On a windy Tuesday at the Quail Run Golf Course in Columbus, the Boone Central Cardinals blew by their competition to win a second consecutive Class C girls state golf championship.
The Cardinal girls, who made school history in 2009 by winning the program’s first state title, added to their legacy of success by rallying from a seven-stroke deficit on the second day of the state championships.
“Going back-to-back is a big achievement,” said Boone Central Coach Dennis Walters. “Winning the district was great too because it had only been done once in school history. To send the seniors out like this is special.”
Unlike last year, when the state tournament was shortened to one day by terrible weather conditions, Boone Central used the traditional two-day format to full advantage with Tuesday’s impressive comeback.
Boone Central’s opening-day total of 379 trailed tournament co-favorite Grand Island Central Catholic (372) by seven strokes and tournament host Columbus Scotus (378) by one.
However, the Cardinals, who previously shot a 352 score on the Quail Run course (Scotus Invitational) to defeat G.I.C.C. in their only head-to-head competition prior to state, may have had their competition right where they wanted them.
“I knew it would be close after the first day with G.I.C.C.. We had played and beaten Scotus several times this year, so we were familair with the scores they had been shooting,” said Walters. “Being behind after the first day did not worry the girls. They felt it was better to be chasing the leaders, rather than being chased and trying to stay in the lead.
“I felt Scotus had played as good as they could, but that we were capable of playing much better.”
It didn’t take long Tuesday for the Cardinal quintet of Brooke Bolin, Britany Seda, Amy Ahlers, Emily Niewohner and Breann Thorberg to get Central Catholic’s attention. Boone Central golfers came out firing and posted a 178 on the front nine – the lowest nine-hole score of the tournament and six strokes better than the Cards’ opening total of the previous day.
“With Britany shooting 38 and Brooke 41 on the front nine, after already posting a 44 by Amy and 55 for Emily, we had already gained 15 strokes on G.I.C.C.,” Walters acknowledged. “I was feeling pretty good then.”
For good reason. Boone Central continued its relentless charge in the blustery conditions and finished day two with a 373 total – 17 strokes better than the Crusaders. That gave the Cardinals a tournament score of 752 and a 10-stroke margin of victory over Central Catholic (762). Scotus slipped to third with a 391 second-day score and 769 tournament total.
Seda led the Cards Tuesday with an 81 and was the 4th place tournament medalist with a two-day total of 167. Bolin had a bit of trouble on her back nine Tuesday (49) and finished with a 90. That left her at 177 for the tournament, good for 9th place. Ahlers added a 93 to her opening-day 91 and placed 14th.
And while the scoring of those medalists was important, Walters said he could not overstate the contribution of senior Emily Niewohner, who was in her first year on the golf team and joined the varsity line-up around mid-season. Niewohner had rounds of 115 and 109 for a 224 total.
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