Out on top

Lutheran North senior sends coach out with state title

By Brad D. Bates
C & G Sports Writer

Macomb Lutheran North senior Zach Mick made sure coach Lori Gill would remember her last time leading North’s boys golf team.

With his two-day total of 148 at the Division 3 state finals June 11-12 at The Meadows on the campus of Grand Valley State University, Mick became the first Mustang to win a golf state title and helped North to a fourth-place team finish — its best ever.

“It motivated the whole team,” Mick said of Gill’s pending retirement. “For all the time she’s put in as our coach, and how much she cares about us and making us better people and how she always wants the best for us, we really wanted to do well.”

Mick of Shelby Township shot a 69 on the first day of the tournament and followed it up with a 79.  He then added a birdie on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff to secure the title.

“He started (the first day) on 16, and had bogeys on his first two holes and parred 18,” Gill said of Mick’s round. “Then, he had five birdies on the front nine.

“He got in a groove and was unstoppable. Once he got that first birdie, there was no stopping him.”

Mick said he’s been playing golf his entire life and started to play competitive golf five years ago.

“I like the challenges it presents you day in and day out,” Mick said about his favorite part of golf. “I didn’t have too many good days this year, so it was nice to end it with a great one and a pretty good one.”

Mick averaged 80 in 18-hole tourneys before his state finals win, and he said it was Gill’s focus on patience and the mental aspect of the game that helped him play his best when it mattered most.

“I knew I put in the practice and effort; it was just a matter of waiting for it to click,” said Mick, who will golf at Indiana Wesleyan University. “It was a lot of wondering, too, about what kinds of lessons I could learn from my struggles.”

Gill said that in her 14 seasons working with the boys and girls golf teams at North, she learned to focus her coaching on the mental aspect of the game.

“I try to focus on game management, course management and mental toughness,” said Gill, who will continue to coach North’s girls golf team.

“Mental focus is really what separates the boys from the men and the girls from the women. It’s the little things, like not giving up extra shots or if you hit in the heather, taking a lost ball penalty. All that revolves around mental toughness.

“Right from the get-go, we focus on staying focused mentally,” Gill added. “And usually, if I preach it enough, a little will sink in. And even if just a little gets through, it helps.”

That mental toughness helped separate North from its competition at the finals, taking fourth despite going into the meet unranked by the Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association.

“I was going to tell the guys we had accomplished all our goals so just relax and have fun, and that we didn’t have anything to prove,” Gill said. “But we did have something to prove, and after the first day, we were in second place.”

Seeing her lessons in focus and mental toughness pay off made it a very pleasant end to Gill’s career with the boys golf team.

“That’s it, and it’s a great way to go out,” Gill said. “We didn’t get a team state championship, but I did get an individual state champion, so it was pretty special for Zach to do that.”

You can reach Sports Writer Brad D. Bates at bbates@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1029.