Prep Report: Mustang golfers win Districts, send all six to state

Published 12:06 pm Friday, May 13, 2011

Behind some consistent shooting by the Mustangs’ top scorers and a tremendous second-round rally by seniors Stephanie Schoeppel and Carley Kalina, the Redmond High girls’ golf team won the 4A District Tournament at Mount Si with 87 team points to Newport’s 75.

Kelly Kennewick, who shot a tournament-low 37 on the front nine both rounds in the event, ended up at 77-79–156 to finish one stroke behind Newport sophomore Isabel Chien whose 78-77–155 total took home medalist honors.

Keira O’Hearn punched her state ticket again with a 166 total for fourth place, with Schoeppel (93-85–178) and Kalina (94-84–178) both improving on the second day to finish in a tie for seventh.

“(Schoeppel), who placed 20th at state last year, dropped eight shots – and both of them had to shoot 86 or lower,” said head coach Jake Crowley on the second-round rally. “That was really impressive.”

Rounding out Redmond’s state qualifiers were Makayla Walker (84-96–180) and Casie Helgeson (90-90–180), who made the cut by one shot.

Scores were higher than usual this year at the District Tournament, thanks to a new, more challenging venue in the foothills of the Cascades as opposed to the usual track, Snohomish Golf Course.

“That was a factor,” said Crowley on having Mount Si as the host course this year. “We hadn’t played it as much as we probably should have. It’s a great course, it was beautiful and pretty dry. You have to be able to chip and putt there since the greens are elevated, smaller and slower than Snohomish.”

This year’s 4A state girls’ golf tournament will be held at Downriver Golf Course in Spokane on May 24 and 25. The girls’ team will be taking a weekend trip to the course to get acquainted with the new layout in preparation for the tournament.

Grizzly golfers sending six to state

For the second consecutive time, Bear Creek’s Will Stansell defeated his teammate, Gannon McCahill, in a playoff to earn medalist honors.

This time, it was after the two tied with rounds of 81 at the District 1 & 2 Golf Tournament at Gallery Golf Course in Oak Harbor along with Elie Aboulafia of Northwest Yeshiva, with Stansell prevailing on the second playoff hole.

The team won the championship with 79 points, followed by Yeshiva with 33 points.

Other state qualifiers for the Grizzlies included Ricky Olson (88, 8th place), Jake Imam (90, 9th place), Connor Morgan (96, 17th place, and Morgan Cadigan on the girls’ side (103, 3rd place).

The 2B state golf championships will be held at Meadow Park Golf Club in Tacoma on May 24 and 25.