High school girls golf: Led by Kennedee Pearson, Woods Cross claims first-ever state crown

Published: May 20, 2025, 9:33 p.m. MDT

Woods Cross celebrates their first place finish in the 5A high school girls golf championship at Glendale Golf Course in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Joe covers University of Utah sports for the Deseret News.

It’s been a climb for Woods Cross since starting its girls golf program, and on Tuesday, the Wildcats reached the mountaintop.

Woods Cross hoisted its first-ever girls golf state championship trophy on Tuesday at Glendale Golf Course, finishing 82-over during the two-day event to take the crown.

“I’m proud of them. They’ve put in a lot of hard work and effort,” Woods Cross coach Brandon Pearson said.

“Some of them are fairly new to golf and they learned quickly. Their athleticism really showed and they’ve been very teachable ... So we’ve been able to get that dialed in and their learning curve has been quick.”

Medalist honors went to Bonneville’s Whitni Johnson, who posted the only under-par score in the field, finishing 3-under, and that effort made it a close race between Bonneville and Woods Cross down the stretch.

During the back nine on Tuesday, Bonneville shot just 11-over, compared to 20-over from Woods Cross, but wasn’t quite able to close the gap as the Wildcats closed strong enough to seal the championship, winning by just three strokes.

Bonneville’s Whitni Johnson is hugged by teammates as she finishes and wins the 5A high school girls golf championship at Glendale Golf Course in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Bonneville’s Whitni Johnson tees off as she competes in the 5A high school girls golf championship at Glendale Golf Course in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. Johnson placed first. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

High school girls 5A golf championship at Glendale Golf Course in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Woods Cross golfers pose for a photo with their first place trophy after winning the 5A high school girls golf championship at Glendale Golf Course in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Bonneville golfers pose for a photo with their second place trophy in the 5A high school girls golf championship at Glendale Golf Course in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Salem Hills’ Navy Hubbs watches her ball fly as she competes in the 5A high school girls golf championship at Glendale Golf Course in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. Hubbs placed second overall. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Woods Cross’ Kennedee Pearson hits out of a sand trap as she competes in the 5A high school girls golf championship at Glendale Golf Course in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. Pearson placed third overall. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

“Honestly, it wasn’t until the 18th hole (that he realized Woods Cross was going to win) because Bonneville put a lot of pressure on us to start the back nine,” Pearson said.

“And a few of our players were struggling while it seemed, while theirs were theirs were catching wind and playing well. And so for us it took just grinding it out at the end to get it done and they did. So I’m super proud of them for that.”

Despite firing a 36-over as a team in the second and final day, compared to Woods Cross’s 40-over, Bonneville couldn’t overcome a 53-over performance on day one, as the Wildcats shot 42-over on the first day to give themselves a major leg up on the field heading into Tuesday.

“I felt good coming into today,“ Pearson said. ”They played great as a team. They scored better today, but I felt like we played better as a team yesterday. Kennedee anchored us both days with 74-74, which kind of provided the consistency we needed.“

Kennedee Pearson led Woods Cross by finishing four-over over two days on the par-72 course.

“She’s been our consistent player throughout the season. She had a scoring average of about 73, which really kind of solidified, helped the team scoring that we needed,” Pearson said.

“She ended up being the Region 5 medalist and she was super proud of that, super proud of her for that. So that low scoring for us as a team really helped us to be able to, if another player was off, her score really still kept us in every match.”

Woods Cross’s Tess Poulsen fired a 20-over 164 to finish in a tie for 11th place among individuals, while Vivian Oaks was 26-over to finish in 16th place and Makenzie Pearson was 32-over to finish in a tie for 24th place.

“Tess had a great round yesterday, struggled through the middle part of her round today and regrouped at the end. And same thing for Vivian and then Mackenzie Pearson was our good fourth anchor to bring it home for us,” Pearson said.

It all culminated in Woods Cross’s first-ever girls golf state title.

“I’m so proud of this whole team and myself. This has been a really big goal of mine for a long time, since freshman year,” Kennedee Pearson said.

“We didn’t really have a program, and so building it up these past four years has been awesome and it’s just been so cool to see everyone play great, and I’m just really proud of everyone and myself.”

5A girls golf championship

At Glendale Golf Course

Team scores

Woods Cross, 330 - 328 — 658
Bonneville, 341- 324 - 665
Skyline, 343 - 325 - 668
Wasatch, 347 - 335 - 682
Brighton, 345 - 341 -686
Box Elder, 344 -356 - 700
Timpview, 354 - 360 - 714
Spanish Fork, 369 - 359 - 728
Alta, 369 - 363 - 732
Olympus, 372 - 363 - 735

Individual scores

71 - 70 - 141 - Whitni Johnson, Bonneville
75 - 70 - 145 — Navy Hubbs, Salem Hills
74 - 74 - 148 — Kennedee Pearson, Woods Cross
77 - 75 - 152 — Catherine Cook, Brighton

T5. 75 - 79 - 154 — Claire Olafsson, Brighton

T5. 79 - 75 - 154 — Raina Riml, Wasatch

79 - 78 - 157 — Seneti Toluta’u, Timpview
84 - 75 - 159 — Cambria Ohlson, Bountiful
87 - 74 - 161 — Teyha Geake, Wasatch
82 - 80 - 162 — Campbell Kato, Olympus

T11. 80 - 84 - 164 — Tess Poulsen, Woods Cross

T11. 85 - 79 - 164 — Tristyn Green, Skyline

T11. 83 - 81 - 164 — India Colarusso, Skyline

88 - 78 - 166 — Elizabeth Holbrook, Skyline
87 - 81 - 168 — Addy Levanger, Spanish Fork
87 - 83 - 170 — Vivian Oaks, Woods Cross

T17. 88 - 83 - 171 — Courtney Peterson, Salem Hills

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T17. 88 - 83 - 171 — Ali Smith, Springville

T19. 85 - 87 - 172 — Izabel Nelson, Box Elder

T19. 88 - 84 - 172 — Lucie Holyoak, Skyline

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