Girls golf: Lone Peak runs away with 5th straight 6A state title, Herriman’s Paige Anae medals

Just when it appeared that one of the current dynasties in Utah high school sports was in a bit of trouble, the girls on the Lone Peak High School golf team rose up Tuesday and proclaimed it wasn’t happening — not this year, anyway.

Clinging to a one-stroke lead over upstart Herriman when the second and final round began at Davis Park Golf Course, the Knights improved their first-day score by 13 shots and rolled to their fifth straight 6A girls golf championship on a slightly chilly afternoon in Kaysville.

“Heavy is the head that wears the crown,” said Lone Peak coach Derek Farr, quoting Shakespeare (sort of) after the Knights went without an individual golfer in the top five, but had far better depth than everyone else.

Technically, the quote from the play Henry IV is “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” but you get Farr’s point.

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When pressure came knocking Tuesday at the par-71 layout, Lone Peak answered the bell.

So did Bingham, which surged into second place by posting a 306 on Tuesday to go with Monday’s 329.

Herriman, which was just a shot behind Lone Peak when the day began, tied Farmington for third. Corner Canyon placed fifth.

Medalist honors went to Herriman sophomore Paige Anae, who shot rounds of 69 and 68 to finish at 5-under and five shots clear of Bingham junior Stratton Durrant and Herriman senior Natalie McLane. Anae, who is from the famous football- and volleyball-playing Anae family, won 3A medalist honors last year in a playoff while competing for Providence Hall.

She said winning again after making the move up in classification made the victory feel extra sweet.

“It feels good because I improved a lot,” she said. “And it was really fun to play with a lot of my friends that are in 6A.”

And kick their butts.

“I think a key was that I just kept to myself and tried not to talk to the people I was playing with,” Anae said. “So I did the same thing that I did last year. I paid attention to the trees, to nature, and stayed in my bubble.”

She also said she “ate a lot of food,” including her dad’s Musubi, and a lot of Uncrustables.

Her dad, Tyson, who she says is an 11-handicap and can’t beat her regularly anymore, is the nephew of former BYU and Virginia offensive coordinator Robert Anae.

“He’s a good cook, though,” she said. “Musubi is a Hawaiian dish and it is really good.”

So is Anae, who is just starting to draw some college interest, and wants it known that she wouldn’t mind playing college golf in a warmer place than Utah.

As for Lone Peak, Farr said the key was to not get caught up in what happened in the region tournaments and focus on playing well at state. He said the Knights “spent seven days up here at Davis Park for practice rounds” and learned the course inside and out.

“We heard the talk about (LP not being a favorite this year), so it was just a matter of not getting caught up in saying ‘(we) don’t have all the girls back from last year, we aren’t doing this. We aren’t doing that,’” Farr said.

Lone Peak senior Saydie Wagner, who won medalist honors easily last year at Meadowbrook, was the team’s best finisher, taking sixth place at 8-over 150. Wagner, who has signed to play college golf at Utah Valley, said she was a bit under the weather on Monday when she shot a 76 and pretty much took herself out of the medalist race.

Still, she was more than thrilled to help LP continue its dynasty, along with sophomore Morgan Thomas (+12), who tied for seventh. Freshman Kate Stucki (+16) and junior Mikaila Lieu (+17) also contributed to the final team tally. Seniors Sophie Cindrich and Mikayla Maughn added non-counting scores.

“The crown is heavy, but we will have fun with it, and eventually this run will end,” Farr said. “But we will see how long we can keep it running.”

Farr said it was a shame that Wagner didn’t go out a repeat medalist, because the senior has meant so much to the program the past few years.

“She’s just a tremendous player and a tremendous kid, with everything she’s had to go through,” Farr said. “She did enough to help us win. … She had a great year, just came up short, but she always took care of the team and it has been a lot of fun to have her in the program.”

And continue the dynasty.

6A State Girls Golf Tournament

At Davis Park Golf Course, Kaysville

Final Team Scores

• 621 — Lone Peak (317-304)

• 635 — Bingham (329-306)

• 639 — Herriman (318-321) and Farmington (324-315)

• 663 — Corner Canyon (342-321)

• 693 — Copper Hills (345-348)

• 704 — Mountain Ridge (352-352)

• 705 — Skyridge (363-342)

• 706 — Syracuse (352-354)

• 710 — American Fork (364-346)

Top Individual Scores (Par-71)

• 137 (-5) — Paige Anae, Herriman, So.

• 142 — Stratton Durrant, Bingham, Jr.; Natalie McLane, Herriman, Sr.

• 148 — Kai Post, Syracuse, So.

• 149 — Aspen Taylor, Farmington, So.

• 150 — Saydie Wagner, Lone Peak, Sr.

• 154 — Taylor Weingarten, Copper Hills, So.; Claire Biddulph, Farmington, Fr.; Morgan Thomas, Lone Peak, So.

• 156 — Megan Matsuura, Corner Canyon, So.

• 157 — Tara Clark, Mountain Ridge, Sr.

• 158 — Ashlyn Cline, Corner Canyon, Sr.; Kate Stucki, Lone Peak, Fr.

• 159 — Mikaila Lieu, Lone Peak, Jr.

• 161 — Kate Monson, Davis, Jr.; Randli Olsen, Bingham, So.

• 163 — Chloe Suazo, Bingham, Jr.

• 164 — Eve Wilcox, Farmington, So.

• 169 — Gabby Pendleton, Bingham, Fr.; Hadley Allred, American Fork, Jr.

• 170 — Audrey New, American Fork, Jr.

• 171 — Kya Coon, Westlake, Sr.; Lexi Stevenson, Herriman, So.

• 172 — Chloe Slack, Skyridge, So.; Mallorie Hubbard, Skyridge, Jr.