Monticello girls win second straight state golf title, third in four years

by Jeff Simon
Hideout Golf Club Professional
This is not the beginning of a sports dynasty. The Monticello Buckaroos are right in the middle of a spectacular run in girls golf.
Monticello won its second straight 1A state title and third championship in four years this past Wednesday, May 13 at Salt Lake City’s Rose Park Golf Course. And this was supposed to be an off year.
The Buckaroos, which graduated four seniors from last year’s title team, won the 18-hole title by eight shots over Wayne. Rich High School finished third. Monticello’s four counting scores resulted in a total of 412.
Leading the way was sophomore LE Olson who carded a round of 90 to finish second in the race for medalist. Junior Jane Burton finished tied for fourth with a 98 and Rebecca Chamberlain was 15th with a 107.
A key for the Buckaroos was who would produce that much-needed fourth score. It would be up to sophomore Cailyn Harrod or freshman Alice Butler to get that done.
Both improved significantly over the spring season and it ended up being Harrod who carded a 117.
“We needed someone to shoot at least 120 to have a decent chance of winning,” Monticello Head Coach Nathan Chamberlain said.
“Cailyn had never broken 120 and sometimes she didn’t feel like she was part of the team, but she was just as important as anyone else.”
The Buckaroos also got significant improvement throughout the season from Burton and Rebecca Chamberlain whose scores kept getting lower and lower.
“At the beginning of the season I was hoping we could just compete,” Nathan Chamberlain said. “We were three matches into the season and we saw Rebecca and Jane start playing better and I thought we might have a chance.”
As a group the Buckaroos are already looking forward to next season. Everyone on the team returns.
In the race for top individual honors at the tournament it came down to Olson and Wayne senior Bree Torgerson. The duo went to the final hole, the par-5 18th, all tied up.
Both left their second shots short and right of the green with difficult third shots. Olson, who finished fifth as a freshman last year, left her third a little short of the green while Torgerson placed hers on the green about 25 feet past the hole.
Torgerson eventually made bogey and Olson double-bogied to fall one shot short.
“We needed LE to be one of the best players in 1A and she didn’t let us down,” Nathan Chamberlain said.
For the Monticello boys, junior Canyon Christensen had rounds of 82 and 84 to finished tied for eighth individually, the top score for the Buckaroos.
Monticello finished the tournament in seventh place with a 36-hole total of 708. Wayne won the team title with a total of 643, five shots better than Milford.
Senior Kooper Nielson, who opened the tournament with a team-best 80, shot 91 the second day to finish at 171, tied for 17th place.
Junior Ryan Holt had one of his best tournaments of the year with back-to-back rounds of 92.