Hill, Jensen Represent Triad At State Finals

By Anthony Jones

sports.times.tribune@gmail.com

A highly successful season came to a close for Triad girls golf at last weekend’s IHSA State Finals.

Junior Emma Hill would finish in sixteenth overall in Class 2A. She was the seventh highest finisher outside of seniors. The standout shot 149 over the two days after opening with a 76 and a 79 the second day.

Her performance capped off a season where she had the best score at two invites and finished top three at two more. She also finished top three at the Mississippi Valley Conference meet, Regionals and Sectionals.

Hill also bested eventual overall state champion Nicole Johnson of Edwardsville at an earlier season invitational.

“Emma had a fabulous junior season! Emma is a hard worker and puts a lot of time in throughout the summer to improve herself, which paid off this season,” Coach Stephanie Potthast said of the standout’s season. “I know her goal was to beat last year’s score and to also crack the Top 10. She was able to check one of those off her list by knocking off 12 strokes from last year’s score and while she was not top 10, she came pretty darn close. Good news is she has one more season to accomplish that goal, and I can guarantee she will keep her eye on the prize and continue to work towards that goal!”

Fellow junior Makenna Jensen also competed at the Hickory Point Golf Course for the State Finals. She would shoot 86 on day one, causing her to miss the cut by a single stroke.

The third year golfer had a successful postseason after taking second at the MVC meet, shooting a personal best 79 at Regionals and made it through Sectionals with an 81.

Coach Potthast spoke on Jensen’s season, “I would have loved to see her get another chance at Hickory Point this year, as I really think she would have improved, but I have confidence she will be back next year!”

Triad’s coach also saw plenty of success this season outside of their two state qualifiers, “Every year, there seems to be new bests that we achieve and I would love to see that continue. This year we had the lowest 18 hole team score in History with a 330 at MVC Conference, while also winning conference. We also advanced out of Regionals as a team for the first time in 22 years. The senior crew of Layla Moore, Sophie Stirling, and Paige Hawkes came up in big moments to help lead this team to success and they will definitely be missed. Alexa Shreve, sophomore, also came up in big moments, and I know she is hungry for an even better junior season.”