Girls Golf

(DECATUR) — The Mt. Carmel Lady Aces are the Queens of Golf in Illinois. Saturday, they steamrolled their way to a record-tying fifth consecutive IHSA Class 1A state championship at Red Tail Run Golf Course here. They led from the start, eventually finishing 25 shots ahead of runner up Quincy Notre Dame.

Mt. Carmel finished the 36-hole, two-day tournament with a score of 624. Quincy Notre Dame was next at 649, with Breese Central (657), Breese Mater Dei (699) and Rockford Lutheran (703) rounding out the top five.

Seniors Zeme Moore and Miley Kennard led the way for the Aces. They both tied for third individually, with scores of 152. The medalist was Sarah Hyten of Father McGivney who fashioned a 2-over par 146 over the two days.

Other scores for the champions were: Elyse Swanson (162), sophomore Miranda Kennard (162), Ella Turner (167) and Ava Brumagin (169).

There was one other golfer from the Little Illini Conference on the course at state. Junior Leah Correll of Robinson finished tied for 35th place overall with a two-day total of 172.

On the boys side,  Reese Glover of Olney finished in a tie for 42nd place in the Class 2A state tournament at Weibring Golf Club in Normal. Glover’s score was 157. Meanwhile, at the Class 1A tourney at Prairie Vista Golf Course in Bloomington, Carson Hall and Ryan Hosfield of Casey-Westfield played in the first round on Friday, but missed the cut and did not play in the final round on Saturday.

Mt. Carmel’s fifth crown in a row equals the accomplishment of Regina Dominican, a private school in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette, which won five straight single-class titles between 1986-90. The all-time IHSA record belongs to the Monmouth boys teams of 1985-90, winners of six straight crowns.

The Lady Aces feat also matches the longest sports dynasty of any kind in southern Illinois prep sports history. The Carmi boys golf team won five straight IHSA single-class golf titles in the 1960s.

The state championship is also No. 30 for member schools of the LIC. Mt. Carmel has now won eight state titles (tied with Casey-Westfield for the most) in four sports.

The Lady Aces finished the season rated second in Illinois (in all classes), according to iWannamaker.com. Yet, here is why that accomplishment — by a small public school in a small conference tucked away in a large state — is so impressive. Mt. Carmel is rated 57th in the country, according to iWannamaker. That’s out of 3,229 high schools rated in that system.