A twins-led trifecta
Behind Adams sisters, Crown Point wins sectional after DAC regular-season and tournament titles
Behind Adams sisters, Crown Point wins sectional after DAC regular-season and tournament titles.
It was business as usual for Crown Point.
That doesn’t mean the Bulldogs didn’t enjoy their second straight sectional title.
Crown Point shot a 347 at Palmira Golf Course in the Lake Central Sectional on Friday. Lake Central was second with a 373, and Munster finished third with a score of 378.
The Bulldogs pulled off the trifecta this season, winning the Duneland Athletic Conference regular-season title, the DAC tournament title and the sectional title.
The top three teams and the top three individuals not on advancing teams qualify for regionals. The individual qualifiers were Catherine Swiercz (94), Ashley Smith (99) and Paige May (105), all of Lowell.
Next up is the Lafayette Jefferson Regional on Sept. 26.
Senior Madelyn Adams, Crown Point’s No. 2 golfer, summed up the Bulldogs’ win best.
“It’s awesome,” she said. “It’s nice to play at Lake Central’s home course and pull through. For (twin sister) Delaney and I, it was good because sophomore year we had one slip away.”
Delaney Adams was the medalist, shooting a 10-over-par 82. Madelyn Adams finished second overall with an 85, and Munster’s Becky Jones was third with an 86.
On a windy and cold day, with the greens rolling fast, Delaney Adams’ score was solid.
It was a roller-coaster ride for her, Crown Point coach Jen Vinovich said. Adams didn’t hit one green in regulation. She made a 60-footer for par on No. 9 that Vinovich said “turned it around” for her.
Adams said the conditions didn’t affect her game much. It was just that she was off with her ball striking. It’s a testament to her ability to grind that she was able to medal.
“I just tried to play through it,” she said of the wind. “I struggled in the beginning, but I pulled through it. I just had to do it for my team.”
The most useful round of the day came from Carli Manes, the Bulldogs’ No. 5 player. She shot a 94. That was eight strokes better than her 18-hole average, according to Vinovich.
Jones, a senior, won a tiebreaker with Crown Point’s Valentina Gozo, who also shot an 86, to take third.
Jones had one bad hole. She took a 10 on No. 14, a par-5 that curls around a lake. She hit two balls into the water.
Jones wasn’t trying to take the round too seriously, so the bad score didn’t bother her too much.
“I was glad I was able to bounce back,” she said. “I really just wanted to go out there and have fun because this was my last sectional.”
Vinovich said the Bulldogs were well prepared. Each player had notes on how to play the course, and they had practiced at Palmira on Wednesday.
The Bulldogs prepared like they were the underdogs.
“You can’t take anything for granted,” Vinovich said. “Any team can have a good day or a bad day on any given day. Everyone knew their game plan, and they played solid.”