SLIDESHOW: 5-A Girls State Championships
SALT LAKE CITY -- There's no better motivator then a postseason playoff loss.
With a region tournament setback as incentive, Fremont rallied to take second place Thursday at the state 5-A girls golf championship at Glendale Golf Course.
The overall day belonged to Bingham, whose coach gave birth 10 days ago. Her team posted a six-point victory behind a freshman phenom whose domination of the sport is also in its infancy.
Sirene Blair, already a fixture on regional amateur tours, blistered the course for a five-under-par 67 that translated into a Stableford score of 95 and a six-shot victory over Skyline's Nicole Gaddie.
With Bingham dominating, Fremont made the most of the day.
Fremont's 237 outlasted Skyline (234) and Brighton (233) for the runner-up trophy, but the satisfaction was also there thanks to finishing nine ahead of Layton and 13 ahead of the Weber team it lost to in last week's Region 1 tourney.
"Second place feels like a big win for us," said Fremont coach Tori Fishburn. "I'm very excited for the girls. We wanted to bounce back from region."
The key was consistency. Fishburn got an 86 (76 stroke) from Alli Cluff while Ashley Aldous posted a 68 (94) and a 78 (84) from Sadie Craner for the three team scores. Markie Grondel added a 73 (89).
Cluff finished tied with Davis' Carly Oldroyd for fourth overall
"Alli's been consistent for us all season," Fishburn said.
The area's defending state champions, the Davis team and Weber's Tara Green, couldn't match last year's effort.
The Darts dropped to eighth place, five points behind Weber's sixth-place finish and two behind Alta's 221.
Green, one of the first players out and the first in the clubhouse, had a steady day, but settled for an 88 score and 74 strokes for a third-place finish.
"She was down the middle and hitting a lot of greens," Weber coach Bart Poll said of Green's game. "She just left herself a lot of long putts. It's hard to make a lot of birdies when you have 15-20 foot putts. She couldn't get anything going."
Layton's Haley Dunn finished sixth with an 83 (79). Syracuse tied Lone Peak for 12th.
3-A tournament
At Salt Lake City, Desert Hills and Park City staged a team battle in the 3-A girls tournament at Meadowbrook Golf Course.
Park City got an impressive medalist finish from Sami Crouch, the defending 3-A champ, who shot a 69 for a 93 Stableford tally, but Desert Hills grouped its top four scorers in the top eight and won the team title with a 237.
Park City was at 226, with Region 11 champion Judge Memorial fourth at 200.
Morgan, Bear River and Ben Lomond finished fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively.
Morgan's Megan Woodward posted a fourth-place overall score (79), with Baylee Bice at 67. Bear River was led by Keshley Rhodes (65) and Sammy Pugsley (64). Ben Lomond's Mandee Miller was ninth overall with a 73, with Briana Barfuss at 63.
The top senior golfers will join the top senior boys golfers in a tournament on Tuesday at Hidden Valley Country Club. Details will be announced on Monday.
Comments