CHAMPAIGN — For the second-straight year, the St. Anthony Bulldogs girls golf team will be competing at the state tournament as a group.
Last year, St. Anthony finished second to juggernaut Mt. Carmel at the Class 1A Effingham Sectional at Effingham Country Club. This year, it was the same result, as the Bulldogs fell to the four-time state champions at the Class 1A Monticello Sectional at the University of Illinois Blue Golf Course on Monday. St. Anthony fired a team total of 322.
“I really loved how the whole team was consistent,” head coach Darin Wargo said. “It was a very steady round. How they played today was sustainable. They were doing the simple things right.”
Wargo, a first-year head girls golf coach at the school, is enjoying how the team has responded.
“They stay pretty cool under pressure, which is kind of surprising for a fairly young team,” he said.
The Bulldogs don’t have one senior in the top six.
Gianna Frisbie finished tied for sixth overall in the sectional with a five-over-par round of 77. She was four-over on the front nine and one-over on the back. Frisbie birdied the par-4 11th and par-4 16th holes.
“Gianna has so much potential,” Wargo said. “How far she’s able to hit drives is pretty rare. She played very steadily today. She was in most fairways off the tee, which is incredibly helpful. She played relatively mistake-free.”
Adria Moberly, a sophomore, finished tied for 16th with an 80. She shot one-over on the front and seven-over on the back.
Wargo said Moberly is “peaking at the right time.”
“That’s absolutely been Adria,” he said. “Before the season started, she was playing well. Then, something got in her head, but she’s been finding her rhythm again in the last two-and-a-half to three weeks.”
Tesa Ludwig, also a sophomore, shot an 81 and finished tied for 20th. She shot four-over on the front and five-over on the back. Ludwig birdied the par-4 16th hole.
“She’s bounced back really well,” Wargo said. “She’s been struggling the last few weeks, but found her rhythm today. The course today was kind of forgiving, which was really helpful, especially for the confidence.”
Brooklyn Phillips, the final scorer to the team’s total, was tied for 28th with an 84. She struggled on the front-nine, shooting 10-over, but made up for it with a two-over-par back-nine, which featured a birdie on he par-4 11th and the par-5 18th.
“The front nine was really tough for her, but she played two-over on the back nine,” Wargo said. “I’m not sure she knew the score we needed her to get if we wanted to make it out, but whether she knew or not, she turned her game around.”
Mt. Carmel won the sectional championship with a 294. Monticello also advanced as a team with a 325.
Teutopolis was fifth overall with a 335.
Seniors Briliegh Bloemer and Molly Habing are making a return trip to the state tournament.
Bloemer finished tied for eighth with a 78. She shot five-over on the front and one-over on the back. Bloemer started the day by teeing off on the back nine first. She bogeyed her first two holes before two straight pars and a birdie on the par-4 14th.
Bloemer then bogeyed the par-5 15th before her second birdie on the par-4 16th.
On the front nine, she struggled until the end when she drained a near 30-foot putt on the par-5 ninth hole to punch her ticket back to Decatur.
“My 30-footer was insane,” Bloemer said. “I think that was straight luck. I just watched it and was like, ‘Is this actually going to go in?’ It dropped and I went crazy.”
The cutoff for individuals was an eight-over-par 80.
Bloemer is making her third straight appearance at the state tournament.
“I snuck in there. I was watching the leaderboard and was like, ‘I have to figure it out,'” she said. “I’m really excited and, hopefully, I can qualify for Day 3, but I’m just proud I made the cut.”
Habing finished tied for 12th individually with a personal-best round of 79.
“I started off with a bogey and then a double-bogey, but I think I kept my composure well,” Habing said.
A second-year golfer, Habing took up the sport after her first two years were spent on the tennis courts.
She said she was nervous after her round was complete.
“Golf is definitely more ‘my’ sport,” Habing said. “The cutoff being 80 was really scary; I was really nervous toward the end.”
Habing shot five-over on the front nine and two-over on the back. She birdied the par-3 13th, the par-4 16th and the par-5 18th holes.
Like Bloemer, Habing is just as happy to be ending her season on the final weekend.
“I’m really glad I get to have that experience again this year,” Habing said. “I think I’m going to value it a lot more this year, knowing how hard I worked to get here.”
TEE TIMES
St. Anthony tees off at 8:30 a.m. The next golfer will follow nine minutes later.
The Bulldogs are paired with Byron, Breese (Central) and Monmouth (United).
Habing tees off at 10:18 a.m. with Carlyle’s Ava Meyer and Campbell Hill Trico’s Aubrey Coleman. Bloemer tees off at 10:27 a.m. with Carlyle’s Abby Steinkamp and Vienna’s Hannah Rojas.