IHA and Holy Angels’ Kelly Sim repeat as champs at Big North championships by Greg Mattura of The Record
RIVER VALE – Immaculate Heart powerfully reaffirmed itself as North Jersey’s No. 1 girls golf team.
And Holy Angels junior Kelly Sim continued to demonstrate why she is the state’s No. 1 player.
IHA repeated as titlist at the Big North Conference Girls’ Golf Championship on Wednesday by a whopping 32 strokes at Valley Brook Golf Course.
The Blue Eagles carded a stellar shoot-five, count-four score of 323 after placing a trio in the top five: standout freshman Yoona Kim and All-North Jersey sophomores Regina Garvey and Charlotte Stanton.
“Overall, we’re slowly getting more consistent, getting closer to our individual goals, as well,” said Kim, runner-up with 2-over-par 72. “And 323, especially in the first tournament, is not a bad score at all.”
Holy Angels, led by Sim’s 68, was runner-up with a 355 that was three strokes better than Ridgewood.
This tournament represents the start of the “championship season” and IHA played like a winner. This makes the Blue Eagles the clear favorite at next week’s Bergen County Girls’ Championship.
Garvey was third with 73. Stanton shot 80 to finish fifth, two strokes behind All-North Jersey senior Hyoyi Joo of Ridgewood and two ahead of All-North Jersey junior Brooke Schaffer of Northern Highlands. The Blue Eagles finished three strokes short of their goal of 320.
“They set a goal and they just missed it by a hair,” said IHA coach Lauren Rhein, whose team shot eight strokes better than last year. “So I think that, all in all, I couldn’t be more proud or happier with the numbers that they put up.
“But I also want them to take this as a learning experience, so that when we play in counties next week and we come up to state sectionals, that they can work on what they’ve learned here going forward.”
Going forward, IHA has a chance to not only win the Bergen County title, but become the first North Jersey team this decade to finish among the top three at the State Girls’ Championship.
“A lot of people say being a young team is a big disadvantage to us, but I think it’s a great advantage, because each one of us is playing to prove something,” Garvey said. “So we all have a certain drive that extends all the way down to the freshmen.”
Sim’s drive is to win a record-tying third consecutive state championship. She had five birdies and three bogeys Wednesday to shoot 68. She did not hit enough fairways to reach her goal of 64, which would have beaten her Big North-record 65 set last year.
“I just didn’t give myself good chances,” said Sim, whose round featured a 21-foot birdie putt. “I’m happy with how I saved par here and there and made birdies when I could.”