This team, full of young athletes, wasn’t expected to amount to much, but at the end of an amazing season, they can confidently prove those expectations wrong.
Girls golf hasn’t exactly been at the forefront of our school’s athletics as of late, especially after the graduation of Maya Fitzgerald and Skyler Tierney, who carried the team in 2023. But hopes were still high at the start of the 2025 season, following a decent showing in 2024, for the team. One of those players with very high expectations was one of two co-captains, Caroline VanderVelde.
“This season, we expected to be pretty good, but we knew it was going to be difficult because we are a young team and lost 5 seniors last year,” Caroline explained. “As the season went on, I would say we outperformed our expectations with a few players shooting their personal bests and high performance in many tournaments.”
The girls started on a very high note at their first invite of the season, the Okemos Invitational, before the school year had even started. The team finished second place overall, and individually had three golfers in the top ten, those three being Alivia Offer (Tied for 2nd), Caroline VanderVelde (6th), and Camille Tierney (9th). A finish like this is able to bring a lot of confidence to a team, especially one as young as this one is. It proves that they can be great, that they can compete as a top team, and sets the tone for the rest of the season.
And it really did set the tone for the rest of the long season. The following tournament, Northstar Bank, resulted in another second-place tie for the team. And once again, the trio of Alivia Offer, Caroline VanderVelde, and Camille Tierney showed up as a powerhouse, with all three being in the top twenty. Alivia finished in fifth place, Caroline finished in ninth, and Camille finished in fifteenth, which really helped the team with their high finish.
But the Lady Rangers were just getting started, because at the very next tournament, the Kent County Classic, they showed up ready to win, and achieved just that. The girls got their first win on August 19, and they were once again helped by their star trio, with Alivia finishing second, and Caroline and Camille tying for tenth. It was at this point that the team was able to start hoping for big things to come out of this season, with Camille saying that this was when she started believing in their ability to make it all the way.
“During the first tournament we won at the Kent County Classic,” Camille said. “It was clear to me we would make it to states since we were able to score better than teams that would be the biggest competition at regionals.”
The following tournament was one that was cause for some disappointment, however, with the FHC Ranger Invitational being their worst finish of the entire season. The real shame with this fifth-place finish is that it was actually a good showing for the team, having four members in the top thirty and two more just over. The problem was that there was only one golfer in the top ten. Alivia finished in third place, Camille in thirteenth, Caroline in seventeenth, and Campbell Kozlow rounded out the golfers in the top thirty, ending 28th. The two golfers who were just over were Maggie Hill in thirty-second, and Glenna Rinckey in thirty-fourth. The bright side to this is that it could remind the girls that nothing is guaranteed, but it was also a source of added pressure to some as well.
“I did feel pressure to perform, since there was a real chance of us winning at the tournaments,” Camille confessed. “I knew that if I messed up really badly, it could ruin it, especially since we had a lot of close calls.”
The following tournament at Tullymore was much more on par for the team, as far as results go, bringing the team back to third place overall. The key to the higher score here was the fact that they had four golfers in the top twenty: Alivia in second place, Camille in eleventh, and Caroline tied for nineteenth with Maggie Hill. This amazing result, following one that was mediocre for the team, is something that can bring confidence back to the golfers, which is especially beneficial with the team’s first jamboree being the following day.
Unfortunately, due to a huge storm that day, the jamboree was canceled, giving the girls an extra day of rest, which was taken advantage of at the tournament that followed. At the Bedford Valley tournament, Alivia finished third and Caroline in seventeenth place. It wasn’t their best showing individually, but in the end, the team working together was enough to bring them to second place.
Their first Jamboree of the season, hosted by East Grand Rapids, ended very similarly to the prior tournaments, in terms of team placement, finishing tied for second place, but individually, the Lady Rangers really showed up. They had five golfers who finished in the top twenty, more than any tournament they had attended prior. Alivia finished fourth, Caroline in tenth, and Camille in eleventh, joined by Glenna Rinckey in thirteenth, and Aubrey Hyde in seventeenth.
Their second Jamboree, hosted by Ottawa Hills, ended pretty much the same, with the team coming in third place. This Jamboree saw four golfers in the top twenty, the usual trio of Alivia (fifth place), Caroline (eighth place), and Camille (sixteenth place), along with Glenna, who finished in twelfth. Not the greatest showing compared to the Jamboree they attended just two days prior, but it is incredible when considering the consistency the girls have had in all of their showings this far in the season.
Following the Ottawa Hills Jamboree, the golf team delivered an absolute masterpiece of a performance, not only as a team but also individually. At the Greenville Invitational on September 12, the girls’ team not only won the invite, but they won by an incredible nineteen strokes above their closest competitor. And not only did the team win, but they had six golfers place in the top twenty, one of which being Alivia Offer, who won the whole tournament. The other five golfers were Camille, who came in second (just two strokes behind Alivia), Maggie finished ninth, Aubrey finished thirteenth, Glenna finished fourteenth, and Caroline finished fifteenth.
Following the major success in Greenville, the girls had their first of two Double Jamborees, hosted by Grand Rapids Christian and Catholic Central. This Double Jamboree ended with the team tied for second, and the same trio topped the scores for FHC once again. Alivia finished fifth, Camille in eighth, and Caroline in ninth. They followed up the GRC and CC Double Jamboree with another one, this time hosted by Forest Hills Eastern and Northern, where the team finished third, even though there were six golfers in the top twenty. Once again, Alivia finished fifth, Caroline finished tenth, Camille finished eleventh, Glenna finished thirteenth, and Maggie tied with Aubrey for fifteenth place.
After their Double Jamboree, the Rangers hosted their Senior Night to honor the two seniors on their team, Maggie Hill and Colette Noble. The girls finished this one in third place, but did have a great showing individually, with six people in the top twenty, including both seniors. Alivia came in fourth, Camille in eighth, Caroline in tenth, and Glenna tied with the two seniors for nineteenth place.
Then the Rangers had their conference meet, the first of three extremely important end-of-season tournaments, and they stayed right on par with where they had been the rest of the season. The team finished in third place overall, with five golfers once again in the top twenty. Those golfers were Alivia in seventh, Camille and Caroline tied for eleventh, Maggie in fifteenth, and Campbell Kozlow in nineteenth.
Following the conference meet, the girls participated in three tournaments to prepare themselves for Regionals, those three being Ludington, Captain Sally, and Gull Lake, where the Rangers did not disappoint. At their tournament in Ludington, the girls came in second place, and individually swept third, fourth, and fifth position, being Alivia, Caroline, and Camille, in that order. After that, they attend the Captain Sally Invitational in honor of Camille’s mother, Courtney Tierney, who is an active service member. The girls once again finished in second place, with Alivia finishing second individually, Caroline finishing fifth, and Camille finishing eleventh. Lastly was the Gull Lake Invitational, which was exactly the result the girls needed going into Regionals. The girls were awarded their third win of the season at Gull Lake, Alivia in second once again, Caroline in fifth again, and Camille in twelfth. This was an amazing confidence booster going into the tournament that could either keep their season alive or end it.
“Our overall team energy on our way to regionals was great, and I think we were all really confident in ourselves and knew that we could win,” Caroline said.
And they did win, the Rangers beat out every other team in the OK White to send themselves to States, and extend their season. This team effort was once again helped out by Alivia Offer, who finished second in the region, Caroline VanderVelde, who finished fourth, Camille Tierney in eighth, and Glenna Rinckey in fifteenth.
The girls finished off their season as the third-best Division II team in the state of Michigan, with Alivia Offer finishing sixth individually. This was a major team achievement, but Camille credits one teammate specifically for helping the team get that third-place finish.
“Maggie Hill’s score was counted at the end of states,” Camille explains. “Since the top four scores of ours and Lowell were tied, and because she did well, we placed third at states, which is awesome.”
There are still things to improve on for next season, but the future looks bright for this girls’ golf team, especially since the majority are only sophomores; they have more than enough potential to become one of the next powerhouse sports of Forest Hills Central.
