How tremendous depth has the Gilbert girls golf team looking unbeatable
To say the defending Class 3A state champion Gilbert girls golf team is loaded would be a huge understatement.
With the postseason starting next week, the Tigers may be the strongest team in the entire state.
They head into next week's regional tournament at the Nishna Hills Golf Club in Atlantic having shot the two best 18-hole rounds in team history. Gilbert also added a decisive 9-hole victory at a home quadrangular Tuesday at the Ames Golf and Country Club.
“Any given day we’ve got six girls who can pop up and shoot 70,” said Gilbert coach Grant Walker. “It’s a wealth of riches.”
More: How the the Gilbert girls golf seniors plan to make the most of their final season
Gilbert set the school record for an 18-hole score of 311 earlier this season. Then they broke it with a 301, winning the Southeast Polk Invitational at the Copper Creek Golf Course in Pleasant Hill on May 2.
On Monday, they just missed breaking it again after scoring a 302 during the Raccoon River Conference meet at the Coldwater Golf Links in Ames.
Gilbert won the RRC title with a historically dominating performance. The Tigers finished 103 strokes ahead of the rest of the field.
“A lot of teams have excellent golfers, but they have maybe two or three of them, whereas we have six solid golfers,” said Gilbert senior Macy Underwood. “If one of us plays badly, we know somebody else is going to be able to shoot well.”
During the RRC meet, no one played badly. Defending 3A state champion Eden Lohrbach shot a 73, her younger sister Ava shot a 75, and Underwood and Ava's twin Ella each finished with a 77.
The two golfers who did not score for Gilbert at the conference meet — Haley Loonan and Josie Dukes — also performed well with respective rounds of 86 and 87.
The Lohrbach sisters have led the way for Gilbert most of the season. But the trio of Underwood, Loonan and Dukes is what makes Gilbert truly an unstoppable force on the golf course.
“I know we’re all out just to have fun, but we’re really putting in the work,” Eden Lohrbach said. “Everybody is staying late after practice. Any course I go to in Ames, somebody from our team is out there. I think that’s really cool to see.”
Eden Lohrbach said she saw Dukes at Coldwater on Sunday when she went to get a practice round in before the RRC meet. Dukes had her best nine holes of the season Tuesday, shooting a 38.
“Before the round today I told myself I’m not going to go rage mode,” Dukes said. “I’m just going to play relaxed and that’s what I did. I went out there and had fun.”
Dukes helped Gilbert shoot 154 as a team on Tuesday to give the Tigers the meet victory by 15 strokes over Nevada and 16 over defending 2A state champion Roland-Story. The Gilbert senior group of Eden Lohrbach, Underwood, Loonan and Dukes will finish high school having never lost a dual meet.
More: Meet the Roland-Story girls golf team, a talented unit going for another 2A state title
“This is not a new experience,” Underwood said. “When I go into a meet, I’m focusing on beating my own teammates, rather than beating on everyone else because I want to do well.”
The Gilbert girls are the perfect example of iron sharpening iron.
“It kind of takes pressure off in a way, but it also puts more pressure on you to compete with your team,” Loonan said. “You want to be top four and be able to score.”
But as competitive as the Tigers can be with each other, they are all driven by the same goals.
“It’s fun to play well and it’s fun to hang out with them,” Eden Lohrbach said. “I feel like this team plays well for each other.”
The Tigers have their eyes set on repeating as 3A state champions and making history along the way. They want to break 300 for the first time in school history.
“I’m sure they’re driven by that,” Walker said. “I don’t see any reason they couldn’t do it; they’ve just got to put together some good rounds out on the course.”
Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Deep Gilbert girls golf team is on a tear heading into regionals
