DuPONT — Heading onto the back nine at Eagle’s Pride Golf Course on Wednesday, Jackson girls golf had maintained its one-stroke lead that it entered the day with in the 4A State Championship. Before the second and final round started earlier that morning, Jackson coach Jerome Gotz gathered his team on the practice range and emphasized the opportunity in front of them. He felt they had left some strokes on the course on Tuesday, and a better performance on Day 2 would put them in a great position. After a runner-up finish last season, the girls did not want to walk away empty-handed this time.
Gotz referred to the talk as a “seize the moment” speech.
Down the back stretch, as the rest of the field faded, the Timberwolves (combined score of 665) seized their moment, winning the championship by 14 strokes over Kentwood (679) and fellow Wesco team Kamiak (681). It marked the first state championship in program history.
“They knew that this was our opportunity,” Gotz said. “When we had that conversation with them, I think it resonated with a couple of them. They recognized that this is what they’ve been working for all season long, and they peaked at the right time.”
Leading the way for Jackson was sophomore Chanyoung Park (147; 73, 74), who placed second individually behind Camas senior Jasmine Chen (146; 70, 76). Behind Park, sophomore Kayla Kim (164; 79, 85) placed 11th and freshman Karen Shin (167; 83, 84) finished tied for 14th.
The day was teetering on disaster for Kim, who fell victim to Murphy’s Law on Hole 6 (par-5) with a quadruple-bogey. After shooting into the pond, she overshot her new ball behind the green, then sent the following chip shot down the sloped rough to the right. She could have unraveled from there. Instead, she relaxed.
“I just kind of laughed at myself,” Kim said. “I feel like this course is just so tough. It’s like, you go into it thinking you’re going to play great, but then it just kind of slams your head into the ground. So yeah, I just didn’t really think about it.”
With a refocused mindset, Kim was arguably the most consistent Timberwolf down the stretch when the team needed her most. She shot par on seven of the remaining 11 holes, and only bogeyed the other four.
But the strong finish for Kim preceded a bittersweet one for Park, who had pulled ahead of Chen after the front nine despite starting the day three strokes back. After two birdies and seven pars, Park was cruising until she went bogey, double-bogey and bogey on Holes 10-12, respectively, to let Chen back into the race.
After stabilizing with pars on Holes 13 and 14, Park had a prime opportunity to birdie on Hole 15 (par-4) following a perfect tee shot down the fairway and a second shot that landed within about a dozen feet of the hole. Park paced back and forth on the green, assessing the terrain as the rest of her group prepared their putts. If she sank her third stroke, she would tie with Chen — who had already finished the day — with three holes to go herself.
But the shot rolled wide. Park tilted her head back and did a slow 360-degree turn on the way to her bag. To make matters worse, she missed the next putt, looking up to the sky in frustration before tapping in for bogey. Just like that, she was two strokes behind the lead with only three holes to make it up.
Her hopes came down to a chip just outside the 18th green to get what would be a tying eagle, but it rolled just past the flag. Gotz smacked his water bottle against his palm, the hope he was holding out for his lead golfer gone now that the individual title was out of reach. After winning the individual title as a freshman last year, Park would have to settle for second this time around.
“I think I kind of eased myself,” Park said after seeing she was in the lead going into the back nine. “I wasn’t really as focused, and so that caught up to me. That cost me a couple of strokes, and so when I tried to focus again, it like, wasn’t really locking and I wasn’t able to get back into, like, a flow state.”
Despite the disappointment in herself, Park felt good about contributing to the team title, and is now motivated to win both the individual and team title next season now that she has one of each. Just as she elevated her team on the course, they had her back after the fact, surrounding her in an embrace and making her laugh through teary eyes.
Rounding out Jackson’s five were senior co-captains Lindsay Catli (187; 92, 95) and Paige Swander (190; 92, 98), who were freshmen when Gotz took charge of the program. That first season marked the start of four straight state-qualifying berths that extended to this season. After falling short in the previous three, Catli and Swander ended their careers on a high note.
“Even when the scores were pretty close, I just knew that our team would kind of carry through,” Swander said. “I think our team is very strong in doing that, and we kind of always finish strong and bring it to the end.”
The senior duo has been integral to the success of the younger trio ahead of them. While battling nerves and learning the ropes of big high school tournaments, the younger golfers leaned on the seniors’ experience and leadership. Sometimes that involved focusing on anything but golf.
“On our van rides, I don’t know if we ever talk about golf,” Catli said. “All we do is just joke around. After (tournaments), we talk about what food we’re getting. We try to stay away from the golf course and just have fun.”
Finally, that all-encompassing effort paid off, and as the team packed up their new hardware into Gotz’s red van en route to their championship celebration, the younger Timberwolves couldn’t help but think this could only be the beginning.
“I was really nervous (about) if I’ll be able to support them or if I’ll be a negative impact on them,” the freshman Shin said. “But I’m really happy that I was able to help them out this year.
“I hope we can win again next year.”
Full Results
Team Scores— 1. Jackson, 665; 2. Kentwood, 679; 3. Kamiak, 681; 4. Emerald Ridge, 698; 5. Camas, 701; 6. Curtis, 704; 7. Issaquah, 705; 8. Mount Si, 712.
Top 10 Golfers— 1. Jasmine Chen (Camas) 146 (70, 76); 2. Chanyoung Park (Jackson) 147 (73, 74); t-3. Maia Miller (Mount Si) 155 (74, 81); t-3. Avery Peterson (Kentwood) 155 (80, 75); 5. Lexi Trummert (Emerald Ridge) 156 (73, 83); 6. Ava Olszewski (West Valley — Yakima) 157 (77, 80); 7. Sarah Dyer (Kamiak) 158 (79, 79); t-8. Lisette Durkin (Gonzaga Prep) 160 (81, 79); t-8. Kallie Phon (Kent.) 160 (76, 84); 10. Bronwyn Byrne (Stadium) 161 (78, 83).
Click each classification for full results:
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