Girls golf: ‘Unheard of in a regional’ — Glenbrook North, Stevenson, New Trier all break 300
The competition at the Class 2A Prospect regional at Mt. Prospect Golf Club was always expected to be top-heavy.
But the top three schools finishing with a team score of under 300 were unheard of by the coaches and golfers alike in Tuesday’s action.
Glenbrook North carded an aggregate of 287 to win the regional by 11 strokes over second-place Stevenson (298). New Trier shot a 299 to claim third and the final team spot in the Class 2A New Trier sectional next Monday at Winnetka Golf Club.
“It’s been this way for the last three years,” Stevenson coach Emma Degen said. “You have the top two in the state in the same regional, and we’ve kind of expected this over the last few years. We knew it would be a challenge. We just come out here and try to play our best golf.”
Martha Kuwahara carded a 66 to finish 4-under for the day to win the medalist honors for the Spartans, while New Trier’s Grace Leber shot a 67.
Victoria Shao shot a 71 to finish in third place and as the top finisher for the Patriots. Shao and her teammates took their coach's challenge to refrain from checking the scoreboard, even to peek at how their teammates were doing.
Shao said she did not even know she finished in third place until she came back to the tent near the front of the clubhouse and saw the scoreboard.
“I didn’t really check the scores, because I feel like if you’re seeing that they are doing well, then that applies more pressure to you,” Shao said. “And you’re already in a huge pressurized environment. You don’t want to stress yourself out more.”
The strategy also worked for Shao’s teammates, as the Patriots had three of the top six individual scores, with all six golfers finishing in the top 17.
Campbell Ray and Ava Alimissis finished in a four-way tie with a 75, while Lily Wang’s 77 score was good for 12th. Emma Fiocchi tied for 13th with a 78 and Sophia Joeng finished 17th with her 82.
“I was trying to tune out thinking about my score and looking at the leaderboard,” Campbell said. “I was really trying to tune that out because I feel like it doesn’t really help when you’re worrying about your score or numbers.”
The battle for second place in the team scores between Stevenson and New Trier lasted until the final holes.
“Lily, on 17, had a beautiful second shot into the green and ended up birdieing the hole, which put us up by one,” Degen said. “Then it was just finishing it out. Victoria played a great round, just staying consistent with what we had to do and not letting the leaderboard get into our heads.”
Glenbrook South earned the tiebreaker over Lake Forest to finish in fourth place, with both teams shooting 332. Prospect shot a 358 for sixth place, while Deerfield (370), Highland Park (409) and Vernon Hills (472) finished seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively.
Besides the top three qualifying teams, the top 10 individuals who were not on the top three teams earned a spot in the sectionals.
“This regional is maybe the toughest regional that I’ve ever seen in our history,” Prospect coach Brad Rathe said. “I mean, for three to get under 300 is unheard of in a regional. I am just proud of our kids for fighting, and I am happy to get the two out that got out.”
Prospect’s Peyton Camardella and Madeline Bielecki both nabbed individual spots. Camardella shot an 85 to tie for 18th, while Bielecki finished with a score of 87 to tie for 23rd.
“I did pretty good, but I felt I did a lot better on the front,” Camardella said.
Lake Forest’s Helena Olszewski, Sophia Maffioli and Evelyn Marshall, Deerfield’s Emiko Chichester, and Glenbrook South’s Lara Konanahalli, Sonam Konanahalli, Sydney Saltzman and Nia Minumula were the other individual qualifiers.