For the second straight year, the Dowagiac girls golf team has earned Division III Academic All-State from the Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association.

The Chieftains posted a 3.798 GPA to earn the honor.

The regional team of Rebecca Franklin, Greta Whitaker, Lynsie Stolpe, Peytin Lee and Lauren Ahonen received the honor earlier this week. Dowagiac is coached by Bob Turner.

In 2016, Dowagiac posted a team GPA of 3.81. Franklin and Whitaker were also members of that Chieftain golf team.

Franklin also earned Division III honorable mention all-state.

Franklin, a sophomore, was a first-team All-Wolverine Conference selection after finishing the 2017 season with a 44.3 stroke average, which was third best in the league.

Franklin’s lowest round of the conference season came in the season opener at South Haven. She shot 88 to tie for third at the league tournament held at Island Hills in Centreville.

“Rebecca is deserving of the honor,” Turner said.  “She had a really nice year and she goes about everything the right way. She finished third overall in the conference for the year, which earned her first-team all-conference for the second straight year. She had a scoring average of 44.5 for all nine-hole matches on the year. She averaged 89.6 on the 18-hole matches that we played.

“She has a great disposition for golf. You cannot tell how she is doing from a distance. She doesn’t hang her head or pout when things aren’t going good and she doesn’t get too excited when things are going good. She keeps a nice even keel as the round is going on. Her competitiveness is her best kept secret. She wants to win and is driven to get there.

“She will spend extra time at the range on her own to work out a problem. She will come back the next day and say, ‘oh yeah, I was standing too close,’ or ‘my ball position was bad.’”

Franklin tied with Sturgis’ Rachel Webb and Carli Sanford, who also earned honorable mention all-state honors. The Trojans’ Katie Horn also earned honorable mention all-state.

Two other Wolverine Conference schools — Three Rivers and Sturgis — also received academic all-state in Division 3.

The Three Rivers team consisted of Erin Taylor, Sara Haydon, Heidi Hines, Michaela Shockley and Jayley Zeimet posted a 3.726 GPA. The Wildcats are coached by Mark Zeimet.

Sturgis’ team GPA was 3.546. The team consisted of Horn, Webb, Sanford, Rylie Miller and Madisen Percival. The Trojans are coached by Kenneth Schau.

To earn academic all-state, the five members of the team that competed in the regional tournament must have a GPA of more than 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. Players with a perfect 4.0 receive bonus points according to their grade level (10th graders receive 4.05, 11th graders receive 4.10, and 12th graders 4.15).

The five individuals must have their transcripts mailed and confirmed as received to verify their GPA. Eighth-grade transcripts are used for freshman girls.

The lone area golfer to earn all-state was St. Joseph’s Cailey Rooker, a junior, who was first-team in Division 2.

Rooker averaged 40.0 in SMAC West Division play, which earned her first-team all-division as well as medalist. She shot a season-best 39 at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor.

Traverse City West’s Anika Dy was named the 2017 Miss Golf by the coaches association.

Dy led Traverse City West to the state championship by winning the individual title with a two-day total of 141.