You know you have a harmonious golf team when you’re singing songs together on the way to meets and tournaments.
The Powers Catholic girls teams of 1993 and 1994 did that often on their way to winning state championships both years.
The Chargers captured both Class B-C-D titles with basically the same team members, winning by a rout the first year and by a stroke the next year. That repeat has earned those teams induction as a single entry into the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame.
Powers played in tune and hummed along both seasons.
“We were all so close, a tight-knit group of girls,” said team captain Darci Stocker. “We liked each other. We hung out together. We played for each other.”
And they sang together.
“We’d sing songs from ‘The Little Mermaid’ in the minivan,” Stocker said. “Wendy Mesack had a beautiful singing voice and would lead everybody along.”
Mesack also changed the lyrics of the sports anthem “We Will Rock You” to a golf version: “We will, we will par you. … You got turf in your face, a big disgrace, hitting your ball all over the place.”
Those lyrics were humorous, but also fitting in the 1993 tournament. Powers rocked the field with a 19-stroke romp over top-ranked Lansing Catholic Central.
In the first year of a two-round tournament format, the Chargers shot 384 on Friday at Groesbeck Golf Course, taking a seven-stroke lead on Lansing Catholic’s home course.
Powers came back Saturday with another 384 on the more challenging Forest Akers West course at Michigan State University, despite wet and chilly conditions. The Chargers’ two-day total of 768 easily beat LCC’s 391-396-787.
All of this without a senior in the lineup. Powers, which had placed sixth in the 1992 tournament, came into 1993 with all underclassmen as its top players.
“We almost felt like we were a year away,” coach Jack Snow told the Flint Journal after the 1993 championship. None of the girls saw it that way.
Freshman Tera Hamo led Powers with 88-96-184, finishing seventh individually. Stocker shot 96-96-192 to place ninth. Sophomore Kristin Esia carded 102-94-196, sophomore Audrey Austin 103-98-201 and junior Mesack 98-105-203. Hamo and Stocker earned All-State honors.
