represented our golf program, our school, and our diocese very well during our time in East Lansing.  As Coaches, we were proud of how they handled themselves this weekend.

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After winning the OK Gold Conference and the MHSAA Regionals, the Catholic Central Varsity Boys Golf Team was able to bring home the school's second Golf State Championship this weekend at Michigan State University's Forest Akers West Golf Course.  5 players from 18 schools competed each day with the 4 lowest scores contributing to the overall team score.

At the conclusion of Day 1's competition, the Cougars were able to post the day's low team score of 306, 21 strokes better than Manistee and 23 ahead of Saginaw Swan Valley.  Pacing the CC attack was Matthew Sokorai with a 1 under par 71, followed closely by Will Preston with an even par 72.  Tommy Jandernoa (81), Johnathan Meyer (82) and Sebastian Deimel (85) were able to put together some impressive scores to help position the team well for the next day's competition.

Prior to Saturday's round, the team wasn't taking anything for granted.  Meeting on Friday night, everyone understood there was still a lot of work ahead - focus was essential if they were going to bring home another State Championship.  Saturday saw the team do just that - a strong, consistent effort from every player resulted in a team score of 308, bringing the two day total to 614, 35 strokes ahead of Lansing Catholic High School, resulting in the team's 2nd State Championship in 3 years.

Matthew Sokorai was able to improve on Friday's effort, finishing the second day with a 2 under par 70, taking Division 3 Individual Medalist honors with a two-day total of 141 (3 under par).  Second place went to Matthew's teammate and co-captain Will Preston who finished at 148, both leading the field of 113 golfers.  Johnathon Meyer carded an 80, bringing his two day total to 162, which resulted in a top 20 finish.  Charlie Maczka's 82 and Tommy Jandernoa's 86 were all that were needed for CC to win the Championship.

MHSAA story:  Top-Placing Pair Paces Grand Rapids Catholic Central Team Win | Michigan High School Athletic Association (mhsaa.com)

Fox 17 story:  GR Catholic Central, Christian bring home golf championships (fox17online.com)

Pictures:

• Division 3 Champions - Charlie Maczka, Johnathon Meyer, Tommy Jandernoa, Will Preston, Sebastian Deimel, and Matthew Sokorai
• Team 2023 Champions - JV Head Coach Chad Bocian, Varsity Assistant Coach Andy Grile, Varsity Head Coach Kim Napieralski, Tommy Jandernoa, Charlie Maczka, Matthew Sokorai, Will Preston, Johnathon Meyer, Sebastian Deimel
• Matthew Sokorai - Junior Matthew Sokorai watches his approach shot.
• Will Preston - Junior Will Preston watches his tee shot during Saturday's competition.
• J Meyer - Senior Johnathon Meyer intently watches his putt.
• Deimel - Junior Sebastian Deimel readies himself before putting on Day 1 at MSU.
• Tommy Jandernoa - Freshman Tommy Jandernoa watches his approach shot on hole #14 of Forest Akers West.
• Charlie - Freshman Charlie Maczka watches his tee shot during Saturday's competition.