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50 | October 11, 2018 | The Mokena Messenger sports
mokenamessenger.com
Girls golf
Knights cruise to regional championship
Golf
Griffins sink pair of aces in same week
Lincoln-Way East
finishes second
Steve Millar, Freelance Reporter
Lincoln-Way Central’s girls golf
team is on a mission to win a state
title. The Knights’ first postseason
test was passed with flying colors.
Central posted a team score of
291 to cruise to the Class 2A Marian
Catholic Regional championship,
topping runner-up Lincoln-
Way East by 42 strokes Oct. 3
at Lincoln Oaks Golf Course in
Crete.
The Griffins (333), along with
third-place Oak Forest (393), also
advanced to the Hinsdale South
Sectional, which was scheduled to
be played Monday, Oct. 8.
“Ever since conference [when
the Knights shot an even par
288], we’ve been playing great as
a team,” Central senior Brianne
Bolden said. “Everyone’s really
bringing it and you can tell we really
want [a state title].”
Bolden fired a 3-under-par 68
to edge teammate Grace Curran
(70) for the individual title. The
Knights had the top four finishers,
with Carly Schiene (76) and Maddie
Pyle (77) following Bolden and
Curran.
Bolden, who tied for second at
state last season one stroke behind
champion Penelope Tir of New
Trier, won Wednesday despite not
feeling like she played her best.
“I know I could’ve done better,
but this gets me to the next round,”
she said. “I started off really good.
I had a strong front nine, then
the wind started picking up and I
struggled hitting greens, and the
short game wasn’t coming in for
me.
“I kept fighting, though, punching
shots into the wind. I was still
able to put up a good score.”
Bolden, a Missouri recruit, has
been anticipating this postseason
ever since coming so close to being
a state champion last year.
“I’m really excited to give it one
more run,” she said. “I know if I
play to my potential I can hang
with any of the other girls and have
Lincoln-Way Central girls golf coach Brian Shannon (left) and Caitlyn
Parrish pose at the Marian Catholic Regional Tournament in Crete.
Parrish hit a hole-in-one on the eighth hole. Photo Submitted
a good shot at it.”
Curran, the 2016 state champion,
said she and Bolden continually
bring the best out of each other.
“We’re competitive,” she said.
“We go back and forth. It’s whoever’s
got their game that day. It’s
fun, though.”
That fun extends beyond the
golf course, and Curran feels her
team’s bond is leading to success.
“Our team chemistry is through
the roof,” she said. “We love coming
to these tournaments and we
have the best time. We have a fun
time preparing for them, riding to
them, and then once we get here
we know it’s go time. We’re super
focused and ready to get the job
done.”
It’s become more than just the
Bolden and Curran show at Central.
Schiene and Pyle, both juniors,
continue to raise their games.
Even the two Central players
whose scores did not count
Wednesday, Caitlyn Parrish (82)
and Sydney Miron (83), posted
numbers good enough to finish in
the top eight.
Parrish made a hole-in-one on
the par-3 eighth hole.
“As much as they all love each
other, they’re always trying to be
the best,” Central coach Brian
Shannon said. “When you’re used
to that much competition from
your own team, the bar is set high.”
Freshman Kailey White led
Lincoln-Way East, finishing fourth
with a 78.
White said she had to shake off
some jitters.
“At first, it was really nerve
wracking, but I had to tell myself
I must be here for a reason,” she
said. “So, I just have to play my
game and not worry about anyone
else.
“My putting was pretty good.
My drives were on. It’s a good
score, so I’m happy with it.”
White, playing in her first high
school postseason event, was in the
same threesome as Curran. Playing
with a former state champion with
the season on the line may have
overwhelmed some young competitors,
but it didn’t bother White.
Instead, she shot her best score
of the season.
“She’s been playing with the
best in the state and holding her
own, keeping her composure,”
East coach Mary McGivern said.
“I couldn’t be more proud of her.
“She’s been a super consistent
performer all year and to see her
break into the 70s just solidifies
Please see gilrs golf, 49
Sean Hastings, Freelance Reporter
Just days apart, two golfers from
the same school accomplished something
that most will never. According
to golfdigest.com, the odds of an
amateur golfer getting a hole-in-one
are 12,500-1.
Now, a betting man likely isn’t
taking those odds, but if he is, a safe
bet seems to be on Lincoln-Way East
golfers: senior Jessica Loera and
freshman Brandon Butcher to be exact.
Loera always takes one deep breath
before she tees off to clear her mind.
Still searching for her first birdie of
her round, which was filled with pars,
she took a deeper breath on the 12th
hole — a 148-yard, par-3 — at Silver
Lake Country Club, in Orland Park,
after a bogey on 10 and another par
on 11.
The putter stayed in her bag this
time as she found her ball sitting at
the bottom of the cup for a hole-inone.
“I didn’t actually see the ball go in
the hole,” Loera said. “I knew it was
going to be pretty close to the hole
but I didn’t think it would be in until
after I walked away and didn’t see my
ball on the green anymore and then I
realized it was in the hole.”
To make it even more special, it
was at the Griffins’ Conference Tournament
Sept. 25.
“I was really happy when I got it
because I was playing well that day,”
Loera said. “I was on a string of pars
and getting the hole-in-one made me
more confident with my game and I
finished strong afterwards. I wanted
to play well that day because it was
a conference tournament and I had
never done so well in conference
tournament before.”
From the first tee shot of the day, to
the final putt of the round, it’s a competition
for the girls. But when something
like that happens, time freezes
for a second and everyone can enjoy
it.
Embraced with hugs and seeing the
dropped jaws as her and the opposing
players realized what just happened,
Loera couldn’t help but crack her
own smile and get a confidence boost
going forward.
She said the girls she was playing
with had never seen a hole-in-one before.
Please see golf, 49
Lincoln-Way East senior Jessica Loera dropped a hole-in-one for the Griffins
— a 148-yard par-3 at Silver Lake Country Club in Orland Park on Sept. 25.
22nd Century Media file photo