Girls golf: Stevenson reigns supreme in NSC for 5th straight year

Supremacy in North Suburban Conference girls golf stays with Stevenson for the fifth straight year.

Emily Duan and Allie Santos each led the way with 5-over par 78s as the Patriots posted a 327, a whopping 38 shots ahead of the field at Fox Lake Country Club in Fox Lake on Wednesday.

Lake Forest was second (365), Libertyville third (367), Lake Zurich fourth (377), Warren fifth (390) and Mundelein sixth (395).

"Easily, this is the deepest team that I've seen here in Lake County and the NSC," said Stevenson assistant coach Andy Conneen, who filled in for head coach Emma Degen. "To see co-champions, a championship legacy of this team, we actually had three others in class today. This tournament win and coach Degen rotating girls throughout the regular season is just a testament to the program. These players have developed a lot of depth."

The other Patriots who carded scores were Abby Froyshteter (85) and Rylie Pryor (86).

Duan and Santos can be considered co-champions but through the NSC guidelines to break the back 9 scores were used. Duan had a 38 to 40 for Santos. That made Duan as the top individual golfer.

"It was definitely a lot more hills then we usually play," said Duan of the 5,282-yard. par-73 course. "It was kind of windy in the morning and then it calmed down a bit. I think it was the perfect weather to play in to be honest. It was more of course management. You knew the wind would be stronger and you have to carefully choose the right club to where you want hit the ball. Mostly, it's a mental thing knowing that you are playing in more difficult conditions. You just have to learn to fight through that."

Santos had a strong finish over her last three holes going birdie, birdie and par on holes 14, 15 and 16 as the girls played in a shotgun format.

"Just hitting shots in the fairways, because these hills were crazy," Santos said. "There was a ton of blind shots, but my irons were sticking and I was making those putts. Especially, towards the end of my round.

"With the wind, I was bundling up. It was harder to move and felt a little uncomfortable. I'm used to wearing shorts and a polo. I had to hit the ball a lot harder, because you're trying to hit the ball harder, you're not moving as much."

Other top scores were Chloe Lee of Lake Forest (85), Emily Kaminsky of Lake Zurich (88), Lily McAuliffe and Audrey Weadick of Libertyville and Lake Forest's Tessa Poulton each with 89s

"It did start out really cold and definitely windy," McAuliffe said. "When we got (to the course), we all were freezing had we had on so many layers. When we started playing, it got a lot warmer. I took a bunch of practice swings with a bunch of clubs and I practiced putting for a while which helped. The course was tough and I haven't played here before. A lot of the shots were blind shots over the hills."