Prospect, St. Viator advance to sectional
In IHSA regional tournaments for girls golf, first place as a team is a great accomplishment. But if your team can finish in the top three, everyone on that team will be able to move on to sectional play - another great accomplishment.
On Wednesday afternoon at Deerfield Golf Club, Prospect and St. Viator were unable to get past New Trier for the Class AA regional title, but the Knights finished second and the Lions third - so all six of each teams' players will be moving on to sectional play.
Prospect was paced by senior Megan Geraghty, who shot a career-best 75 (3-over par), which was good enough for second place to Deerfield's Jamie Lavin (72).
"It was just extremely exciting to play my personal best at such a good time of year," Geraghty said. "I just wanted to do so well for my team today. Our team is so versatile. Every day a new person could lead. It's exciting. I'm just glad I played well for the team."
The four best scores of the 6 golfers playing for each team determine the team scores. Joining Geraghty for Prospect was Melanie Walsh (83), Alexa Campanile (85) and Christine Garmoe (85).
"She's been coming around," Prospect coach Jim Hamann said of Geraghty. "Her last two 18-hole rounds have been 79, 75. A couple weeks ago, we had a lesson together. It really went well and it just kind of sparked. And she's been doing well ever since."
Geraghty said she felt Prospect played pretty well on Wednesday but can shoot even lower scores. The weather during the first few holes was less than ideal.
Next for Prospect is Monday's sectional tournament at Bonnie Brook Golf Course in Waukegan, where it will have to place either first or second to move on to the state tournament.
"I've been to the sectionals sophomore, junior and now senior year, and I love getting there. We've been so close each year, so we're all just rooting for state this year, so we are all really excited," Geraghty said.
Hamann said the Knights' only had two goals this year: win the conference, which they accomplished, and qualify as a team for the state tournament.
"We know that if we play well, we should have a pretty good shot," Hamann said of the sectional tournament. "There's going to be a lot of good teams up there. I told the girls we are going to shoot a number and see where we fall. And hopefully it's in the top two."
For St. Viator, Kaela Klune took the fifth-place medal home with a score of 79. The Lions' other 3 top scorers were Abbie Dickey (82), Kelly Sullivan (86) and Hallie Dunn (87).
In addition to all members of the top three teams at Wednesday's event moving on to the Waukegan sectional, the eight best finishers not on qualifying teams advanced.
That means there will be four more Mid-Suburban League golfers at Waukegan - Fremd's Kelly Voigt (83), Rolling Meadows' Amanda Coleman (88) and Mia Kaim (90) and Buffalo Grove's KC Dunne (90).
At Glenbrook South: Maine West senior Chelsea Kellogg shot 86 at Glenview Park Golf Club to advance to the Waukegan sectional.