Girls golf: Stevenson's Duan outduels Barrington's Smith for regional crown
Playing against each other in a sudden death playoff was nothing new for Stevenson freshman Emily Duan and Barrington junior Caroline Smith.
But it was new at the high school level.
They'd met three times in playoffs for Illinois Junior Golf Association championships but on Wednesday at the Arboretum Club in Buffalo Grove, the North Suburban Conference champ and the three-time defending Mid-Suburban League champ went to overtime for a Class 2A regional crown.
Duan parred the first extra hole to claim medalists honors at the Class 2A Stevenson regional.
She and Smith shot 3-over par 75s in regulation to lead their teams to the top two spots.
Barrington (315) took first place followed by Stevenson (321) and Prospect (347).
That trio advances to Monday's Huntley sectional at Blackstone Golf Course in Marengo.
"The conditions were tough with the heavy wind making the course play long," said Barrington coach Jodi Schoeck. "But the girls kept their spirits high and I could not be more proud of them. Making it to sectionals has been their goal since day one and they made it happen."
Making it happen for the Fillies were Wake Forest-bound Smith, Wisconsin-bound Nicole Ciskowski (77), Ishani Majmudar (79) and Olivia Lee (84).
"We've played in playoffs before so it was actually really fun reliving that," Smith said. "She had a nice two-putt for par on the playoff hole and I just didn't make my up and down. It was nice to see her win."
Majmudar, a senior, came home with a sizzling 37 on the back nine.
"I was little more focused on the back nine," she said. "And it was lot more fun. It was my last regional so I really wanted to stay positive and help my team. I'm proud of my score considering the conditions today."
Duan said it was one of the windiest days she had seen on the golf course.
"It was 30 miles per hour," said Stevenson's first freshman to win a regional since Stephanie Miller in 2009." I just went a club up or club down. It was amazing having a playoff with Caroline because we've played together so long. I love her so much."
Following Duan's score for the Pats were Kelly Dong (79), Joyce Bai (80) and Sophia Zhuang (87).
"How about our freshman (Duan)?" said fifth-year coach Emma Degen, whose Pats also advanced as a team last fall. " It was a really good round for her. She's just very even keeled and loves to play the game. Our score (321) was not our best round but for these conditions and the slow pace of play, our girls stayed together and got some good scores."
Prospect's scores came from Emily Fleming (81), Kelly Kavanagh (84), Amanda Stein (86), Emma Gries (96) and Emma Preissing (96).
"Emily played solid all day," said Prospect coach Jim Hamann. "She's really hitting the ball well and we're excited about putting up some good scores at Blackstone. "The course played very long today, about 6,000 yards. We're not looking at our scores. It was the toughest regional in the state and now we're in the toughest sectional. We came her to get a job done - to advance, and that's what we did. Our seniors led us. Emily and Amanda both had good back nines. Kelly (Kavanagh, a junior) also played well on the back nine."
Area individual sectional qualifiers were St. Viator sophomore Cate Reisinger (79), Wheeling's Adrienne Rohwedder (79 with 2 pars), Wheeling's Symantha Rohwedder (79 with 4 pars), Buffalo Grove's Alisa Patel (81), Fremd's Kellie Liu (90) and Fremd's Liz Prigge (92).
Reisinger, the East Suburban Catholic runner-up, had 2 pars on Wednesday.