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CHAMPAIGN – The girls' golf teams at Marquette Catholic and Edwardsville both qualified for their respective IHSA State tournaments this weekend by posting third-place finishes in the Sectional tournaments on Monday.
In the Class 1A Sectional at Greenview Golf Course in Centralia, the Explorers finished tied for third with Columbia at 339 but went through to the state meet by virtue of a tiebreak. Pinckneyville won the tournament with a 335 score, two strokes better than runner-up Metropolis Massac County, who shot 337. Civic Memorial finished in 10th with a 383.
The Tigers finished third in the Class 2A Sectional at the University of Illinois’ Orange Course in Champaign, shooting a 345 to beat out fourth place Normal Community by two strokes and gain the berth in the finals. Normal University was the winner with a 327, while Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin finished second with a 341. O’Fallon finished fifth with a 348.
Brooke Tuttle of Jersey advanced to state as an individual with a 79, the only area individual to qualify for the finals.
This was the first state team appearance for Marquette Catholic girls golf in at least 18 years, an ecstatic head coach Deb Walsh said after the match.
“I am so proud of the girls, they worked all day and didn’t give up all the way from our No. 1 golfer to No. 6,” she said. “The girls did a great job. There were only two shots between the first and second teams and two shots between second and third place and four shots total between the first and third place team. This was not a driver course, but the girls all found a way to make it work. I have to give credit to our No. 5 and No. 6 girls Clancy Maag and Cat Hollis. They had some great scores of 92 and 94 at No. 5 and No. 6.”
The Explorers were led by freshman Gracie Piar, who had an 80, while freshman Audrey Cain had an 84. Junior Annie Kane shot 85 and senior Anna Lawless came in with a 90. Sophomore Cat Hollis carded a 92, and freshman Clancy Maag came in with a 94.
Freshman Riley Lewis led the way for the Tigers with a 79, while junior Jessica Benson had an 82. Senior Meara Schaefer had a 90, freshman Grace Daech and senior Sydney Sahuri both shot 94 and senior Lauren Coulter had a 96.
Individually, two Metro-East players qualified for State. O’Fallon’s Chloe Davidson had a 79, while Claire Rendelman of Collinsville shot an 80 to go through. Kira Wolf of Mattoon was the medalist, firing a 74,
Kylee Vaughan of McLeansboro Hamilton County was the medalist with a 73.
Both State tournaments will be held this Friday and Saturday. The Class 1A tournament will be held at Red Tail Run Golf Course in Decatur, while the Class 2A meet tees off at Hickory Point Golf Course in Forsyth.Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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