Evanston’s girls fell short with an overall 7th place team finish Wednesday at the Illinois High School Association Class 2A Regional golf tournament held at Winnetka Golf Course.
Only the top two placing teams — New Trier at 315 and Loyola Academy at 331 — advanced to the sectional tournament next week, along with the top 4 scoring individuals who weren’t members of those teams. The IHSA did add a sectional level of competition a couple of weeks ago, but the state organization will not sponsor a state final tournament this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Rounding out the scoring on Wednesday were Glenbrook South at 355, Maine South at 359, Glenbrook North at 397, Maine West at 407, Evanston at 437 and Niles West at 480.
New Trier senior Audrey Tir earned medalist honors with a score of 76.
Evanston counted a 50-53-103 from junior Eliana Veron, plus a 54-56-110 from senior Mia Houseworth, a 54-58-112 from junior Maddie Schrantz, and a 57-55-112 from sophomore Kyleen Kimmel.
Also competing for the Wildkits were Sydney TerMolen (57-61-118) and Kitty Colton (58-61-119).
Long-time ETHS head coach Karilyn Joyce felt her entire squad turned in solid seasons in a rebuilding year for the Kits following the 2019 season when the roster was dominated by seniors.
“I was pleased with the way we played all season,” said Joyce. “They’re happy with the way they played today, and I’m happy, too. I’m just happy we were able to get our season in this year.
“I’ve never seen Eliana (Veron) hit the ball better than she hit today. Her driving was so good today, and she can hit it so much better than she did last year. She’s spent so much time working on that, and I try to stress to all the girls that they have to learn to hit their drivers off the tee, not irons, if they want to compete with the people we play against.
“Eliana’s done a lot of work on her chipping game and her putting game, too. She did a great job today.”