Juan Diego had a 17-stroke cushion over 3A state tournament favorite Morgan after Wednesday’s opening round.
Fast-forward to the back nine of Thursday’s final round at Lakeside golf course, and the lead had been completely erased. Juan Diego coach Kyler Herdt felt it was important his golfers knew the scenario.
“I let them know where we’re at. I need you right now. Don’t quit. Evan though this is not your round, we can still do this,” recalls Herdt of the message.
In fact, after falling behind by three strokes late in the team scoring, Herdt told them to flip the proverbial rally cap.
“At a certain point, I let them know when we were down three, I decided to put the rally cap on and let them know that we got to get after it. And they battled, and they showed me some grit,” said Herdt.
Juan Diego responded and beat Morgan by one stroke, 699 to 700, to win its first girls golf title in school history.
Richfield finished third with a team score of 701 just two strokes back.
As a team, Juan Diego was 21 shots worse in the second round then the first round, but it was clutch when it mattered most.
Juan Diego originally thought it had lost by one stroke from unofficial scoring, but once the official final scores were tallied they learned that they actually won.
“It’s so amazing. These girls have put in a lot of work throughout the season. We started early. It’s weird starting golf playing in like, middle of January and tryouts in February. But these girls worked really hard, and they deserve it,” said Herdt, whose team has no seniors. “It’s awesome to bring that home for JD. It’s real honor and privilege to work for these girls.”
For Morgan, finishing second again was tough — especially by one stroke — but its golfers showed improvement from Day 1 to Day 2, and had the best score on Thursday with a 344.
Juan Diego only placed two golfers in the top 10, but they were important finishes as Ava Werner and Sabrina Macias tied for fourth with 167s.
Macias was the Day 1 leader after shooting a 75, but struggled on Thursday to hold onto the lead. She still held on for a top five finish though.
Providence Hall freshman Paige Anae was crowned 3A medalist after beating Morgan’s Jane Poll in the first hole of a playoff after both golfers finished tied with 153s.
Anae had a five-stroke lead over Poll heading into the final round, but by her own admission it was a pretty erratic day on the course as she was scrambling to save par more often than she’d like.
“I tried to come in and stay like neutral, and that did not work. I was up and down. I was roller coaster all day,” said Anae.
She parred No. 18 though to finish with a 77. She parred 18 again in the playoff after taking advantage of her best drive of the day. Poll finished with a double bogey on the playoff whole.
“I was nervous at first. I was very nervous, but then I’ve played in many playoffs so that was like, ‘OK, I’ve been through this before. Just need to keep my cool and stay in the process,’” said Anae.
Poll bounced back from a tough Day 1, with a tournament-best round of 72 on Thursday to put herself in contention for medalist.
Richfield’s Shelby Gardner finished third with a 163.
Richfield’s Abbee Albrecht, Juab’s Ashlyn Matheson, Morgan’s Sophie DeMond, Morgan’s Kenadee Benson and Richfield’s Mya Malcom rounded out the top 10.
Anae’s busy junior golf schedule continues on Friday as she travels to St. George to play in the 13th Jay Don Blake tournament at Bloomington Country Club this Friday and Saturday.
Class 3A state tournament
At Lakeside Golf Course
Final Team scores
1. Juan Diego, 699
2. Morgan, 700
3. Richfield, 701
4. Juab, 770
5. Judge Memorial, 790
7. Grantsville, 794
7. Union, 794
8. Ogden, 850
9. North Sanpete, 867
10. Carbon, 889
Final individual results (Top 20)
- 153 — Paige Anae, Providence Hall (won in playoff)
- 153 — Jane Poll, Morgan
- 163 — Shelby Gardner, Richfield
- 167 — Ava Werner, Juan Diego
- 167 — Sabrina Macias, Juan Diego
- 168 — Abbee Albrecht, Richfield
- 171 — Ashlyn Matheson, Juab
- 175 — Sophie DeMond, Morgan
- 176 — Kenadee Benson, Morgan
- 176 — Mya Malcom, Richfield
- 178 — Riley McBride, Grantsville
- 180 — Katy Beaudry, Judge Memorial
- 181 — Emeree Harrison, Union
- 181 — Isabella Werner, Juan Diego
- 182 — Carley West, Carbon
- 186 — Camilla Macias, Juan Diego
- 188 — Alexis Burt, Juan Diego
- 189 — Presley Hester, Ben Lomond
- 191 — Callie McPherson, Juab
- 192 — Lindsey Wangsgard, Grantsville