Girls golf: Cary-Grove freshman Lyne savors regional title

Cary-Grove freshman Molly Lyne was not a big fan of the number she posted on the first hole at Wednesday's Class 2A Huntley regional at Pinecrest in Huntley.

"I started off with a bogey," she said.

And then it was smooth sailing after that for Lyne, who posted a total of 5 birdies on her way to an individual regional championship 2-under-par 70 round.

That 70 helped the District 155 co-op team (comprised of players from Cary-Grove, Crystal Lake Central and Crystal Lake South) win the team regional title with a 334, 10 shots better than host Huntley, which also moves on to Monday's Buffalo Grove sectional at Buffalo Grove Golf Course.

"I birdied the second hole and that made me real happy," said Lyne. "It helped me come back and it gave me momentum throughout the round."

Lyne birdied 2, 3, 10, 12 and 14.

"The birdies helped a lot," she said. "Other than 18, my driver was working the whole day. I'm hitting it as good as I can hit it right now. My chipping also is improving. I was able to get up and down a lot."

Lyne said she had limited previous experience at Pinecrest and was playing the back 9 for only the second time.

"I wasn't thinking about scoring," she said. "It's a course I would personally like. I needed to hit it straight and I knew if I hit it straight I would score pretty well. The distances were pretty short. It's a course that is suited for me because of the dogleg left and I usually play a draw. It worked out well."

Lyne was most proud of her performance on the par-3 13th hole. "I heard from my coach that a lot of people were hitting it short and not factoring in the wind," she explained. "I took a couple extra clubs and hit it within 10 feet. I was happy with how I played the hole. I hit it straight during the round and that gave me some good looks at birdies and I made my putts."

In addition to Lyne's 2-under gem, Central junior Rylie Schurter shot 82, Central sophomore Kathryn Bevil shot 88 and South senior Julie Newton rounded out the 155 scoring with a 94.

"We're really excited to be going to sectionals," said Lyne. "We've been setting goals for ourselves and we came in wanting to win the regional. We have that motivation for sectionals. We won the regional and now we have even more momentum going into sectionals."

Coach Kyle McCaughn added: "Everybody shot well and stepped up. We shot better than we had been shooting the past couple weeks. It was a great time to do that."

Jacobs senior Stephanie Fiorentino qualified as an individual for Monday's sectional after shooting an 84.

"The 84 is moving me on to sectionals. I can't ask for much more than that," she said. "My driver definitely was working well and all my approach shots were pretty good."

Fiorentino, making her second sectional appearance, birdied the par-3 11th hole by draining a long-range putt.

"I changed my strategy halfway through," she said. "The greens were running really fast so I had to bounce every shot in order to keep it on the green."

Fiorentino turned a 45 on the front, into a strong 39 on the back. "I definitely felt like I came out of the end of the round well. I was hitting mostly pars," she said.

Fiorentino's classmate Nicole Durben also qualified for sectionals with a 94.

Host Huntley carded a 344 paced by senior Caroline Georgi's 79. Junior Katie Weidner shot 83, while senior Nicole Gordus finished with a 91. Junior Maggie Matustik rounded out the Red Raiders' scorecard with another 91.

Jacobs finished one place out of a team advancement, finishing fourth with a 376. Dundee-Crown was eighth at 432 and Hampshire finished 10th with a 441.

At Plainfield North: West Aurora qualified 3 individuals for sectionals out of the Class 2A Plainfield North regional held at Nettle Creek in Morris.

Junior Lauren Deliman shot a 90, while senior Maddie Bozik and sophomore Annie Wu both shot 100s to advance to Tuesday's Lockport sectional at Broken Arrow in Lockport. West Aurora tied for sixth as a team with a 400.

Rosary junior Megan Whitmer also shot 100 to qualify as an individual. The Royals finished ninth as a team with a 440.

At Johnsburg: Elgin Academy sophomore Neha Karna and St. Edward junior Jordan Mattas both advanced to sectionals out of the Class 1A Johnsburg regional at Boone Creek in Bull Valley.

Karna shot an 86, while Mattas shot 89. They both will compete in Monday's Class 1A Pontiac sectional at the Pontiac Elks Club.

"My short game was stronger today," said Karna. "I had a few ups and downs that helped me out. My strategy was to contain the bad shots and control everything the best I could."

Karna birdied the par-4 fifth hole on the Valley course. "I hit my tee shot a little left, but I made up for it with a nice sand iron shot and then I made a 10-footer."

Aurora Central Catholic sophomore Maggie Gaspardo also qualified after beating the individual sectional cut by one stroke with a 98.

St. Edward finished seventh as a team with a 459. Aurora Central was eighth with a 460.