Buzzing to the postseason: Highland girls golf dominates final Suburban League Tournament
CUYAHOGA FALLS — Highland girls golf coach Mary Becker had a perfect description for the conditions at the final Suburban League Tournament.
"First day with the hand warmers," she said. "It was definitely a fall golf day. A lot of wind."
Over the last decade, "fall golf" has been the Hornets' specialty.
Highland dominated the Suburban League Tournament on Wednesday at Brookledge Golf Club. The Hornets shot 304, beating runner-up Aurora by 36 strokes to win the American Conference.
How dominant was Highland? The Hornets had all four scoring golfers shoot below 80. The entire National Conference had only three golfers finish below 80.
"Anytime you can get your five or six to score for you, that's good," Becker said. "It helps our depth. It makes us compete within our own team to play."
With Highland having won the first three league tournaments, the American Conference team race was never in doubt.
Two good friends provided the drama, as Aurora's Brooklyn Millard and Highland's Isabella Goyette battled for America Conference Player of the Year.
Goyette won medalist honors with round of 73 Wednesday, but needed to beat Millard by four strokes to claim player of the year. Millard finished a stroke behind at 74.
"I'm pretty content with my score; I'm more happy for my girls over there," Goyette said. "Brooklyn's obviously a very good competitor, but I try not to focus on anybody else. I just focus on my own thing."
After spending her junior year in Florida, Millard admitted her final round in the Suburban League was testing.
"Today was pretty rough for everyone, but there were just so many emotions throughout the day," she said. "Like 'Am I the player of the year? is Isabella the player of the year?' Honestly, I think I see her more as a really good friend that's also super competitive."
Millard was surrounded by Hornets on the American Conference leader board. Highland's Elizabeth Coleman (76), Avery Albright (77) and Kavya Chada (78) rounded out the top five.
Hudson, Nordonia's Julia Gulla claim overall girls golf titles in National Conference
The National Conference medalist race ended in a three-way tie, as Nordonia's Julia Gulla, Stow's Gabriella Berlingieri and Solon's Serena Wu all finished at 78.
That result earned Gulla National Conference Player of the Year, as she also won the third league tournament at Fox Den.
"This was a very difficult day with the weather and the wind," Gulla said. "Some of the greens were sticking, some of them weren't. I was trying to do the best I could. I was trying to beat my score last year from districts, just so I could have improvement."
Gulla beat out Hudson's Emmy Burling for player of the year, as Burling was held out of the tournament with a minor injury.
Burling's absence helped open the door for Stow to win the National Conference team race Wednesday, as the Bulldogs edged Hudson 342-346.
However, as Hudson won previous league tournaments at Fox Den and Pleasant Valley, the Explorers claimed the overall National Conference title.
"The girls knew they had to have the right mindset today," said Hudson coach Bobby Bolin. "They grinded it out. The scores were high all around. Obviously, we wanted to win the tournament, but we did what we needed to to win the conference. We did it for Emmy. She possibly could have gone today, but we wanted her for the postseason."
Stow coach Scotte Rorabaugh said he felt Bulldogs were playing their best golf at the right time.
"Hopefully, our team plays well enough to get back to districts here in a couple weeks and these are the same kind of conditions we'll see then," he said. "I think they were all striking the ball well, but the wind was playing havoc with some approach shots. Out here at Brookledge, putting is always a challenge."
Stow's Olivia Berlingieri and Nordonia's Brooke Barnes each shot 82 to round out the National Conference's top five.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Highland girls golf wins Suburban League American Conference
