HARRIS — The top medalist for the MHSAA Division 1 Boys Golf tournament had the benefit of knowing the mark he had to hit once he stepped on the 18th hole.

Marquette senior Joe Luke won the day with a 2-over-par 74 — just one stroke below Menominee’s Brady Badker — Thursday at the Sweetgrass Golf Club.

“Just before 18, I had no clue (about my score),” Luke said. “There was this phone app we were using to keep score, and I wasn’t on my phone (beforehand) because I figured I would just put it all in afterwards so I could keep focus on my game. Then, once I got to 18, one of my buddies in the group told me Brady (Badker) was plus-three. So, I was like, ‘Oh, boy.’ I didn’t really want to know that because I was plus-one at the time. I came in, and I saw him up on the hill watching me, which is normal. We always played together in the normal GNCs (Great Northern Conference matches). Then, I ended up bogeying the last hole, and I knew I had to come out with a bogey. I was probably a little bit nervous, but I was also very excited. Maybe a little teary too, because it’s my last meet for high school.”

After the front-nine, Luke was even and began to realize he had a shot at making a run to the top.

“I didn’t think I was going to come in and win this,” Luke said. “I just wanted to shoot a good enough score for the team for us to win. I felt pretty confident with the team aspect for winning the U.P.’s. It was really nice helping the team out there. Just coming into it, I knew probably after the front-nine that I was even, so I was like, ‘I actually have a really good shot at this. I just have to keep playing the way I am, and maybe shoot even on the back two. Maybe I got this thing in the bag.’ It was really exciting. I definitely wasn’t expecting it, and I really enjoyed the round and the course and the people I was playing with.”

Luke accomplished his team goal, leading Marquette to top honors for the day with a cumulative 325.

“Throughout the day, I knew we were kind of hanging there in, and going into it, we had a really solid spring,” Marquette coach Ben Smith said. “I’ve had six kids who have played really good golf on the guys’ side, and unfortunately, we could only bring five of them. We kind of knew if we went out and played a round of golf like we normally play a round of golf, we would be O.K. That’s easier said than done when you’re at a nice and challenging course like Sweetgrass at kind of your biggest event of the year. It’s real easy to try and do things differently.”

Marquette was followed by Houghton 330, Calumet 334, Menominee 341, Kingsford 347 and Escanaba 349.

“I thought it was a real solid performance for our team,” Houghton coach Corey Markham said. “When you’re five strokes behind the first place, you look back and see a few places where you wish you could have shaved a stroke here or there, but I thought we had a great day on a great course.”

Luke and Badker were followed by a four-way tie at third with Houghton’s Marino Pisani and Brady Schmierer, Westwood’s Tyler Annala and Kingsford’s Matt Solda with 80 strokes apiece.

Shane Wallin was the highest finisher for the Eskymos, ending in a seven-way tie at 14th place with an 85.

Esky’s Bryson Lancour shot an 86 in a four-way tie for 21st.

“We’re freshman and sophomore loaded, and to me, it screams excitement for the years coming up here,” Esky coach Brian Robinette said. “What they learn along the way, a lot of it wouldn’t show up in our results. All our kids learned to play better under pressure. They weren’t in their comfort zone … You can’t simulate that unless the kids go and do it.

“All five of those kids I played. Owen Lancour got in a little late, but he’s showed some really good signs. Our other four guys, we ran them hard. Rogan Gravelle, Sawyer Lamarche, Bryson Lancour and Shane Wallin. I don’t think Shane missed one event. He shot our lowest score as a freshman today. Those guys play a lot of golf holes under that pressure, and I just think that will be a huge payoff going forward.”

Rounding out Escanaba was Rogan Gravelle 88, Sawyer Lamarche 90 and Owen Lancour 106.

Owen Klarich was the top golfer for Manistique with an 88, and his teammates were Landen Doughtery 89, Grant Mason 95, Nate Schoenow 102 and Cale Dykes 111.

Gladstone fielded just Cam Ballard and Peter Lippens, who shot a 91 and 114, respectively.

Luke finished his thoughts with thanks.

“I just want to say thanks to my teammates for all years coming up,” he said. “Also, my family, they’ve been a huge support, and definitely coach Ben (Smith) and Rick Rhoades for being out there. It was a big support for them this year to be with me, and I definitely needed Rick for a few rulings to figure out the best shots here and there. It’s nice to have someone to be able to connect with. Thank you to everybody. It was an amazing experience. I really enjoyed it. Thank you to Brady too. I love the competition we had this entire year.”

Full results

Team results:

1st 325 Marquette

2nd 330 Houghton

3rd 334 Calumet

4th 341 Menominee

5th 347 Kingsford

6th 349 Escanaba

7th 353 Westwood

8th 356 Baraga/L’anse

9th 364 Negaunee

10th 370 SSM

11th 374 Manistique

12th 510 Ironwood

Individual results (1-20):

74 Joe Luke Marquette

75 Brady Badker Menominee

80 Marino Pisani Houghton

80 Brady Schmierer Houghton

80 Tyler Annala Westwood

80 Matt Solda Kingsford

81 Andrew MacIntyre Menominee

82 Dan Loukus Calumet

82 Lincoln Sager Marquette

82 Troy Watt Kingsford

83 Kip Kangas Calumet

84 John Weber Marquette

84 Paul Sturos Calumet

85 Blake Wiley Houghton

85 Brock Taylor Marquette

85 Cage Osterman Baraga

85 Lowell Torola Calumet

85 Owen Riipi Marquette

85 Ryan Vlahos Houghton

85 Shane Wallin Escanaba