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Girls golf: Runner-up state finish is Barrington's best

During the first week of the season, Barrington girls golf coach Jodi Schoeck took her players on a little hall of fame tour of the trophy case in the foyer of the school's main gymnasium

"We looked at all the previous players and teams that won conference, regional and sectional plaques," said Schoeck, an IHSA hall of fame coach herself. "And we ended by looking at the third-place state girls golf trophy (from 1996)."

That was best finish in the program history - until Saturday at the Hickory Point Golf Club in Decatur.

The Fillies ended with a two-day total score of 612, their best number in 10 trip to state finals, and it was good enough for second place behind champion Wheaton Warrenville South (605).

"We had big dreams looking at that 1996 trophy at the start of the season, because we knew we could get here," said Schoeck, now in her 30th season. "And we finally did it."

Hinsdale Central (613) was just 1 stroke behind in third followed by St. Charles North (617), New Trier (619), Naperville North (626), Benet (634), Galesburg (640), Prospect (645), O'Fallon (652), Normal (662) and St. Charles East (666).

Reena Sulkar shot a 3-over 75 on Saturday to finish in a tie for sixth place among the individual competitors. She was 5 strokes behind Lincoln-Way Central sophomore Grace Curran, the champion who shot a 139 for two days.

Sulkar also earned a state medal as a sophomore (eighth place) to become only the second Fillie in school history with at least two state medals. Pam Buff, who played at Tulane, won three.

"Reena stuck with it all day," Schoeck said. "She kept pushing. She had a couple of bogeys she followed up with birdies and ended up finding herself on the podium again (to receive an individual medal).

"Reena already had secured a place among the elite Barrington golfers and this put an exclamation point on it."

Fillies freshman Caroline Smith had her team's best score on Saturday with a 74.

"Caroline really had a great day," Schoeck said. "She had a couple of rough shots and followed one with chip-in, so that helped her."

That came on hole No. 14 when she took a penalty for an unplayable lie. But the Mid-Suburban League champ hit a good second shot and chipped in from about 30 yards.

The Fillies also counted the scores from senior Shivani Majmudar (80) and sophomore Ishani Majmudar (81). Sulkar, Shivani Majmudar and Allie Quinn were all on the varsity four years.

"For those seniors, this is a little redemption," Schoeck said. "Because as freshmen, they missed qualifying for state by 1 stroke at the sectional."

Quinn and Nicole Ciskowski (both shot 83s on Saturday) counted their scores on Friday.

"Over the two days, all six of our girls had scores counted so it's really great to know every girl put her mark on this," Schoeck said. "Each player dedicated herself the last few years to working on her game and it all came together for one last ride down to Decatur."

Schoeck called it a great way to end the season.

"They were an awesome group of golfers," she said. "It's the 20-year anniversary of our third-place finish. We all shed tears of joy knowing we are bringing the trophy back to Barrington."

Leading the way for Prospect was senior Kate Ponzi, who shot a career-best 75 on Saturday to finish with a 151 two-day total, good for a tie for 14th with Barrington's Smith.

"Kate has played absolutely fantastic the past three weeks," said Prospect coach Jim Hamann. "She has led this team to its lowest scores of the season.

"This state performance by Kate is one of the best in the history of our program. I couldn't be more proud of her."

Completing the Knights' score card on Saturday were junior Margherite Pettenuzzo (80), senior Sabrina Accardi (81) and sophomore Emily Fleming (81).

"This team really came together the past month." Hamann said. "Today we had one of the best scores (of any team) on the front nine. We just didn't finish strong on the back nine."

Prospect shot it best nine holes (37, two 38s and a 41) of the season on the front nine.

"It was a tournament of bests for us," said Hamann, who won state titles in 2011 and 2013 along with a second in 2012 and a fourth and fifth in five previous trips as a team. "Being here and watching these kids compete well in this tournament is one of my proudest moments as the coach in this golf program."

Hersey senior Megan Kopeny shot a 78 on Saturday to finish with a two-day total of 159. She tied for 45th with Buffalo Grove junior Haeri Lee (82 on Saturday) and Barrington's Ciskowski.

Sophomore Adrienne Rohwedder, the first girls golfer in Wheeling history to compete in the state finals, shot an 81 on Saturday to finish in a tie for 54th with a two-day total of 160.

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