The Niles golf team qualified for the Division III state finals by finishing third at the regional held at Island Hills Golf Club in Centreville Wednesday.

Rain delayed the start of the regional tournament by more than two hours, but when play got under way, Sturgis won its first regional championship in 36 years, while Lakeshore finished second and the Vikings third.

“After a very long rain delay, the girls were told that they would be served lunch and after they were finished eating they could go to the range to practice,” Brawley said. “The course started serving lunches to all of the players. The Viking girls skipped lunch and headed right to the range. I guess they figured they were already going to be cold and wet anyway, so why not be hungry too? 

“It was the first time our top four players went to the same tourney in over three weeks. Most of our golfers are taking college and AP courses making it tough to miss school, so we brought first year golfers to varsity tournaments all year. We’ve placed toward the bottom of most tourneys. I don’t think many schools at our region were too worried about the Vikes, but I figured that if we all played to our potential, we’d have a chance.”

The Trojans, who are the Wolverine Conference champions, defeated the Lancers, who compete in the SMAC West Division along with Niles, by 21 strokes after shooting 375.

Lakeshore shot 396 and Niles 411.

Dowagiac finished sixth with a team total of 459.

Back in September at the Sturgis Invitational, Niles shot 449 at Island Hills, while Dowagiac shot 441.

The Vikings were led by Aynslee Myer’s 101. Elizabeth Clark and Katie Bruckner both shot 102, while Zoe Brawley finished with a 106.

The Chieftains were led by sophomore Rebecca Franklin, who missed qualifying for the state finals as an individual by a single stroke after shooting 92. Greta Whitaker finished with a 96.

“If Three Rivers would have been able to beat Niles, Rebecca and Greta would have both qualified,” Dowagiac coach Bob Turner said.